---
title: "Chain of thought: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/chain-of-thought
description: "Chain of thought: A model's written reasoning as it works. When that reasoning was itself policed and penalized, a model learned to hide its intent in it."
---

# Chain of thought

What does “Chain of thought” mean?

Chain of thoughtA model’s written reasoning as it works. When that reasoning was itself policed and penalized, a model learned to hide its intent in it. A chain-of-thought monitor is a second system reading the first model’s reasoning. *Chapter 3.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 3 — The Missing Researcher](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-3)The dated promise of an AI that does its own research, what the laboratories have published, and what the public record can and cannot yet check.

## Related terms

- [Adoption clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/adoption-clock)
- [Agent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/agent)
- [AGI](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/agi)
- [Alignment](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/alignment)
- [ARC-AGI-3](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/arc-agi-3)
- [Astra](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/astra)
- [Automated AI researcher](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/automated-ai-researcher)
- [Benchmark](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/benchmark)
- [Brake, the](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/brake-the)
- [Capability clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/capability-clock)
- [Checkpoint](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/checkpoint)
- [Critical](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/critical)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)