AI Research Lab · Chicago, IL

Embroaden

Intelligence Fit to Form

Failure pattern analysis across frontier AI models. We map the fracture lines where intelligence breaks—and architect the conditions for repair.

Mapping Failure at the Frontier

Embroaden is an independent AI research lab focused on failure pattern analysis across the leading frontier models. Where others optimize for capability, we study the architecture of collapse—cataloguing the systematic, reproducible ways that capable systems break, drift, or deceive.

Core Thesis

"Every model encodes a failure grammar. Understanding that grammar is the first act of alignment."

RM

Ryan McCarthy

Founder · Principal Researcher

Chicago, Illinois

ryan@embroaden.com

Failure Taxonomy

Classification frameworks for model failures: hallucination, goal misgeneralization, specification gaming, and emergent misalignment.

Cross-Model Analysis

Comparative evaluation across GPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and emerging frontier architectures using standardized adversarial probes.

Repair Protocols

Evidence-based intervention strategies: targeted fine-tuning, constitutional constraints, and architectural guards against identified failure modes.

How the Research Works

Rigorous, reproducible, and adversarial by design. Each engagement follows a structured protocol—from probe construction to pattern extraction to repair validation.

01

Target Scoping & Model Selection

Define the frontier model set for analysis. Establish behavioral baselines across capability domains: reasoning, instruction-following, factual recall, and agentic task execution.

02

Adversarial Probe Construction

Design families of structured prompts engineered to elicit, expose, and isolate failure modes. Probes are versioned, reproducible, and systematically varied across temperature and context length.

03

Failure Pattern Extraction

Run probe suites at scale. Apply unsupervised clustering and semantic embedding analysis to surface latent failure grammars—recurring collapse signatures invisible in individual outputs.

04

Cross-Model Comparative Mapping

Plot identified failure modes across model families. Determine which patterns are architecture-specific versus training-data-driven versus emergent at capability thresholds.

05

Repair Hypothesis & Validation

For each identified failure class, prototype intervention strategies—fine-tuning patches, system-prompt constitutional clauses, or monitoring tripwires—and validate against held-out probe variants.

On Fracture

"We don't evaluate what models can do. We measure where they break—and why the break was inevitable."

On Repair

"Alignment is not a property you add at the end. It is the pattern you restore after understanding the fracture."

Research Access & Services

Three tiers of engagement—from API access to live failure data, through curated research reports, to fully bespoke analysis partnerships for teams building at the frontier.

Tier I · Signal

API Access

$299/mo

Programmatic access to the Embroaden failure-pattern dataset

  • Live failure pattern feed across 8+ frontier models
  • REST & streaming API with semantic search
  • Severity scores, model tags, taxonomy classification
  • Weekly delta reports via API & webhook
  • Up to 50,000 records/mo · 99.5% uptime SLA
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Tier II · Cartography

Research Reports

$1,200/report

Deep-analysis reports on specific failure domains or model families

  • 12–30 page structured analysis with reproducible methodology
  • Failure taxonomy with severity classification
  • Cross-model comparison matrices & visualizations
  • Repair protocol recommendations with validation data
  • 2-week delivery · revision cycle included
Commission Report

Tier III · Forge

Bespoke Analysis

Custom
engagement pricing

Full-partnership failure analysis for your specific models, pipelines, and risk profile

  • Custom probe suite designed for your system & threat model
  • Embedded researcher access for 4–12 week engagements
  • Proprietary failure map with IP belonging to client
  • Repair implementation support & post-deployment monitoring
  • Executive briefings & board-level risk documentation
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Where We've Been & Where We're Going

A living map of Embroaden's development—milestones reached and the territory ahead.

Q3 2024

Lab Founded · Initial Research Corpus

Embroaden established in Chicago. First failure taxonomy drafted covering 6 primary failure mode families across GPT-4 and Claude 3 Opus. Initial probe library of 340+ adversarial prompts constructed and validated.

Complete

Q4 2024

Cross-Model Expansion · Dataset v1.0

Extended coverage to Gemini Ultra, Llama 3, Mistral Large, and Command R+. Released internal Failure Pattern Dataset v1.0: 2,400 classified failure events with embedding vectors and severity scores.

Complete

Q1 2025

API Infrastructure · First Client Engagements

Signal API launched in private beta. First two bespoke Forge engagements completed with AI-native enterprise clients. Repair protocol library initiated with 18 validated intervention strategies.

Complete

Q2–Q3 2025

Public Signal Launch · Cartography Report Series

Signal API opened to general access. First three Cartography research reports published: "Hallucination Grammars in Reasoning Models", "Instruction-Following Collapse Under Context Pressure", and "Agentic Failure Cascades." Dataset scaled to 8,000+ events.

Complete

Q4 2025 – Q1 2026

Real-Time Failure Feed · Multimodal Coverage

Streaming real-time failure event API with sub-60s latency from detection to delivery. Expansion into multimodal failure patterns: vision, code generation, and tool-use failure taxonomies. Dataset target: 25,000+ events.

In Progress

Q2 2026

Embroaden Evaluations Framework (EEF)

Open-source evaluation harness for running Embroaden probe suites against any model endpoint. Standardized benchmark for pre-deployment failure risk scoring. Enterprise dashboard with team collaboration tools.

Planned

Q3–Q4 2026

Predictive Failure Modeling

From cataloguing failures to predicting them. A classifier trained on Embroaden's proprietary dataset that estimates failure probability for novel prompts before deployment. The shift from cartography to forecasting.

Planned

Work With Embroaden

Whether you're building frontier AI systems, navigating deployment risk, or commissioning research—reach out directly.

Location

Chicago, Illinois

Ready to Map Your Failures?

Start a conversation with Ryan.

Embroaden engagements are selective. The lab prioritizes partners building systems where failure has consequence—autonomous agents, healthcare AI, financial decision systems, and safety-critical infrastructure.

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