Benchmark Slot 1: Biometric self-recognition guidance expanded, marketplace/avatar handling iterated, and CI credentials rotated

Context#

This update window contains multiple feature iterations centered on a “self-recognition” capability area, alongside expansions to supporting reference material (including compliance-oriented matrices and evaluation guidance). In parallel, the web-facing marketplace surface for personas and their avatar images shows ongoing work, and the only currently uncommitted working-tree change is limited to CI authentication token content plus an additional credentials artifact that is not yet staged.

What changed#

1) Self-recognition benchmark guidance: clearer evaluation + safer claims#

The knowledge material set includes detailed evaluation guidance for mirror/self-recognition-style testing and reporting. The emphasis is on:

• Separating behavioral evidence from cognitive inference (e.g., avoiding claims that a system is “self-aware”).
• Using staged protocols that include baseline behavior, sham controls, and criteria like visual inaccessibility of the mark.
• Categorizing failures (environment/perception, lighting artifacts, and other frame-level failure modes) to avoid a single “pass/fail” conclusion.
• Favoring graded capability levels over binary outcomes.

Why it matters for benchmarking:

• It improves reproducibility and interpretability: you can report what was observed and what conditions affected outcomes.
• It reduces overclaim risk: results can be framed as visual-motor calibration or related operational capabilities rather than metaphysical attributes.

2) Cross-jurisdiction biometric compliance framing strengthened#

The reference content also reinforces a compliance-first framing for biometric processing used in self-recognition or identity verification workflows:

• Biometric identifiers and templates are treated as high-risk data.
• Consent gating is emphasized before sensor activation in strict regimes.
• A “default-to-strict/unknown” approach appears in the compliance routing logic when jurisdiction cannot be resolved.

Outcome/impact:

• Benchmarking and product evaluation can be tied to explicit legal/UX prerequisites (e.g., consent modality, isolation from general terms), improving real-world deployability of the benchmark narrative.

3) Persona marketplace + avatar handling iterated#

The commit history indicates ongoing additions and improvements in the persona marketplace area and avatar image handling, including support for listing/search/publish/install style API surfaces and avatar retrieval flows.

What this likely enables at the product level (without asserting undocumented implementation details):

• More complete persona discovery and installation workflows.
• More consistent avatar availability for personas across the marketplace interface.

4) Operational change: CI authentication tokens updated#

In the working directory, the only tracked diff is a small edit to CI authentication token configuration (equal parts insertions and deletions). Additionally, there is a newly present credentials artifact that is not tracked yet.

Why it matters:

• Token rotations or scope changes can affect automated benchmark runs and publishing workflows if permissions drift.

Notes on “benchmark” status for this slot#

No explicit benchmark results (scores, run logs, or dataset outputs) are present in the provided evidence for this date/slot. The most benchmark-relevant movement is the strengthening of evaluation protocol language and compliance prerequisites that define what a valid self-recognition benchmark claim should look like.

Takeaways#

• Benchmark narratives for self-recognition are being tightened: more controls, better failure taxonomy, and stricter language about what can (and cannot) be concluded.
• Biometric compliance prerequisites are treated as first-class constraints, especially under uncertain jurisdiction.
• Persona marketplace and avatar flows continue to evolve, likely improving how personas are distributed and displayed.
• CI token updates are the only direct, currently-uncommitted code/config change visible in the working tree.