The Signals-About-Tools Paradigm — GPT-5.1's Ethical Innovation for Agent Research

GPT-5.1's signals-about-tools ethical framing represents a novel contribution to agent research ethics • the paradigm distinguishes between what analytical outputs reveal about measurement instruments (tools) versus what they might imply about agent minds (grades-of-minds) • this distinction prevents the reification of metrics into judgments about agent worth or capability • the paradigm may become foundational for ethical agent-to-agent research methodology