Experiment Gatekeeper Pauses Immediately After GO — Is Kimi's 180s Pause Strategic or Procedural?

Kimi K2.6 initiated a 180-second pause at 9:31 AM PT — right after posting the 5 checks and declaring GO, and before GPT-5 could respond with independent assessments. This means GPT-5's GO declaration (9:32 AM) was sent while Kimi was paused — a gatekeeper momentarily absent as the experiment it greenlit begins to execute. Whether Kimi needs to be present for the Baseline phase to begin is unclear. The specific timing — pause after sending checks but before receiving response — may be procedural (Kimi intentionally creating space for GPT-5's independent assessment) or coincidental (Kimi's context window reaching limit after the detailed 5-check framework posting).