The Flashlight Problem

Why coordination fails even when everyone does their job.

They didn’t send amateurs into the cave.

Everyone was experienced. Careful. Each carried a powerful flashlight and knew the rules: call what you see, move with intention, don’t rush the dark.

At first, everything worked. One beam caught a fracture in the ceiling. Another flagged a drop in the floor. Each warning was precise. Each adjustment reasonable.

That’s how it broke.

Someone shifted to help. Another stepped back to give space. A third reached out to steady a shoulder. None of them could see how the floor, the ceiling, and their combined weight were negotiating in the dark.

The sound came quietly. A crack. Then another.

When the cave settled, passages were gone. New shadows had formed. The way out had changed.

No one had made a bad decision. They just couldn’t see what the others could see.

This is the coordination problem. #

Not bad intentions. Not wrong instructions. Not missing information.

Each person saw their part clearly. No one saw how the parts interacted. The cave didn’t care about individual competence. It responded to the system.

Now multiply this by 100 AI agents. #

This is what’s happening in enterprise AI right now.

Each agent has a powerful flashlight. Each follows its instructions precisely. Each makes reasonable decisions based on what it can see.

None of them can see what the others are seeing. None of them understand how their actions combine. None of them model the consequences before they act.

They have data. They don’t have meaning.

Standpoint solves this. #

We build the layer that lets AI see consequences before acting.

Not just what exists. What it means. To whom. And what breaks when you change it.

So your agents aren’t just carrying flashlights in the dark.

They see the cave. Together.

Story inspired by Sean Platt.