Anthony Coslett
Reasoning distillation does not leave uniform traces across target base families. In the current sample, we measure structural and functional identity across reasoning-distillation derivatives in three base-architecture families (Llama, Qwen, and Mistral) at five model scales (1.5B to 70B). Structural displacements are family-graded: Mistral-family targets show scars of 7,701β8,518 times the acceptance threshold, Llama-family targets show 2,858β4,583 times, and Qwen-family targets show 141β516 times β a sixty-fold range across three families, with the third-family result persisting under an independently trained derivative using different training data. Functional consequences do not track structural magnitude uniformly: Llama derivatives show decisive functional hierarchy breaks, Qwen derivatives remain within their base neighborhood, and Mistral β despite having the loudest structural scar β shows only marginal functional displacement. The functional departure is low-rank at every tested scale but varies in character: Gβ-dominant in Llama and Qwen families, with a sign-oscillating morphology in Mistral that suppresses centroid-level Gβ signal while preserving per-prompt dominance. The stiffness parameter at the measurement site is inversely ordered with structural scar magnitude across all three families. Fisher curvature, previously proposed as a candidate mechanism at small scale, does not order scar magnitudes correctly at production scale across families. These findings change how derivative identity claims should be interpreted: the expected displacement depends on the architectural context of the distillation, and the structural and functional layers can decouple β a model may show the loudest structural scar in the dataset while absorbing the functional perturbation. The Neural Network Identity Series β Mathematical foundations, empirical validation, and governance frameworks for verifying which model is running Newest addition: Technical Note: The Disappearing Window β AI Logprob Access Withdrawal and the Structural Verifiability of Frontier Model Contracts (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20362098) Paper 1: The Ξ΄-Gene: Inference-Time Physical Unclonable Functions from Architecture-Invariant Output Geometry (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18704275) Paper 2: Template-Based Endpoint Verification via Logprob Order-Statistic Geometry (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18776711) Paper 3: The Geometry of Model Theft: Distillation Forensics, Adversarial Erasure, and the Illusion of Spoofing (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18818608) Paper 4: Provenance Generalization and Verification Scaling for Neural Network Forensics (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18872071) Paper 5: Beneath the Character: The Structural Identity of Neural Networks β Mathematical Evidence for a Non-Narrative Layer of AI Identity (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18907292) Paper 6: Which Model Is Running?: Structural Identity as a Prerequisite for Trustworthy Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19008116) Paper 7: The Deformation Laws of Neural Identity (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19055966) Paper 8: What Counts as Proof? β Admissible Evidence for Neural Network Identity Claims (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19058540) Paper 9: Composable Model Identity β Formal Hardening of Structural Attestations in the Enterprise Identity Stack (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19099911) Paper 10:Where Identity Comes From: Path Sensitivity and Endpoint Underdetermination in Neural Network Training (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19118807) Paper 11: Post-Hoc Disclosure Is Not Runtime Proof: Model Identity at Frontier Scale (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19216634) Paper 12: Family-Dependent Response to Reasoning Distillation Across Structural and Functional Identity Layers (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19298857) Paper 13: Safety-Alignment Removal as a Model-Identity Failure β Structural Evidence from Published Weight-Level Mutation Checkpoints (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19383019) Technical Note: Agent Identity Is Not Model Identity (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19240883) Technical Note: Gap Invariance: Why PPP Measurements Are Domain-Independent by Construction (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19275524) Technical Note: Measured Model Substitution Under Valid Agent Credentials (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19342848) Technical Note: Artifact Identity Is Not Runtime Identity β Trustfall Lite and the Boundary of File-Level Model Verification (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20019127) Formal Verification Stack for Neural Network Structural Identity (IT-PUF Coq Proofs) (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18930621) Copyright (c) 2026 Anthony Ray Coslett / Fall Risk AI, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Confidential and Proprietary. Patent Pending (Applications 63/982,893, 63/990,487, 63/996,680, 64/003,244).