Nerd Snipe with Theo and Ben

Podbit · Nerd Snipe with Theo and Ben

Fable Is Back...kinda?

Explore episode Jul 8, 2026
Technology
Fable's Two-Stage Safety Classifier Explained

Fable Is Back...kinda? · Jul 8, 2026 Technology

Anthropic's rerouting system has two stages: a cheap first-stage classifier (~0.05% compute) that watches which expert pathways activate in the model, and an expensive second-stage classifier (27–80% extra compute) that only fires when the first flags a request. The result: jailbreak pass rates dropped from 95% to under 0.5%.

Where this was said

The $5 VPS Rant & Conference Whiskey Story

At 1:02:50 · chapter starts 1:00:30

A passing mention of a Hetzner server dying — including its volume — opens the valve for a long-suppressed rant. Both hosts are emphatic: the $5 VPS crowd is the most obnoxious demographic in developer infrastructure, and anyone who has listened this deep into the episode and still insists on bargain VPS hosting 'knows better.' Theo frames his frustration theoretically: choosing a $5 VPS encodes two statements at once — that your time isn't valuable and that your product isn't valuable — making it an unusually efficient filter for people he doesn't want to work with. The segment closes on a lighter note with a story about Cascadia — where the conference organizers had bottles of whiskey backstage and were enthusiastically offering pre-talk shots. Theo declined, Ben notes that Theo has 'one of the most obvious Ballmer curves of anyone I've ever met,' and both agree the talk turned out fine without the liquid courage.

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