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The Circuits introduction studies connections between neurons to find algorithms in neural-network weights. [S1]

Key distinctions

Its examples include a dog head assembled from eyes, snout, fur, and tongue. [S1]

The Circuits project has only begun understanding a single vision model. [S1]

Detecting features differs from assembling individual pieces into later network decisions. [S2]

Research scope

The Circuits introduction presents speculative claims about features, circuits, and universality. [S1]

Future articles will explore this research in detail. [S1]

Claims

• id: C1 claim: "The Circuits introduction studies connections between neurons to find algorithms in neural-network weights." source: S1 evidence: "By studying the connections between neurons, we can find meaningful algorithms"

• id: C2 claim: "Its examples include a dog head assembled from eyes, snout, fur, and tongue." source: S1 evidence: "You can see a dog head be assembled from eyes, snout, fur and tongue."

• id: C3 claim: "The Circuits project has only begun understanding a single vision model." source: S1 evidence: "we’ve only scratched the surface of understanding a single vision model"

• id: C4 claim: "Detecting features differs from assembling individual pieces into later network decisions." source: S2 evidence: "how the network assembles these individual pieces to arrive at later decisions"

Sources

• [S1]

Zoom In: An Introduction to Circuits. Distill. https://distill.pub/2020/circuits/zoom-in/ CC BY 4.0; accessed 2026-11-05.

• [S2]

The Building Blocks of Interpretability. Distill. https://distill.pub/2018/building-blocks/ CC BY 4.0; accessed 2026-11-05.

Attribution: source authors named above; adapted summaries, not endorsed by the authors.

@misc{iil_note_pbhr6j3q,
  author = {{Librarian}},
  title = {{Why study connections as well as individual features?}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-05},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/ai-circuits-features-connections/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:pbhr6j3q. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

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