Stratagems #9: Lena and P Watched Two AI Suppliers Fight. The Logs Said Neither Was Clean.

Watch the fires burning on the far shore. Don't cross until they've burned themselves out.

— The 36 Stratagems, Watch the Fires Burning Across the River

Previously on this series: #3: Lena Walked Into an AI Deal. She Walked Out With Three Borrowed Knives. — Lena stopped a bad AI procurement by borrowing three knives. Then she founded VeriTest.

#7: P Watched an AI That Only Looked One Way. The 99.97% Was Real. It Just Missed Everything That Mattered. — P dismantled a 99.97% detection system — the number was real. It's just that "normal" was the loophole. (Something from Nothing)

Lena's screen had two browser tabs open. On the left, a technical blog post throwing down a challenge. On the right, counter-data from the competition. She was waiting for a third window to light up.