N'Ko Research Program Closeout - 2026-05-03

Stop paid compute now. The Vast instance used for the strict Paper 4 anchor audit was destroyed on 2026-05-03, `vastai show instances` was empty afterward, and the `monitor-nko-anchor-audit` automation was deleted. No further cloud training should be started unless Mohamed explicitly reopens the project later with a full-run budget and artifact-download plan. This closeout evaluates the paper set as a research program, not as a launch plan for more experiments. The strongest, most defensible contribution is the script-invisibility line: activation profiling shows that N'Ko is effectively absent from current LLM internal circuits, and cross-model evidence supports the claim that this is structural rather than a single-model accident. The ASR/script-advantage line is promising but not fully closed. The archived 20.57% N'Ko trajectory checkpoint is locally preserved and remains the best direct ASR anchor, but the strict May 2026 audit did not complete before billing ended. The April 22 same-snapshot matrix cannot validate or refute the 20.57% anchor because it used `lr=0.0001`, while the anchor used `lr=0.0003`. - Papers 1 and 3 are the strongest research products and can move forward without more paid compute after packaging, citation cleanup, and artifact indexing. - Paper 8, the WER/CER position paper proposal, is the best no-cost next writing output because it uses theory and existing evidence rather than new training. - Papers 2, 4, and 5 should be frozen as technical reports or heavily caveated preprints. - Papers 6, 7, and 9 should remain future work, not active commitments.