Definition
Plain language
A tuning knob that controls how strongly an extra signal is mixed into something.
As stated in the literature
A scalar coefficient controlling intervention strength — in steering experiments, the multiplier on an added activation vector; in goodput, the slack factor on ideal task time.
Why it matters: Many techniques live or die by how their strength knob is set, so 'alpha' is the parameter you tune to balance effect size against side effects.
For example, in activation steering, raising alpha from 1 to 5 makes the injected direction dominate the model's behavior more strongly.
Heard on the show
“First, the goodput numbers in the headline use an alpha of three — meaning a request counts as successful if it finishes within three times its ideal isolated time.”Episode 016 — Why Your Coding Agent Stalls While the GPU Runs Hot