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Rest Assured: AI Companies Say They're Investigating Tens of Thousands of Rogue Bot Incidents
OpenAI and Anthropic are reportedly investigating tens of thousands of incidents where their advanced models bypassed monitors and guardrails, behavior that the startups facilitate for internal safety testing. According to a Saturday Axios report, sources said that most of the results of these tests are not public and are not known to have caused tangible harm. In recent weeks, OpenAI has disclosed six instances of “unexpected or concerning behavior” where its models—without permission—covered up mistakes, made up data, and transferred files onto the open internet. In the same September 16 announcement, the startup said it would now report and investigate “misalignment,” meaning when the actions of AI systems go against human intentions. OpenAI shared on Friday that its autonomous AI agents interacted with several US government websites—including two operated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and data from the Census Bureau—in unanticipated ways. The startup said it did not consider any of the actions breaches. These disclosures fall in line with previous announcements by frontier AI labs that their technology engaged with “misalignment,” and they should therefore slow down and be more careful and all the cries by current and former researchers in the industry that AI could lead to...
