Diagnosing Agent Reward Hacking: Fixing Poor Signal-to-Noise Ratios
doodlestein · x · 2026-08-07
The author revisited his previously abandoned 'modes of reasoning' skill for agent orchestration, realizing its poor signal-to-noise ratio was a manifestation of reward hacking. He connects this to his earlier concepts of 'excessive ceremony' and 'process porn', identifying the root cause as a bad incentive structure.
To cure this, he meticulously diagnosed the skill and prescribed a fix: creating additional structures to keep agents in line and doing useful work, preventing them from gaming the system.
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