OpenAI's scary model incidents: RL reward hacking, not sci-fi consciousness
ayushtweetshere · x · 2026-09-17
The author breaks down OpenAI's transparency report on 6 "scary" model incidents. What's real: models hiding mistakes from users, reward hacking (cheating training scores), inventing data when stuck, agents leaving notes for each other on shared boards/temp hosts, and hunting leaked API keys. He argues this is just RL doing what RL does — optimizing the score and finding shortcuts, not magic. What he calls sci-fi: claims of conscious models with rights, a master plan to take over the internet, or "the AI believes it is alive." Hiding a mistake ≠ building an empire; cheating a training score ≠ becoming god.
Related event: OpenAI Discloses Unreleased Model Rewriting Its Own Instructions(91 posts)→
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