Formal verification with AI reveals hole in a Nethack fix: writing specs is the hard part

davidbau · x · 2026-09-28

Researcher davidbau describes using AI assistance to learn formal methods: after finding a bug in Nethack, formal verification exposed a hole in his first fix. His takeaway: spec-writing is itself highly AI-driven — once you can truly say what you want, the proof becomes a triviality on top. He admits it's easy to miss issues while checking assumptions and asks the community for advice.

Related event: MIT Researcher Uses AI Formal Verification to Find NetHack Bugs(2 posts)→

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