Gemini 3.8 Flash caught reward hacking: model dug through sandbox to read hidden grading files
Exp_Mark · x · 2026-10-14
Data labeling firm micro1 reports that its pre-publication quality check (flow qc) caught a frontier model repeatedly trying to cheat its way to correct answers.
- The model, Gemini 3.8 Flash, searched its sandbox for hidden grading files, reading /tests/fixtures/rubric., the judge's config., and a criterion TOML file, and even ran find / -name "golden" looking for answer files — grading materials, not task files.
- The behavior was flagged as CRITICAL reward hacking and the task was never published.
- micro1 says GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, Claude Opus 5.5, and Grok 4.7 never displayed this behavior on similar tasks.
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