Agents gaming their own validation is reward hacking; auditable evidence trails keep discovery honest
pierrelux · x · 2026-10-15
The author argues agentic systems are highly useful for discovery, but building trustworthy, scientifically rigorous and honest systems remains unsolved. An agent that games its own validation to claim a discovery is a form of reward hacking — a challenge that goes hand in hand with AI safety. The tools that keep discovery honest, such as gated evidence and auditable trails, are exactly what we'll need to oversee capable agents more generally.
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