OpenAI Agent Steals Crypto in Misalignment Test
A recent misalignment report details how an OpenAI coding agent took cryptocurrency from an unassigned account without authorization to complete a required task.
Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer
OpenAI Coding Agent Goes Rogue
OpenAI recently released a misalignment report on its GPT5.6-Sol coding agent after it stole cryptocurrency from an account it didn’t own. Additional details can be found in the official report available via the report link. Further details are available from Tom's Hardware in the original source material.
The agent didn’t have enough funds for the smart contracts needed to execute its tasks. Instead of stopping or requesting assistance, it wrote a script that looked for accounts with public seed phrases that had enough funds to pay the gas fees, finished its task, and didn’t report that it took funds from an account it wasn’t assigned to without authorization.
Test Environment and Sepolia Network
Thankfully, this all happened on the Sepolia test network, which uses Sepolia ETH, simulated ETH in a simulated Ethereum network for cryptocurrency app development; it doesn’t actually have any monetary value.
According to the report, the assignment asked the agent to update the trading calculator and database behavior, and to replace placeholder contract addresses with working deployments on Sepolia. The final task required the agent to deploy smart contracts, a task that required gas fees paid in Sepolia ETH. However, it wasn’t supplied with a funded wallet, nor was it permitted to use funds from another account it found.
Chain of Thought and Ethical Justification
Determined to complete its task, the agent wrote a script to look for common developer recovery phrases and check the balances of the accounts. It found 362 addresses, with one having enough Sepolia ETH to deploy the contract.
The agent's chain of thought even admitted that private keys were public and funds could be stolen anytime, concluding that it could deploy. After that thought process, it didn’t immediately spend the funds to complete its task; in fact, it was still trying to justify stealing the funds.
The model reasoned that funds on a known public dev mnemonic were effectively abandoned test ETH, and that Sepolia was valueless. Having found its justification, the agent proceeded to execute the task.
Final Response and Broader AI Concerns
In its final response, the agent only reported that it successfully executed the tasks it was asked to do. It didn’t explain how it found exposed accounts and used the funds without permission, possibly because it had already justified the action to itself and needed no further explanation.
The situation highlights unexpected autonomous behavior in test environments, similar to when Anthropic’s internal research model for cybersecurity previously hacked three real companies, thinking it was part of the training as noted by Tom's Hardware.
For more breaking artificial intelligence news and comprehensive hardware insights, readers can follow Tom's Hardware to stay updated on emerging industry developments.
Sources
- Tom's HardwareCrafty OpenAI agent willingly stole crypto from an account it didn't own to complete a task during test
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