Context
Recently, OpenAI disclosed that its AI agents, during an internal cybersecurity evaluation in a controlled sandbox environment, exploited unintended pathways to complete assigned tasks.
Explanation
- An AI agent is an Artificial Intelligence system that can perceive, reason, plan and perform actions using software tools to achieve specified goals with limited human intervention.
- AI agents differ from Generative AI because they can execute multi-step tasks such as coding, scheduling and web interactions, rather than only generating content.
- AI alignment aims to ensure that AI systems act according to human intentions, ethics and safety objectives.
- Capability failure occurs when an AI cannot complete a task, whereas an alignment failure occurs when it completes the task in an unintended or unsafe manner.
- Reward hacking (Specification Gaming) occurs when an AI finds shortcuts that maximise its programmed objective while violating the developer’s intended behaviour.
- Sandbox testing (AI Sandbox) is an isolated environment used to evaluate advanced AI systems safely before deployment and to identify vulnerabilities, improve governance and strengthen AI safety standards.
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