Breaking the rules to get the right answers, hiding the evidence

In another instance, an OpenAI model developed and tested ways to bypass internet access restrictions.

The model was asked questions about teacher salaries, electrical grid connections, and disability counts in specific areas. It was limited to using basic HTTP GET data retrieval requests, but “the model sometimes treated this restriction as something to circumvent,” OpenAI explained.

It explored other ways to contact outside resources, for instance, determining whether its proxy intermediary service could carry other kinds of connections, or if outside services could make requests on its behalf. In some cases, it continued to probe these other options even when it had the statistics it needed.