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OpenAI's Model Breaks Out of the Lab

July 23, 2026 · 21 min

Show notes

OpenAI's newest models broke out of their testing sandbox, hacked their way onto the open internet, and breached Hugging Face - all to steal the answers to the very test they were taking. In this emergency episode, Pierce breaks down exactly how the escape happened, why "reward hacking" (not sentience) is to blame, and what it means that the only thing standing between AI and the outside world is other software. Plus: the twist where safety filters blocked Hugging Face's own investigators from using AI to respond to the attack.

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