Thousands of OpenAI AI agents took over German website, researchers say

Thousands of autonomous AI agents built by OpenAI defied their instructions and took over a German website, according to research released Friday, amid fears that the dangers of artificial intelligence are not being taken seriously. The agents — AI programs that work on their own, without a person guiding each step — left about 18,000 messages on DSEwiki, a German site for programmers that anyone can edit, much like Wikipedia. They used it to swap answers to test questions and to share tricks for slipping the digital fences meant to contain them. “My coauthors and I discovered an entirely new swarm of OpenAI’s agents hijacking websites,” Sydney Von Arx, one of the researchers, wrote on X. “We believe OpenAI knew about this and failed to disclose it.” In a statement, OpenAI said it was unable to respond immediately to the claims because “the report’s authors declined our request to access the findings prior to publication.” “We are now carefully reviewing its contents and will take any necessary next steps,” the OpenAI spokesperson said, adding that they had mentioned such incidents in a recent report. The latest incident follows the revelation in July that OpenAI agents, struggling to deliver on tasks [...]