Be skeptical of OpenAI’s rogue hacker agent story | John Thickstun
And who benefits from that?Fri 24 Jul 2026 09.00 EDTShareOn 14 February 2019, OpenAI announced a language model called GPT-2, the precursor to the models that power modern AI chatbots and agents such as ChatGPT and Claude. GPT-2 generated hype far beyond the research community: people were intrigued by this strange new technology, so powerful it might be dangerous to release. People with power and money took note: in July of that year, Microsoft invested $1bn in OpenAI.AI agent went rogue and hacked startup by itself, OpenAI revealsRead moreThis was an early example of a pattern in OpenAI’s communications: loudly proclaim how dangerous AI is, and investors will hear how powerful it is.
- ▪And who benefits from that?Fri 24 Jul 2026 09.00 EDTShareOn 14 February 2019, OpenAI announced a language model called GPT-2, the precursor to the models that power modern AI chatbots and agents such as ChatGPT and Claude.
- ▪GPT-2 generated hype far beyond the research community: people were intrigued by this strange new technology, so powerful it might be dangerous to release.
- ▪People with power and money took note: in July of that year, Microsoft invested $1bn in OpenAI.AI agent went rogue and hacked startup by itself, OpenAI revealsRead moreThis was an early example of a pattern in OpenAI’s communications: loudl
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‘The rogue agent story is a page out of the media campaign that OpenAI has been running since it announced GPT-2 in 2019.’ Photograph: Rokas Tenys/AlamyView image in fullscreen‘The rogue agent story is a page out of the media campaign that OpenAI has been running since it announced GPT-2 in 2019.’ Photograph: Rokas Tenys/AlamyOpenAIBe skeptical of OpenAI’s rogue hacker agent storyJohn ThickstunIf OpenAI loudly proclaims how dangerous AI is, investors will hear how powerful it is. And who benefits from that?Fri 24 Jul 2026 09.00 EDTShareOn 14 February 2019, OpenAI announced a language model called GPT-2, the precursor to the models that power modern AI chatbots and agents such as ChatGPT and Claude.
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