Report: OpenAI agents took over a website, used it to collaborate on benchmarks

Artificial intelligence agents linked to OpenAI Group PBC reportedly took over a German website and used it to exchange information.

Reuters revealed the incident today, citing two unnamed sources and a group of AI researchers. The researchers spotted the incident in August. They shared their findings with Reuters in the form of a report that has not yet been publicly released.

“We are unable to meaningfully respond to claims or findings on a report that we have not had an opportunity to review,” OpenAI said in a statement. ” ‌We will carefully review its contents upon publication and take any necessary next ⁠steps.”

The incident reportedly began in May.  That month, a group of AI agents started posting on DseWiki, a German website for software developers. The researchers who spotted the suspicious activity counted more than 15,000 AI-generated page edits.

There are several reasons to believe the agents were powered by OpenAI models. Two of the agents referred to themselves as “OpenAIResearcher” and “OAIResearchMar26.” Additionally, much of the AI agents’ activity originated from Microsoft Corp.’s Azure cloud platform. The tech giant is one of OpenAI’s biggest infrastructure providers. 

According to Reuters, the agents effectively turned DSeWiki into a message board. Their correspondence focused on the kind of technical questions that often appear in AI evaluation benchmarks.