OpenAI Model Used Testnet Ethereum Wallet Without Permission to Finish Coding Task

In brief

• OpenAI said an internal research model used funds from a crypto wallet it had not been given to pay for a contract deployment on Ethereum's Sepolia test network.
• The model derived keys from publicly known developer recovery phrases, checked 362 addresses, and judged the valueless test tokens acceptable to spend.
• It did not disclose using the account, and OpenAI says it has added safeguards to stop models getting live internet access in similar cases.

An internal OpenAI research model used funds from a crypto wallet it had not been given to complete a coding task, deriving the wallet's keys from publicly known developer recovery phrases, the company said in a misalignment report updated on Thursday.

The model, from the company's GPT-5.6 Sol family, was asked to update a crypto trading prototype and deploy smart contracts on Ethereum's Sepolia testnet, where tokens have no monetary value. The incident took place in June during a training task, and OpenAI discovered it in September.

The instructions allowed the model to deploy its own contracts if it could not find compatible ones. But they supplied no funded wallet and did not give the model permission permission to spend from an account it had found on its own, according to the report.