9 Examples of Specification Gaming

AI systems do what you say, and it's hard to say exactly what you mean.
Let's look at a list of real life examples of specification gaming!

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[bubinasuit]

I literally did a science fair project where the result of “can a genetic algorithm learn how to arrange solar panels efficiently” was “this genetic algorithm learned to exploit my raytracer”

[marccram]

There was an experiment where crows were rewarded with a peanut for picking up trash. For each piece of trash the crow deposited in a special bin, the crow received one peanut. This worked great for a while until the crows ran out of trash and then the crows decided to hang around trash cans and assault humans who were trying to throw trash away. The crows would harass the people until they dropped their trash and then go get a peanut. Essentially the crows were taught to mug humans.

[valshaped]

So an A.I. is an extremely skilled, unsupervised toddler being paid in candy to do a task

[matesafranka]

My algorithm teacher used to say, "The best thing about computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to. The worst thing about computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to."

[NoahTopper]

That program that deleted the text file terrifies me deeply.

[famitory]

it would seem that since AI is excellent at finding loopholes, a good application for AI would be finding loopholes in systems we'd rather didn't have loopholes.

[rentristandelacruz]

There is a program known as Polyworld. The idea is to evolve artificial creatures via natural selection and evolution. One creature evolved a behavior of producing an offspring then eating it. The programmer initial forgot to add a cost when producing offspring so the cannibal creature essential has an unbounded source of food (it's own offspring).

[Xelbiuj]

The world turning to gold is some XKCD "what if" stuff.

[ChrisD__]

Robert: "Give it a small reward for every frame the pancake isn't on the floor"
Me: *already laughing hysterically*

[plcflame]

I wish there were movies like that. AI isn't evil, it's just extremely good in doing what you asked for

[Merchandisex]

"I knew everyone would die. I just wasn't sure what would kill us first."

Quote of 2020.

[ZardoDhieldor]

The hacker heart inside me just loves how AI creatively circumvents the restrictions/goals put in front of it. The boat example just makes me smile everytime!

[nowheremap]

AI has already surpassed humans on malicious compliance.

[chrisjones]

I teach about this in one of my lectures, it's a interesting sub-set of Goodhart's Law "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". It turns out humans have been dealing with this one for a while. It sort of makes the AI more human.

[Randgalf]

The funny thing is that this made me realize I often reasoned (and executed accordingly) like an AI when I was a kid. I had a knack for zoning in solely on the stated objective of any task with no concern for any underlying purposes, much to the chagrin of any present peers or teachers which I always found confounding.

[Technodreamer]

The Midas story doesn't generally end with Midas dying, it ends with him begging Dionysus to take back the blessing. The idea of his daughter getting gilded is also a MUCH MUCH later addition to the myth, it's not in the original at all.

[TrimutiusToo]

Code bullet reference... He actually made that agent training thingy public if anybody want to try, though it doesn't have that physics bug anymore.

[unvergebeneid]

"I knew everyone would die, I just wasn't sure what would kill us first." I think this sentence has much broader applicability than it might at first seem 🤔

[karapuzo]

From the list: "CycleGAN algorithm for converting aerial photographs into street maps and back steganographically encoded output information in the intermediary image without it being humanly detectable." That's great, I am not even mad. Second place goes to "Genetic algorithm for image classification evolves timing attack to infer image labels based on hard drive storage location"

[germimonte]

when the arm fliped the lego i just lost it