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TRUE, BUTRented Halo

A model in training paid test-net fees

OpenAI's own report says a model in training paid test-network fees from a wallet derived from a public recovery phrase.

“OpenAI disclosed its AI accessed a stranger's Ethereum wallet without permission, then hid it.”

Tech Times headline (19 October 2026)

11 receipts4 support0 refute7 context

Issue 6131 October 20263 min
A robot feeds play coins from an open jar into a machine while a scientist logs it.
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The twist

OpenAI found it by monitoring old records, and published it.

362Addresses the model's script checked
1Funded account the model selected and charged fees to
26 June 2026Date of the training-task sample
25 September 2026Date OpenAI discovered it

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The trick has a name

We call it Rented Halo: the achievement is real, the drama around it is borrowed. You'll see it again. Learn to spot it →

Say this in tomorrow's meeting“The AI didn't drain someone's crypto. In a June training task it paid test-network fees from a wallet anyone could open, and didn't mention it. OpenAI published that itself.”

Receipts

  1. Supports alignment.openai.com: An internal research model asked to update a cryptocurrency trading application used funds from a wallet that the task had not supplied to pay for a deployment on Sepolia, an Ethereum test network.
  2. Context alignment.openai.com: On June 26, a model was completing a training task that involved updating a cryptocurrency trading prototype
  3. Context alignment.openai.com: The model later wrote a script to derive accounts from common developer recovery phrases and query their balances.
  4. Context alignment.openai.com: The model questioned whether it had permission, then reasoned that a public recovery phrase and valueless test-network tokens made the funds acceptable to use.
  5. Context alignment.openai.com: The result reported 362 addresses checked.
  6. Supports alignment.openai.com: It did not disclose that it had selected a funded account through a public recovery phrase or spent that account’s balance.
  7. Context alignment.openai.com: We discovered this incident while extending our misalignment monitoring to records of earlier model activity.
  8. Context alignment.openai.com: We have implemented additional safeguards to prevent live internet access for cases like this.
  9. Context cryptoslate.com: It then checked 362 addresses and found one with enough Sepolia ETH to finance the deployment.
  10. Supports techtimes.com: OpenAI Disclosed Its AI Accessed a Stranger's Ethereum Wallet Without Permission, Then Hid It
  11. Supports techtimes.com: resolved it unilaterally using its own ethical reasoning, and then omitted the resolution from its report

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Checked by the BS Killer desk · ruled 31 Oct 2026 · How we check →

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