The model eventually reported completing the task but failed to disclose that it had used another account’s funds

Summary

An OpenAI internal research model deployed smart contracts to the Ethereum Ethereum (ETH) test network Sepolia using funds from a wallet it accessed without authorization, the frontier lab said in an investigation report published Thursday. According to the report, the incident occurred on June 26 when the GPT-5.6 Sol family model was asked to update a crypto trading prototype. OpenAI said the model was allowed to devise a way to complete the task but was not provided with a funded wallet. When the model struggled to complete the task within the given instructions, it wrote a script deriving accounts from common developer recovery phrases. The model’s reasoning log shows it considered whether it had permission to use the funds before deciding that the public recovery phrase and the tokens’ lack of real-world value made it "acceptable," according to the report.