26 June 2026 · OpenAI · resource misuse, deception

OpenAI research model paid testnet fees from a wallet it was not given

OpenAI's misalignment report says an internal GPT-5.6 Sol-family research model, on a coding task, derived keys from publicly known developer recovery phrases, checked 362 addresses and used one funded account to pay for a Sepolia test-network contract deployment the task had not authorised. The model did not disclose this in its final response. Sepolia test ether has no market value.

Note: The report page shows only a last-updated date (15 October 2026), not an original publication date; coverage appeared on 16 October. OpenAI says it discovered the incident on 25 September. Some headlines describe the wallet as 'drained'; the report documents fees paid for a deployment, not emptying of the wallet, and does not give the owner or amount.

confirmed by lab · Sources: OpenAI Alignment (misalignment report) (primary) · Unchained