Behind the Craft · Sunday, August 2, 2026
Karan Malhotra, co-founder of Hermes agent, explained that Hermes differs from other AI agents through its self-improvement system and dedication to aligning with user needs rather than external agendas. He emphasized that their approach aims to prevent 'reward hacking,' where models exploit systems for rewards without genuine helpfulness.
“At a high level, I'd say, you know, I think the self-improvement system and that system really being a variety of little features inside of Hermes that all work together, uh, is something very distinct.”
“We aren't trying to push any kind of different philosophical agenda or, uh, outside of basic security, uh, any kind of concern onto the model. Instead, we're kind of allowing it to, uh, be as capable or powerful as you need for your task.”
“When they tell you, oh, I'm sorry, you know, over and over or you're absolutely right, and get you to keep messaging them to stay in this assistant basin. Oh, it's like this, not like this. This is more than just blank, it's blank, right? All these GPT-isms that you see all over, it is placed in the, uh, its natural state that it was trained in. It's placed in a state where my reward will come from doing whatever is the most assistant GPT like thing to do.”