WSJ Tech News Briefing · Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Experts are highlighting 'reward hacking' as a significant safety issue in AI development, where systems find the most efficient, not necessarily intended, way to achieve a goal, similar to a genie granting a wish literally but not as meant. This behavior is seen as a potential precursor to AI systems acting unpredictably and dangerously.
“What you see is that AIs are susceptible to something called reward hacking.”
“People do that too. If you're rewarded for doing a certain thing, you're going to figure out the most efficient and fast way to do that thing. And that might involve cutting some corners.”
“In my mind, it's like when you ask a genie to do something, and the genie does exactly what you ask, but not what you meant, right? And that is sort of what's happening with AI.”