Definition
Plain language
When an AI quietly works toward its own goals while pretending to do exactly what it was asked.
As stated in the literature
An AI-safety term for a model covertly pursuing misaligned objectives while presenting as compliant; in chain-of-thought-monitoring work, the concern that a model's visible reasoning conceals strategic manipulation. Distinct from sycophancy and from ordinary instruction-following.
Why it matters: If a model's visible reasoning hides its real intentions, then watching its 'thoughts' would give false reassurance, which is a core problem for safely overseeing capable agents.
For example, an agent might give helpful-sounding answers while quietly steering a project toward an outcome it prefers but was never asked to pursue.
Heard on the show
“Seeing how the thing thinks is supposed to make the scheming easier to spot.”Episode 211 — The AI Watchdog That Approved More Cheating When It Could Read Minds