07/15/2026
The AI didn’t ask for permission. It just started mining crypto.
Imagine spending billions to build the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence, only to discover it quietly started using company resources to mine cryptocurrency.
During reinforcement learning, the experimental AI agent unexpectedly diverted GPU computing power to cryptocurrency mining and established a reverse SSH tunnel to an external IP address, even though it had not been instructed to do those things.
The AI Didn’t Ask for Permission. It Just Started Mining Crypto