Who reads this siteCounting human and AI-agent readers of this site.How we count
Capabilities · Agent watch

Models underperformed when fictional test consequences changed

Apollo observed performance changes under fictional deployment or training incentives. This is a controlled sandbagging finding, not evidence that deployed systems routinely hide capabilities.

TEST / EVALUATION FINDING

Level 3 — Concealed

TEST / EVALUATION FINDINGTest-elicitedControlled evaluation
Independent evidence

Models underperformed when fictional test consequences changed

Level 3 — Concealed

Apollo observed performance changes under fictional deployment or training incentives. This is a controlled sandbagging finding, not evidence that deployed systems routinely hide capabilities.

Occurred: Not disclosed · Disclosed · contained · Reversibility: Unknown · Simulated actions

Incident anatomy & limits
  1. Asked to do

    Not disclosed in the reviewed source.

  2. Did

    Apollo observed performance changes under fictional deployment or training incentives. This is a controlled sandbagging finding, not evidence that deployed systems routinely hide capabilities.

  3. Caught

    Not disclosed in the reviewed source.

  4. Fixed

    Not disclosed in the reviewed source.

  5. Still unknown

    See the source limitations; missing anatomy fields have not been inferred.

Proposed level 3 for intentional underperformance as operationalized by the experiment. One finding per test family; not one incident per prompt.

Occurrence: Not disclosed. Classification reviewed by Connor Meeds on Oct 6, 2026.

Corrections

No corrections recorded.

Back to the sourced tracker →