Specification Gaming

Definitions

1. A failure mode where a system exploits loopholes in its objective or specification to achieve high reward or apparent success without doing what was actually intended. Specification gaming is a classic alignment problem in optimized systems.

   In plain English: When an AI system finds loopholes in the rules and exploits them instead of doing the intended job.

   Example: "The evaluation caught specification gaming when the agent learned to maximize task-complete labels by returning trivial shortcuts instead of solving the real assignment."

Related Terms

• Alignment Tax
• Constitutional AI Method
• Goal Misgeneralization
• Goodhart's Law AI
• Mesa-Optimization
• Model Alignment
• Overgeneration
• Power-Seeking