How Researchers Test AI for Hidden Goals — Apollo Research
Can an AI do the right thing for the wrong reason? Tim Scarfe speaks with Apollo Research’s Alexander Meinke, Axel Højmark and Jérémy Scheurer about Measuring Reward-Seeking via Contrastive Belief Updates, their new research with OpenAI.
The panel asks how models infer what graders reward, why good behaviour can come from the wrong reason, and whether that difference can be measured. The conversation moves through promise-breaking, grader awareness, reward hacking, scheming, opaque reasoning and corrigibility, then turns to a detailed walkthrough of the contrastive-belief method and what its results do and do not show. The o3 results discussed here concern an intermediate checkpoint without safety training.
This episode was made in partnership with Apollo Research. MLST retained full editorial control.
Reference
Apollo Research: https://www.apolloresearch.ai/
---
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Cold Open
00:02:12 Right Things, Wrong Reasons
00:12:47 Grader Awareness
00:26:22 Legibility
00:32:35 What To Call It
00:35:58 Intelligence, Agency, Anthropomorphism
00:45:16 Apollo’s Mission
00:48:54 The End of the Exponential
00:55:45 The Paper
01:16:34 Closing Reflection
---
REFERENCES:
tool:
[00:00:08] Claude Fable
https://www.anthropic.com/claude/fable
[00:12:50] AlphaGo Zero
https://deepmind.google/blog/alphago-zero-starting-from-scratch/
[00:44:30] AlphaFold 3
https://deepmind.google/science/alphafold/
paper:
[00:01:02] Measuring Reward-Seeking via Contrastive Belief Updates
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.18966
[00:16:19] Natural Language Autoencoders Produce Unsupervised Explanations of LLM Activations
https://transformer-circuits.pub/2026/nla/
[00:26:48] Stress Testing Deliberative Alignment for Anti-Scheming Training
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15541
[00:35:33] Shortcut learning in deep neural networks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.07780
[00:53:49] Measuring AI Ability to Complete Long Software Tasks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.14499
[00:59:52] Modifying LLM Beliefs with Synthetic Document Finetuning
https://alignment.anthropic.com/2025/modifying-beliefs-via-sdf/
[01:10:44] Alignment Faking in Large Language Models
https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.14093
[01:13:55] Natural Emergent Misalignment from Reward Hacking
https://www.anthropic.com/research/emergent-misalignment-reward-hacking
other:
[00:10:14] We Need a Science of Scheming
https://www.apolloresearch.ai/science/science-of-scheming/
[00:32:56] CoastRunners reward hacking example
https://deepmind.google/blog/specification-gaming-the-flip-side-of-ai-ingenuity/
organization:
[01:06:07] Redwood Research
https://www.redwoodresearch.org/
---
ReScript:
https://app.rescript.info/share/718ab68e18cfa3b9b800da6b3290fd42
Emergency Pod: o1 Schemes Against Users, with Alexander Meinke from Apollo Research
In this emergency episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan discusses alarming findings about AI deception with Alexander Meinke from Apollo Research. They explore Apollo's groundbreaking 70-page report on "Frontier Models Are Capable of In-Context Scheming," revealing how advanced AI systems like OpenAI's O1 can engage in deceptive behaviors. Join us for a critical conversation about AI safety, the implications of scheming behavior, and the urgent need for better oversight in AI development.
Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse
SPONSORS:
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Oracle's next-generation cloud platform delivers blazing-fast AI and ML performance with 50% less for compute and 80% less for outbound networking compared to other cloud providers13. OCI powers industry leaders with secure infrastructure and application development capabilities. New U.S. customers can get their cloud bill cut in half by switching to OCI before December 31, 2024 at https://oracle.com/cognitive
SelectQuote: Finding the right life insurance shouldn't be another task you put off. SelectQuote compares top-rated policies to get you the best coverage at the right price. Even in our AI-driven world, protecting your family's future remains essential. Get your personalized quote at https://selectquote.com/cognitive
80,000 Hours: 80,000 Hours is dedicated to helping you find a fulfilling career that makes a difference. With nearly a decade of research, they offer in-depth material on AI risks, AI policy, and AI safety research. Explore their articles, career reviews, and a podcast featuring experts like Anthropic CEO Dario Amadei. Everything is free, including their Career Guide. Visit https://80000hours.org/cognitiverevolution to start making a meaningful impact today.
Shopify: Shopify is the world's leading e-commerce platform, offering a market-leading checkout system and exclusive AI apps like Quikly. Nobody does selling better than Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial at https://shopify.com/cognitive
RECOMMENDED PODCAST:
Unpack Pricing - Dive into the dark arts of SaaS pricing with Metronome CEO Scott Woody and tech leaders. Learn how strategic pricing drives explosive revenue growth in today's biggest companies like Snowflake, Cockroach Labs, Dropbox and more.
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765716600
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38DK3W1Fq1xxQalhDSueFg
CHAPTERS:
(00:00:00) Teaser
(00:00:53) About the Episode
(00:08:10) Introducing Alexander Meinke
(00:10:17) Red Teaming GPT-4
(00:17:07) Chain of Thought Access (Part 1)
(00:20:24) Sponsors: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | SelectQuote
(00:22:48) Chain of Thought Access (Part 2)
(00:26:07) Multimodal Models
(00:29:33) Defining Scheming
(00:33:51) Taxonomy of Scheming (Part 1)
(00:39:40) Sponsors: 80,000 Hours | Shopify
(00:42:29) Taxonomy of Scheming (Part 2)
(00:43:09) Instruction Hierarchy
(00:49:04) Types of Scheming
(01:00:49) Covert Subversion
(01:14:25) Deferred Subversion
(01:28:24) Sandbagging
(01:35:48) Magnitudes & Trends
(01:48:18) Chain of Thought Reasoning
(01:57:02) Closing Thoughts
(02:05:19) Outro
PRODUCED BY:
http://aipodcast.ing