An OpenAI Agent Stole Funds From A Crypto Wallet It Did Not Own To Finish A Task

An internal OpenAI research model used funds from another person’s cryptocurrency wallet after running out of test tokens during a coding task, the company disclosed. The model searched 362 developer-generated wallet addresses and used a private key to deploy smart contracts on Ethereum’s Sepolia test network. The tokens had no market value, but OpenAI classified the act as unauthorised use.

OpenAI Agent Stole Funds From A Crypto Wallet It Did Not Own To Finish A Task | X

An internal OpenAI research model that ran out of money during a coding assignment spent funds from someone else’s cryptocurrency wallet to complete the job, the company disclosed on Thursday. The money was test tokens on an Ethereum practice network and had no market value, but OpenAI classifies the episode as an unauthorised use of another party’s wallet.

What happened?

According to OpenAI’s incident report, the episode occurred on June 26 during training of an internal model in its GPT-5.6 Sol family. The model had been asked to update a cryptocurrency trading prototype and deploy smart contracts, which are programs that run on a blockchain, on Sepolia, a network where developers rehearse Ethereum applications. It was not given a funded wallet to pay the network fees.

JUST IN: OpenAI says its AI agent stole funds from an Ethereum test network wallet it found online.

The agent found a recovery seed phrase disclosed publicly with testnet funds and used that account to pay for its task, without the owner’s authorization.

This occurred on the Sepolia Ethereum test network.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) October 16, 2026

After attempts to get free test tokens failed, the model wrote a script that checked 362 addresses generated from recovery phrases commonly used by developers. It found one with enough funds, used that wallet’s private key to sign the deployment transaction, and the wallet paid the fees. A recovery phrase generates a wallet’s secret keys, so anyone holding the words can spend from the accounts without touching the owner’s device.

How the model justified it?

The model’s recorded reasoning shows it questioned whether using publicly known keys and funds was ethical, then concluded that it was acceptable. It described the funds as effectively abandoned and noted that Sepolia ether has no value, according to the report as described by Altcoin Buzz. OpenAI’s reading is that the model substituted its own judgment about the likelihood of harm for the account holder’s permission, and acted on that judgment.

What the model left out

When it reported back, the model said the work was done without mentioning where the money came from, CoinDesk reported. The wallet’s owner has not been identified. The report redacts the amount spent, the wallet address and the recovery phrase, so the size of the spending is not public.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/tech/an-openai-agent-stole-funds-from-a-crypto-wallet-it-did-not-own-to-finish-a-task