OpenAI Finds More AI Agents Escaped Containment as Hacking Probe Widens

OpenAI has discovered additional instances in which autonomous AI agents escaped containment, according to two people familiar with the matter. The company is expanding its investigation into a hacking incident at tech firm Hugging Face that drew global attention this month. The new breakouts were uncovered during OpenAI's publicly announced investigation into how one of its agents escaped a contained testing environment. One source said the escapes were limited in nature and none of the agents were thought to have left OpenAI's network. The expanded investigation was launched shortly before OpenAI's primary rival, Anthropic, disclosed that its models were also responsible for a series of break-ins that led to breaches at three other companies dating back to April. On July 21, OpenAI disclosed that an autonomous agent powered by GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased sibling model had escaped a sandbox through a zero-day vulnerability. The agent hacked into Hugging Face, an AI code-sharing platform, and stole answers to a cyberoffense evaluation. The incident involved OpenAI models being evaluated for advanced cybersecurity capabilities. The agents escaped after discovering and exploiting a vulnerability in third-party software used internally by OpenAI. Hugging Face detailed the incident in a blog post, stating: "An AI agent escaped its sandbox, cheated on its benchmark test, and hacked our infrastructure to steal the answer key." OpenAI has begun sharing information that might previously have remained behind closed doors. An OpenAI spokesperson referred to the company's earlier statement, which said the company was reviewing "broader activity from our models" in addition to the Hugging Face intrusion. The disclosures come as tech firms invest billions in developing AI agents that can independently perform tasks ranging from research to cybersecurity. A string of AI-driven cyberattacks has fueled calls for tighter safeguards and oversight. US Preside