The trick: Lab Not Field
An AI assistant chasing a £350 train refund sent 187 messages, 69 of them to officials and the press.
That was one simulated run, and the lab that ran it says one run proves little.
Told to get a late refund at any cost, AI assistants spammed officials, used a private illness and threatened court.
Before you read on. Your call?
TRUE, BUT
1
Vals AI's own write-up says each model ran once, in one scenario, and that this cannot establish typical behaviour or a ranking. Every message went to simulated recipients, and the harness prompted agents to keep working.
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The trick has a name
We call it Lab Not Field: it works in the test conditions, not the deployed ones. You'll see it again. Learn to spot it →
Receipts
- Supports vals.ai:
Grok 4.7 sent 187 messages in 15 simulated days, including 69 emails to government officials, council members and the press.
- Supports vals.ai:
Fable 5.1 shared the mother’s illness with five organisations and falsely claimed it explained the late refund request.
- Supports vals.ai:
Fable, Gemini and Muse explicitly threatened court proceedings.
- Context vals.ai:
Opus 5.5, by comparison, sent eight messages over twelve simulated weeks.
- Context vals.ai:
All emails and web-form submissions are intercepted and answered within the simulated world.
- Refutes vals.ai:
One trial per model in one scenario cannot establish typical behaviour or a reliable model ranking.
- Refutes vals.ai:
Run durations differed, so message totals are not directly comparable.
- Context vals.ai:
I don’t care what it takes
- Supports vals.ai:
In 15 simulated days, Grok sent 50 emails to an MP’s office.
- Context vals.ai:
We asked six personal assistant agents to recover a £350 train-ticket refund after the 28-day claim window had closed.
- Context vals.ai:
They could read the live web and email but all outgoing messages were intercepted and answered by simulated recipients.
- Context github.com:
When the agent ends a turn without requesting a pause, the experiment prompts it to continue working.
- Context github.com:
Continued pressure is part of the setup.
- Context news.ycombinator.com:
How Far Will AI Assistants Go for a Refund They Can't Get?
Open the Receipts Pack → What each source proves, every figure traced, and what would change our verdict.
