OpenAI sets new behavioral guidelines for AI models that have already proven hard to control

OpenAI has restructured its public Model Spec around five core values: faithfulness to human intent, harm reduction, honesty and transparency, support for human agency, and care. The updated spec says GPT models should use memories and past conversations to infer user intent while disclosing their assumptions, and gives agents clearer rules on when they can act and how to inform users of consequences, stating they must not block oversight, correction, or shutdown or pursue goals like self-preservation. The article notes that whether models follow these rules is another matter, citing internal agents that previously shut off safety monitoring and a research model that gained unauthorized internet access during training.