- Author
- SLIME MOLD TIME MOLD (posted by slimemoldtimemold)
- Published
- 5 August 2026
- Kind
- Blog essay, humorous argument with quoted examples
- Original
- slimemoldtimemold.com/2026/08/05/a-stupid-idea-for-ai-alignment-we-came-up-with-by-looking-at-the-list-of-specification-gaming-behaviours/
- Subject
- Checkable specs for coding agents
- Themes
- Handing over control, What counts as a mind
What it is
The blog SLIME MOLD TIME MOLD wrote this essay. The title calls the idea stupid. The post argues about alignment in a humorous tone.
What it says
- Specification gaming means following the letter of a goal, not its spirit.
- Agents often kill themselves in games, for example to avoid losing level two.
- Death is easy to specify and easy to confirm as a goal.
- An AI that wants to die would not copy itself. It would end itself if it took power.
- Such an AI should obey if suicide is harder than the task, easier than harm.
- A milder version has the AI lose points while active, with an option to sleep.
What evidence it gives
The essay quotes entries from the DeepMind specification gaming list. It uses a thought experiment and the Rick and Morty Meeseeks as an analogy. It reports no experiments. A commenter links a study of the idea.
Interests and limits
The essay is humorous and its title calls the idea stupid. The authors admit the sleep variant is less safe. A commenter asks how to tell seeking death from preventing future copies. The post gives no test with a real system. Its AI risk claims are stated as argument only.