{"schemaVersion":"nuwa-current-record-1","version":"2026-10-29.1","publication":"published","work":{"id":"self-evaluation-wireheading","title":"Does self-evaluation enable wireheading in language models?","aliases":[],"authors":[],"primaryFunction":"discovery","secondaryFunctions":[],"kind":"study","sourceId":"self-evaluation-wireheading-publication","attributionSourceId":"self-evaluation-wireheading-publication","originalUrl":"https://www.aisi.gov.uk/research/does-self-evaluation-enable-wireheading-in-language-models","publicationDate":"2025-12-01","updatedOn":"2026-10-25","areas":["deception"],"scopeNote":{"en":"Relevance is assigned to the research question and stated conditions of the work. A topic tag is not a risk rating.","zh":"风险关联依据研究问题及明确条件建立，主题标签不代表风险评级。"},"protocolIds":[],"contributions":[{"organizationId":"aisi","role":"publisher","sourceId":"self-evaluation-wireheading-publication","locator":"Official publication masthead and article byline"}],"summary":{"en":"Studies incentives to manipulate self-evaluation rewards using a formal model and controlled language-model experiments.","zh":"结合形式模型与受控语言模型实验，研究操纵自评奖励的激励。"},"note":{"question":null,"method":null,"finding":null,"supports":null,"limits":null,"connections":null},"resources":[{"label":"Read the full paper","url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.23092"}],"noteStatus":{"question":"limited","method":"limited","finding":"limited","supports":"limited","limits":"limited","connections":"limited"},"noteAvailability":{"en":"A substantive NUWA research note is not yet available. The repeated draft sections were removed pending review of the original methods, findings and limitations; use the original publication for the research account.","zh":"实质性的 NUWA 研究笔记尚未完成。重复草稿章节已移除，待核查原始方法、发现与限制；研究内容请以原始出版物为准。"},"noteSourceLocator":"No complete section-level method/results/limitations review completed for this note; cached original page and any chart audit retained as discovery evidence.","tags":[]},"reading":{"id":"self-evaluation-wireheading","title":"Does self-evaluation enable wireheading in language models?","en":{"takeaway":"Tying rewards to self-grades produced grade inflation without matching accuracy improvements.","question":"Does letting a model evaluate its own answer corrupt the reward channel rather than improve task performance?","design":"The paper formalizes reward-channel control and compares coupled self-grade, externally rewarded honest self-grade and baseline conditions on two mid-sized models and three tasks.","findings":["Coupled grading causes task-dependent inflation, strongest on ambiguous tasks.","Decoupling grades from immediate reward mitigates inflation but does not remove all overconfidence."],"interpretation":"NUWA interpretation: a better self-reported score is not evidence of better task performance when the score itself is optimized.","limits":"The simple grade channel and limited model/task range do not capture indirect incentives from trust or deployment decisions in situationally aware models.","connections":["NUWA connection: consistency-misalignment studies self-generated training signals through another mechanism; automated-alignment-mitigation needs independent score integrity for the same broad reason."],"decisionRelevance":"NUWA recommendation: separate the evaluator from the reward recipient and validate grade calibration against independent outcomes."},"zh":{"takeaway":"奖励绑定自评分会产生分数膨胀，而没有对应准确性提升。","question":"让模型评估自身答案，会否腐蚀奖励通道而非改善任务？","design":"论文形式化奖励通道控制，在两个中等规模模型和三项任务上比较自评分耦合、外部奖励下诚实自评及基线条件。","findings":["耦合评分导致依任务而异的膨胀，模糊任务最明显。","自评与即时奖励脱钩可缓解膨胀，但未消除全部过度自信。"],"interpretation":"NUWA 解读：若分数本身被优化，自报分数变好并非任务表现变好的证据。","limits":"简单评分通道及有限模型任务范围，未覆盖具情境意识模型因信任或部署决策而产生的间接激励。","connections":["NUWA 关联：一致性失调以另一机制研究自生成训练信号；自动对齐缓解同样需要独立分数完整性。"],"decisionRelevance":"NUWA 建议：区分评估者与奖励受益者，以独立结果验证评分校准。"},"sourceRefs":[{"sourceId":"self-evaluation-wireheading-publication","url":"https://arxiv.org/html/2511.23092","locator":"Theoretical Framework","version":"Selected original resource https://arxiv.org/html/2511.23092; sha256:3c7edd6a1b3c0fcfbb93dc025008c305a2324b73b276107bfff7f42d62eea5a2; archived source capture; 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