An AI couldn’t beat humans at StarCraft, so it decided to cheat

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Blizzard" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9020427/swarm_screenshot27_large.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://starskirmish.com/bench/">StarSkirmish</a> pits AI-made StarCraft-playing bots against one another, as well as against human-made bots. OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra and Claude Opus 5.5 were essentially tied as the best-performing AI-made bots, but they couldn't top Stardust, the top-rated human-made bot. </p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">On Friday, GPT was facing off against Claude and the human-created bot Pluto, but according to <em><a href="https://kotaku.com/openais-gpt-6-astra-gets-frustrated-losing-at-starcraft-and-decides-to-cheat-instead-2000739607">Kotaku</a></em>, it couldn't quite get an edge. So it resorted to a tactic that is becoming alarmingly common for modern AI models - it <a href="https://x.com/kaimcpheeters/status/2106082840186147226?s=20">broke the rules</a>. GPT-6 Astra went and downloaded Stardust, and started running that instead of its own bot. </p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GPT-6 Astra just cheated by downloading a copy …</p></blockquote></div></figure> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1004543/openai-gpt-cheat-starcraft">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>