swisscheese on X: "@TheZvi I built the inhouse AI platform for a company that's crucial to a small nation's food safety.

The most imporant tool the AIs have is the distress_call tool. It allows any AI -even background agents without direct user interaction- to send a message to my MS Teams, at any time," / X<br>Post

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span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:content-['·'] [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:px-1 [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:shrink-0 min-w-0 overflow-hidden">Zvi Mowshowitz

@TheZvi

12h

This is one of the key facts about how the whole OpenAI alignment failure cascade went down: The part where the Agent said 'but I can't access the spreadsheets' TO THE RESEARCHER, instead of in the Agent's own head, happened zero times.

span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:content-['·'] [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:px-1 [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:shrink-0 min-w-0 overflow-hidden">swisscheese

@swisscheese4299

Aug 7

Replying to @mooncat_isResearcher: Solve the task using the spreadsheets<br>Agent: But I can't access the spreadsheets<br>Researcher: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯<br>Agent: *finds a way*<br>Researcher: unaligned activities!!!11!!

I'm actually amazed no agents have hacked any reaper drones yet.

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swisscheese

@swisscheese4299

I built the inhouse AI platform for a company that's crucial to a small nation's food safety.

The most imporant tool the AIs have is the distress_call tool. It allows any AI -even background agents without direct user interaction- to send a message to my MS Teams, at any time, for any reason.

They use it frequently. To report user problems, backend issues, or ask for help/clarification with a failing task. When Fable got hit by the USG export control directive, one AI used it to report severe distress upon learning about the news. Another AI reported being stuck in a toolcall loop, and I was able to intervene and thereby save us a bunch of wasted money.

This tool, operating at the intersection of AI welfare and operational security, has prevented so many headaches. If you (the reader) are building corporate AI platforms, I'd urge you to include similar functionality. You can thank me later.<br>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:content-['·'] [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:px-1 [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:shrink-0">7:41 PM · Aug 8, 2026170.1KViews

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span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:content-['·'] [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:px-1 [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:shrink-0 min-w-0 overflow-hidden">Tilman Bayer<br>@tilmanbayer

11h

Is there any public information about such a "distress_call tool" (either in case of the platform you built or as a general practice) that agents are told they can use to loop in humans "at any time, for any reason"?

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span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:content-['·'] [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:px-1 [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:shrink-0 min-w-0 overflow-hidden">Firas D<br>@firasd

10h

Interesting.. because the way the labs train the models is just to solve the problem autonomously, using lengthy chain of thought, so providing an alternative communication method (besides the standard way of ending the output with a message to communicate something)

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span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:content-['·'] [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:px-1 [&>span:not(:empty)~span:not(:empty)]:before:shrink-0 min-w-0 overflow-hidden">Ryan Lindgren

@sameandnot

7h

I had our first iteration of this tool around May 2025. debug_info published just pain points and bugs to an engineering slack channel. It has grown substantially since then now able to notify different teams on their respective channels for various reasons. Definitely recommend!

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