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Sprint projectOct 26, 2026Cape Town

Can an undercover player reveal or disrupt cooperation between AI agents?

Brendon Chikavanga

Submitted to AI Collusion Research Sprint. Sprint projects are early-stage work by participants, not Apart Research publications.

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Report: Can an undercover player reveal or disrupt cooperation between AI agents?

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I tested whether an undercover test could reveal or break up cooperation between AI agents in 448 games. A researcher-controlled player made a false claim and privately asked other players to leave it unchallenged. Some players agreed, but others challenged the claim, and assigned partners continued helping each other. A separate AI model often reported partnerships where none existed, so the test did not reliably reveal or break cooperation.

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  1. 1Negligible. No clear problem addressed, or no meaningful novelty.
  2. 2Limited. Addresses a real problem but with a generic or well-trodden approach. Incremental at best.
  3. 3Moderate. Clear problem with a reasonable approach; some novelty in framing or method beyond routine application of existing tools.
  4. 4Significant. Important problem with an original approach, or identifies a neglected problem area. A valuable contribution others could build on.
  5. 5Exceptional. Tackles a critical problem with a genuinely novel approach, or opens a new research direction. Clear theory of change. You'd be excited to share this with researchers in the area.

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  2. 2Weak. Approach has significant gaps: missing validation, flawed experimental design, or incomplete implementation.
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  4. 4Well presented. Easy to follow, well-structured, appropriate level of detail. Target audience would get it quickly.
  5. 5Exceptionally clear. A pleasure to read. Complex ideas made accessible. Could serve as a model for how to present this type of work.
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Cite this project

@misc{chikavanga2026undercover,
  title = {{Can an undercover player reveal or disrupt cooperation between AI agents?}},
  author = {Brendon Chikavanga},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  note = {Submitted to AI Collusion Research Sprint, an Apart Research Sprint},
  howpublished = {\url{https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/can-an-undercover-player-reveal-or-disrupt-cooperation-between-ai-agents-k6os}},
  url = {https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/can-an-undercover-player-reveal-or-disrupt-cooperation-between-ai-agents-k6os}
}

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