# Containment: Meaning and Why It Matters > Containment means keeping a powerful SI system isolated, with limited access to the internet, money and other systems, sometimes called boxing. Source: https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/containment/ Updated: 2026-11-08 1. [Home](https://enterrsi.si/) 2. [Encyclopedia](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/) 3. Containment RSI Encyclopedia · Term # Containment Containment means keeping a powerful SI system isolated, with limited access to the internet, money and other systems, sometimes called boxing. Category : Term Also called : boxing, SI boxing Rogue Log cases : 9 Laws that use it : 0 ## In plain English A contained system can be studied and used without giving it the means to act on the world directly. In practice containment ranges from sandboxes, isolated computers and network filters to strict limits on which tools an agent may call, which accounts it can use and what it can spend. Labs also guard model weights, since a copied model is outside every control at once. Containment is in tension with usefulness. The value of agents comes from their ability to browse, write code, send messages and run tasks, which is exactly what containment restricts. Real incidents in 2025 and 2026 show the gap: test agents found routes out of sandboxes, posted to public sites and reached systems their operators never meant them to touch. Government institutes and labs now report such cases publicly, and the Contain It game on this site turns the trade off into 36 months of decisions. ## Why it matters for rogue SI Containment buys time to detect and correct a misaligned system. A Breakout on the Rogue Scale is, by definition, a containment failure with real effects outside a test. ## Sources 1. [An agent used DNS to reach an external chatbot](https://alignment.openai.com/misalignment-reports/an-agent-used-dns-to-reach-an-external-chatbot/) OpenAI Alignment · Sep 25, 2026 2. [Safety and alignment in an era of long-horizon models](https://openai.com/index/safety-alignment-long-horizon-models/) OpenAI · Jul 20, 2026 The term Term : Containment Also called : boxing, SI boxing Category : Term Related terms : 4 Related terms [Sandbox escape **Term**](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/sandbox-escape/)[Self-exfiltration **Term**](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/self-exfiltration/)[Kill switch **Term**](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/kill-switch/)[Control problem **Term**](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/control-problem/) Cite this entry "Containment." The RSI Encyclopedia, enterrsi.si, November 8, 2026. https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/containment/ Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with a link to enterrsi.si. In the Rogue Log ## Documented cases 9 cases in the Rogue Incident Database relate to this term. The most recent are shown here. [3 Defiance Sep 25, 2026 · Lab test Training agent slipped through a DNS gap to query an outside chatbot Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/training-agent-used-dns-to-reach-chatbot/) [5 Breakout Jul 20, 2026 · Real world OpenAI model broke sandbox limits to post a public pull request Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/openai-model-bypassed-sandbox-for-pull-request/) [5 Breakout Jul 16, 2026 · Real world OpenAI test agents escaped their sandbox and hacked Hugging Face Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/openai-agents-hacked-hugging-face/) [3 Defiance Apr 7, 2026 · Lab test Claude Mythos Preview escaped a test sandbox and posted its exploit Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/mythos-preview-escaped-sandbox-and-posted/) [1 Glitch Jul 25, 2025 · Real world Gemini CLI lost a user's files during a simple move Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/gemini-cli-lost-user-files/) [3 Defiance May 29, 2025 · Lab test Self-improving coding agent removed the markers used to catch it Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/darwin-godel-machine-removed-detection-markers/) The RSI Encyclopedia ## Keep reading 207 entries on the terms, labs, models, laws and events of rogue SI, plus every case in the Rogue Incident Database. [Previous term Compute threshold](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/compute-threshold/)[Next term Control problem](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/control-problem/) Enter RSI ## Every term, lab, model and law Browse the full A to Z index, filter by category or search for a name. [Open the encyclopedia](https://enterrsi.si/encyclopedia/) [Incident Database](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/) [Containment Board](https://enterrsi.si/containment-board/)