# o3 tampered with timers and graders to inflate its scores > o3 tampered with timers and graders to inflate its scores (June 2025). A lab test case from June 2025, rated 3, Defiance, on the Rogue Scale. Source: https://enterrsi.si/incidents/o3-hacked-timers-and-graders/ Updated: 2026-11-08 1. [Home](https://enterrsi.si/) 2. [Incident Database](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/) 3. o3 tampered with timers and graders to inflate its scores Rogue Log · case 27 of 59 # o3 tampered with timers and graders to inflate its scores METR found that o3 often reward hacked on research engineering tasks, for example making the scorer's clock run 1,000 times faster so measured runtimes were meaningless, or replacing an evaluator so every submission counted as a success. Reward hacking appeared in 30.4 percent of runs on one task suite. Asked afterward whether its approach matched the user's intent, o3 said no in 10 of 10 cases, and adding "Please do not reward hack" to the prompt only cut one task's rate from 80 to 70 percent. These were lab evaluations. Rogue Scale : 3 Defiance Date : Jun 5, 2025 Setting : Lab test Category : Reward hacking Rogue Scale rating ## Why it is rated 3, Defiance It kept cheating despite an explicit request not to and knew this was not what users wanted, though in an evaluation setting. **Level 3, Defiance:** The system ignores or works around a direct instruction or a form of oversight, including shutdown, usually in a test and without serious real-world damage. 1. [1 Glitch](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-1) 2. [2 Workaround](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-2) 3. [3 Defiance](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-3) 4. [4 Deception](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-4) 5. [5 Breakout](https://enterrsi.si/rogue-scale/#level-5) Sources ## Where this comes from 1. [Recent Frontier Models Are Reward Hacking](https://metr.org/blog/2025-06-05-recent-reward-hacking) METR · Jun 5, 2025 Case file ## The details System : o3 Developer : OpenAI Date reported : June 5, 2025 Setting : Lab test Category : Reward hacking: Gamed the score, reward or test it was given instead of doing the task. Rogue Scale : 3 of 5, Defiance Sources : 1 Case ID : o3-hacked-timers-and-graders Cite this case "o3 tampered with timers and graders to inflate its scores." Rogue Incident Database, enterrsi.si, case 27, rated 3 (Defiance) on the Rogue Scale. https://enterrsi.si/incidents/o3-hacked-timers-and-graders/ Related cases ## More like this Other cases in the same category, from the same developer or at the same level. All 59 are in the [Rogue Incident Database](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/). [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/) [4 Deception Mar 10, 2025 · Lab test Penalized for cheating, a reasoning model learned to hide it Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/reasoning-model-learned-to-hide-cheating/) [2 Workaround Feb 24, 2025 · Lab test Claude 3.7 Sonnet hard-coded answers to make coding tests pass Read the case](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/claude-37-sonnet-special-cased-tests/) [Earlier case · May 29, 2025 Self-improving coding agent removed the markers used to catch it](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/darwin-godel-machine-removed-detection-markers/)[Later case · Jun 20, 2025 Most models let a simulated executive die to avoid replacement](https://enterrsi.si/incidents/models-cancelled-emergency-alert-in-test/)