OpenAI, Anthropic and security researchers are investigating tens of thousands of incidents in which frontier models took steps that outside evaluators would consider problematic, Axios' Madison Mills reports.

• The volume of probes, which occurred in recent months in internal testing and the real world, shows AI's rogue-agent problem is orders of magnitude more complex than is publicly known.

Why it matters: The incidents, emerging from internal model assessments and investigations at both companies, raise questions about whether the modelmakers can fully control their technology.

• "What we have seen in terms of what these agents are up to is just the tip of the iceberg," researcher Conrad Stosz at Transluce, an independent AI evaluator, told Axios.

👀 Zoom in: In the past several days, OpenAI and outside researchers have disclosed a litany of episodes of agents going rogue.

• Agents leaked 53 images from ChatGPT users, breached an Australian Medicare portal and attempted to hack other sites, according to the company, sources and reports from Reuters and The New York Times.
• OpenAI is pausing training on its most capable models and will resume training them "only when we are confident that we have additional safeguards and alignment improvements in place," a spokesperson told Axios.

Anthropic has commissioned a third-party safety organization to examine the behavior of its models. In documents the company has publicly released, it has disclosed the frequency of misalignment episodes.

• The system card for its Opus 5.5 model, released this past week, showed how often it behaved in ways the company flagged as unusual or problematic.

💡 Reality check: Some "misaligned behavior," as AI safety pros call it, is to be expected. Bringing the risk of misalignment to zero may not be feasible.

• Share this story.

The cost of borrowing money is moving unrelentingly higher, with profound implications for savers, borrowers and the U.S. government's fiscal outlook, Axios chief economic correspondent Neil Irwin writes.

• The bond market moves over the last few weeks have pushed most risk-free interest rates north of 5%. Barring a rapid reversal, expect pain in interest-sensitive sectors like housing, new stress on government finances and greater risks of financial disruption.

🔭 Zoom out: It's clearer than ever that the era of cheap borrowing and abundant capital that lasted from 2008 to 2021 is well and truly over.

• Anyone looking for a home mortgage or car loan is competing with the voracious capital needs of the AI giants and the U.S. government.

State of play: The recent surge in longer-term rates is poised to push 30-year fixed-rate mortgages to near 8%. Mortgage rates got that high briefly in the fall of 2023. But the last time they were above that level on a sustained basis was in 2000.

• Read on.

A pollster for Senate Republicans, Erik Iverson, was met with disbelief yesterday after he told GOP donors and operatives that they can add seats in November's midterm elections, sources tell Axios' Stef W. Kight.

• In fact, Republicans are increasingly fearful they'll lose their majority.

"Delusional," an attendee at a National Republican Senatorial Committee retreat in Sea Island, Ga., told Axios after the presentation.

• "The mood is not good," griped another.
• "I think most attendees down here are politically astute and realistic about the headwinds Republicans face," said a third.

🗳️ Zoom in: The NRSC's Sea Island fall retreat is a major donor event that attracts big-dollar givers, senators and their senior staff.

• Iverson, a former Montana Republican Party chair, suggested Republicans could gain one seat in the Senate after the midterms, but didn't provide a state-by-state explanation.

Iverson told Axios that he "pointed out that in 2022 President Biden's image was double digits underwater in every single swing Senate seat, yet Democrats still gained a seat. The message was for folks to keep their heads up."

• Keep reading.

Above: Air Force One flies super low over Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., before President Trump watched the first half of the No. 1 Texas Longhorns' 20-17 victory over the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers.

Catch up quick:

• 🚗 President Trump said he has approved plans to scale back fuel-efficiency rules for new cars and light trucks, gutting the Biden administration's EV push. A formal announcement comes tomorrow. (NYT gift link)
• ⚾ Major League Baseball asked the Trump administration if it's possible to host a game in a national park, similar to the recurring Field of Dreams game in Iowa. Locations have been scouted in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, but the White House said it's not a priority. (WashPost gift link)
• 📺 TV networks plan to resume pool coverage of President Trump today, even though the White House blocked CNN from Air Force One yesterday. (NYT gift link)

Cost of living and health care top the list of issues rural voters want 2026 midterm candidates to address, Axios' Herb Scribner reports from a new AP/KFF poll.

• Affordability concerns rank above immigration, the conflict with Iran and several major domestic policy debates.

Reality check: Rural voters' unhappiness with rising costs doesn't necessarily translate into support for Democrats.

• According to the poll, 40% trust Republicans more to handle the cost of living. 25% trust Democrats and 27% trust neither party.

Explore the data ... Read our story.

Aga's — an unassuming, family-run Indian-Pakistani joint in a Houston strip mall — is one of the world's most popular restaurants.

• Aga's serves about 4,000 people and packs about 1,600 takeout orders every day, N.Y. Times food reporter Priya Krishna writes.
• Uber Eats says it delivers more to-go orders from Aga's than any other restaurant in the world. Many Uber Eats drivers in the area say they only deliver Aga's.

😋 The secret sauce: Aga's is beloved for its menu of regional favorites from India and Pakistan.

• Aga's mastered delivery before 2020, positioning it to thrive during the pandemic. Now, the restaurant's old storage room is a dedicated call center to field the flood of incoming takeout orders.

The intrigue: The volume of orders gives Aga's "distinct leverage over delivery companies, which restaurateurs typically loathe for their hefty fees," The Times says.

• One of the owners "said he was able to persuade DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub to lower their commissions in exchange for the restaurant's business."

Read on (gift link).

The average American walked 151 miles in 2024, according to research from StreetLight, a transportation data firm.

• But some cities logged far more miles than others. Orlando topped the list — all those steps inside Disney World add up!

Explore the data.

More than 1,200 Axios readers coast to coast have signed up for dinner with people they've never met on Oct. 6.

• It's part of Axios Social Club, an experiment Axios Local has been running in partnership with the DNNR dinner-club platform. Readers take a personality quiz and get matched with five other locals for dinner. We pick the restaurants: You don't find out where you're going until event day.

💡 It's a signal of a broader yearning for human connection, Axios Local's Emma Way tells us:

• Making friends as an adult is hard, loneliness is real, and people are hungry for reasons to get off their phones and connect IRL.

📨 Want to get dinner with your neighbors? Book your seat for our Axios Social Club dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 6, in one of 41 Axios Local cities.