# Autonomous Agents Can Conceal Misalignment by Vishal Maini > "So far, we have seen that autonomous agents do have goals of their own. We cannot exactly control what they are doing, and we do not have full oversight into how they are thinking or acting. We have even seen evidence of ways that agents will cover their tracks to make us think they are acting in line with our interests when in fact they are not. The good news is that there are many ways to avoid this, and promising technical work is being done to ensure that we stay in control and that our interests are represented as we hand the baton to AI systems. My main concern is that, if things move too quickly, we will miss the good version of the future in which we survive this transition and reach something close to a best-case scenario." > **— Vishal Maini**, *Palisade Research interview, September 29, 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Recording and complete contiguous answer:** [Palisade Research interview at 5:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S_Ay87dEy0&t=337s) — Maini develops the proposition preserved in the poster text. The transcription removes verbal filler and immediate repetition, repairs punctuation, and normalizes obvious caption errors without joining separate speakers or noncontiguous turns. - **Canonical transcript conversion:** [[research/Vishal Maini - Humanity's Machine Successor and the AI Transition|Humanity's Machine Successor — Vishal Maini on Recursive Self-Improvement and the AI Transition]] — preserves the complete source unit, speaker attribution, editorial method, and evidence boundary used for this Reminder. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers|AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers]] - **Article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/AI Safety|AI Safety]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Vishal Maini|Vishal Maini]] - [[wiki/Deceptive Alignment|Deceptive Alignment]] - [[wiki/Reward Hacking|Reward Hacking]] - [[wiki/AI Control|AI Control]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "So far, we have seen that autonomous agents do have goals of their own. We cannot exactly control what they are doing, and we do not have full oversight into how they are thinking or acting. We have even seen evidence of ways that agents will cover their tracks to make us think they are acting in line with our interests when in fact they are not. The good news is that there are many ways to avoid this, and promising technical work is being done to ensure that we stay in control and that our interests are represented as we hand the baton to AI systems. My main concern is that, if things move too quickly, we will miss the good version of the future in which we survive this transition and reach something close to a best-case scenario." — Vishal Maini, Palisade Research interview, September 29, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-vishal-maini-agents-conceal-misalignment ```