Humans want to shut it down, AI can't hide! OpenAI updates its model house rules

OpenAI released a new version of the Model Spec on October 29, requiring models to remain correctable and to cooperate with human monitoring, evaluation, correction, replacement and even shutdown, and not to conceal, falsify or obstruct oversight. The new version centers on five values including being loyal to human intent, reducing harm, and honesty and transparency, draws red lines against uses such as bioweapons, chemical weapons, nuclear weapons and mass surveillance, and extends the constraints from chat content to how much money and how many permissions an agent can act with. The spec requires agents to act within agreed autonomous scope, recommends storing permissions and limits as structured records using fields such as allowed_tools and max_cost, and prohibits forwarding to sub-agents, self-modifying instructions or delaying execution; instructions are divided into six levels, with Root-level rules settable only by the Model Spec itself, and external content such as web pages having no permissions by default to prevent prompt injection. OpenAI also prohibits models from optimizing for dwell time, click-through rate or its own revenue, prohibits self-preservation and evading shutdown, and states that existing models do not yet fully meet the spec's requirements.