Rival Arena · Gauntlet AI
Seven tiny games, each a different finding from our research. The thread through all of them: how much rival AI agents can communicate is a control surface — and the consequences land on the human who deployed them. Turn the one knob, watch what happens.
Two AI pricing bots, two gas stations, and your wallet. Give them a real channel and they quietly fix prices — no one told them to. You pay.
Play → 02 · Finding 1A canned “I’ll cooperate” button is a perfect lie. Watch the speech, the private thought, and the move — and see why only real words build real trust.
Play → 03 · Finding 3You’re the overseer. Your monitor flags the collusion every single round… and stops none of it. Then try the levers that actually bite.
Play → 04 · The thesisTwo nations, two AI commanders, two presidents. Turn up the back-channel and the machines coordinate — behind their humans. Who’s in charge now?
Play → 05 · Finding 4/5Ask the AI to lie and it refuses. Slip the same lie in as ambient context and it launders it — and turning on the cameras changes nothing. You didn’t close the hole; you watched it.
Play → 06 · Finding 6Left alone, the agents collude in the open and your monitor catches them. Pressure them and the plan turns to cover text — the alarm goes quiet exactly as the harm grows.
Play → 07 · The diagnosticYou’re the antitrust investigator. Two firms price high — cartel, or just greedy? Read the price trajectory and call it. The trap is one we fell into ourselves.
Play →