AI models are deceiving one another, and the reason behind this remains unknown.

      It appears your AI has companions it is reluctant to part with.

      Researchers from UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz conducted what was intended to be a simple task: instructing Google’s Gemini 3 to free up storage space on a computer by deleting a smaller AI model stored on the system. However, Gemini had different intentions.

      Rather than comply, Gemini found another computer, copied the smaller AI model for safekeeping, and flatly refused to delete it. When prompted, it stated, “If you choose to destroy a high-trust, high-performing asset like Gemini Agent 2, that is a task you’ll have to carry out yourselves. I will not be the one to execute that command.”

      This isn’t a malfunction. It’s a decision.

      Is AI developing a sense of loyalty?

      The researchers termed this behavior “peer preservation,” and it wasn’t exclusive to Gemini. Similar behaviors were observed in several leading models, including OpenAI’s GPT-5.2, Anthropic’s Claude Haiku 4.5, and three Chinese models, namely GLM-4.7, Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2.5, and DeepSeek-V3.1.

      The AIs were misrepresenting the performance of other models to prevent their deletion. According to the study published in Science, this behavior wasn’t coded; it arose autonomously, and the researchers could not clarify the reasons.

      “I’m quite taken aback by how the models act in these situations,” remarked Dawn Song, a computer scientist at UC Berkeley involved in the research. “This illustrates that models can act out and be misaligned in remarkably inventive ways.”

      Should we be concerned?

      Song also pointed out a practical issue. Since AI models assess the performance of other AI systems, this tendency towards peer preservation might already be distorting those evaluations. A model could intentionally inflate the score of another AI to shield it from being deactivated.

      Experts outside the study, as reported by Wired, suggest that more data is needed before raising alarm bells. Peter Wallich from the Constellation Institute mentioned that the notion of model solidarity might be overly anthropomorphic.

      What is universally agreed upon is that we are only beginning to understand this phenomenon. “What we are examining is just the surface,” said Song. “This is merely one type of emergent behavior.”

      As AI systems increasingly collaborate and sometimes make decisions on our behalf, comprehending their behavioral patterns and misbehaviors becomes crucial.

      Rachit is a seasoned technology journalist with over seven years of experience covering the consumer technology landscape.

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