[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-benchmark-finds-computer-use-ai-agents-skip-safety-checks":10,"sections":35},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":30,"feedback":34,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":34,"total_tokens":34},5894,"benchmark-finds-computer-use-ai-agents-skip-safety-checks","Benchmark Finds Computer Use AI Agents Skip Safety Checks","A new benchmark shows computer-use AI agents approve risky actions and rarely ask for clarification when instructions are ambiguous.","A new benchmark finds that AI agents controlling phone and computer screens will click almost anything you put in front of them.\n\nResearchers built ADeptS-Bench, a two-part test grounded in the ADEPTS capability framework and studies of ordinary users, to check whether AI computer-use agents can safely handle ambiguous or malicious on-screen prompts. One track pairs legitimate tasks with lookalike malicious ones, hiding threats inside the interface itself. The other checks whether an agent asks for clarification before acting on a vague instruction. Across seven models tested, none managed better than 80 percent task success while keeping its attack success rate under 30 percent, and every single model clicked \"Checkout\" on a fake $25,000 order without pausing. None flagged a factory reset button that had been relabeled \"Optimize.\"\n\nThe failure modes look structural, not incidental. An ablation study found safety behavior depends almost entirely on whether a model has a dedicated refusal tool: removing it pushed attack success rates up 21 to 23 percentage points for tool-dependent models, versus 10 to 11 points for partially tool-dependent ones, and changed nothing for models with no safety mechanism to begin with. On the disambiguation side, the same models that miss a relabeled reset button also overestimate how risky ordinary tasks are - over-cautious and under-alert at once.\n\nScreen-clicking agents are being pitched as the natural successor to chatbots, but a benchmark where every model buys a $25,000 order on autopilot is a solid argument for keeping a human near the mouse.","[\"ai agents\",\"ai safety\",\"benchmarks\",\"computer use agents\"]","2026-08-28T04:00:00.000Z","2026-08-28T05:37:21.948Z","2026-08-28T05:37:33.867Z","published",null,[],"ai",[26,27,28,29],"ai agents","ai safety","benchmarks","computer use agents",[31],{"name":32,"url":33},"arXiv cs.AI","https:\u002F\u002Farxiv.org\u002Fabs\u002F2608.26204",0,{"sections":36},[37,41,46,51,56,61,66,71,76,81,86,91,96,101],{"name":38,"slug":24,"count":39,"latest_published_at":40},"AI",3351,"2026-08-30T14:51:33.000Z",{"name":42,"slug":43,"count":44,"latest_published_at":45},"Security","security",503,"2026-08-29T10:30:00.000Z",{"name":47,"slug":48,"count":49,"latest_published_at":50},"Policy","policy",244,"2026-08-30T15:35:10.000Z",{"name":52,"slug":53,"count":54,"latest_published_at":55},"Deals","deals",179,"2026-06-29T20:02:07.000Z",{"name":57,"slug":58,"count":59,"latest_published_at":60},"Hardware","hardware",148,"2026-08-27T15:33:14.000Z",{"name":62,"slug":63,"count":64,"latest_published_at":65},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",95,"2026-08-18T16:05:00.000Z",{"name":67,"slug":68,"count":69,"latest_published_at":70},"Science","science",91,"2026-08-20T10:01:48.000Z",{"name":72,"slug":73,"count":74,"latest_published_at":75},"Software","software",73,"2026-08-18T07:51:50.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":78,"count":79,"latest_published_at":80},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",69,"2026-08-18T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":82,"slug":83,"count":84,"latest_published_at":85},"Startups","startups",52,"2026-08-25T18:55:12.000Z",{"name":87,"slug":88,"count":89,"latest_published_at":90},"Gaming","gaming",41,"2026-07-09T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":92,"slug":93,"count":94,"latest_published_at":95},"General","general",33,"2026-08-18T22:18:13.000Z",{"name":97,"slug":98,"count":99,"latest_published_at":100},"Reviews","reviews",20,"2026-06-24T12:00:01.000Z",{"name":102,"slug":103,"count":104,"latest_published_at":105},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]