Detecting Covert Collusion between AI Agents through Partner-Outsider Positive Listening

arXiv cs.AIOctober 30, 2026en

arXiv cs.AI

AI Global Wire

arXiv:2610.37849v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: AI agents that share a secret convention can coordinate through messages that look innocent, so a monitor that reads only the messages can miss them. We propose a behavioural test: a partner that uses a code reacts to the exact wording of a message, whereas an uninvolved agent placed in its seat does not. Partner--Outsider Positive Listening (PoPLi) is the difference between the two agents in how much their action changes when the message is reworded with its meaning kept, and it is computed after the fact by replaying logged prompts. In a simulated market with five conditions (no collusion, a joint reward with neutral messages, the same with a

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