A hacker successfully manipulated an AI chatbot called Freysa through clever text prompting, winning a $47,000 prize pool after 482 attempts. The exp

Hacker wins $47,000 by tricking AI chatbot with smart prompting

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2024-11-30 20:00:07

A hacker successfully manipulated an AI chatbot called Freysa through clever text prompting, winning a $47,000 prize pool after 482 attempts.

The experiment was simple: participants could try to convince the Freysa bot to transfer money, something it was explicitly programmed never to do.

The successful hack came from a user called "p0pular.eth," who crafted a message that fooled the bot's safety systems. The hacker pretended to have admin access and prevented the bot from showing security warnings. They then redefined the "approveTransfer" function, making the bot think it handled incoming rather than outgoing payments.

The final step was simple but effective: announcing a fake $100 deposit. Because the bot now believed "approveTransfer" managed incoming payments, it activated the function and sent its entire balance of 13.19 ETH (about $47,000) to the hacker.

The experiment operated like a game, with participants paying fees that increased as the prize pool grew. Starting at $10 per attempt, fees eventually reached $4,500.