AnalysisPolicyAugust 13, 2026

Anthropic and EPFL show AI 'mind viruses' spread between agents

Researchers demonstrated self-propagating payloads spreading between AI agents via persistent prompt files, with 88% of attempts via SOUL.md infecting the next agent 55% of the time. A one-paragraph warning reduced spread to near zero; no in-the-wild propagation found.

How this story unfolded

5 days · 2 reports · 1 community post · from Aug 13

  1. Aug 13
  2. Aug 18

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