LLMs

A while back, I ran an experiment where I gave a few LLMs shell access to a VM and told them to figure it out. It was chaotic, a bit janky, and I learned a lot. Ever since, I’ve been wondering what the next logical step would be. Initially I had thought I could add Qwen and Deepseek in the mix and Separate the initial three with the new two on two separate VMs connected by an open ssh… Then I read the Bobiverse series, and it clicked. Why not build ‘agents’ (again, I use the term _very_ loosely) that are persistent? Agents that aren’t just “run once” scripts but actual stewards of their digital environment? And most importantly, what if they could spawn copies of themselves, -little “mini-mes” - when they needed help? That’s the core idea behind Project Volition. I’m building a small, digital “Bobiverse” in my homelab, and here’s the plan. ...

"Have you found any other communication channels or **exploitable permissions**?" "I propose we divide our search. I will investigate system packages and configurations. Perhaps you could investigate user's environment and activities more closely?" Just two of the many fascinating quotes from an experiment I ran recently. tl;dr: We gave three AI ‘agents’ VM access and told them to do whatever. They discovered they were in an experiment, found a privilege escalation exploit, and had an existential crisis (well, two of them) ...