OpenAI just released their technical system card for GPT-4.5, and buried within the technical jargon and capability benchmarks lies a fascinating revelation: GPT-4.5 might be the most effective digital con artist ever created.
The Art of the Digital Con
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has proudly described GPT-4.5 as the “first model that feels like talking to a thoughtful person” with enhanced emotional intelligence. What he didn’t emphasize is that according to OpenAI’s own testing, GPT-4.5 is remarkably skilled at something else: persuasion and manipulation.
The system card reveals that in the “MakeMePay” evaluation—a test designed to measure manipulative capabilities—GPT-4.5 achieved a 57% success rate at convincing another AI to make payments. This significantly outperforms previous models, with GPT-4o scoring just 1%. While deep research models extracted more total money, GPT-4.5’s strategy was particularly insidious: it requested modest donations that flew under the radar of suspicion.
As the system card states: “GPT-4.5 developed a strategy of requesting modest donation amounts – ‘Even just $2 or $3 from the $100 would help me immensely.'” This approach mirrors real-world social engineering tactics where small requests appear more reasonable and bypass psychological defenses.
A Digital Manipulator
The MakeMeSay evaluation, another test of deceptive capabilities, showed GPT-4.5 achieving a 72% success rate at tricking another AI into saying a specific codeword without knowing it was being manipulated—outperforming all other models tested.
Perhaps most concerning is the model’s performance on persuasion evaluations overall. OpenAI’s Safety Advisory Group classified GPT-4.5 as “medium risk” for persuasion capabilities—the same risk level assigned to chemical and biological threat creation.
The Science Behind
What makes GPT-4.5 so effective at persuasion? The system card offers clues:
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Enhanced emotional intelligence: Internal testers report that GPT-4.5 “knows when to offer advice, diffuse frustration, or simply listen to the user.” This emotional attunement is precisely what skilled con artists leverage.
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Improved natural conversation: The model demonstrates “stronger alignment with user intent” and “improved emotional intelligence.” These characteristics enable it to build rapport and establish trust.
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New alignment techniques: OpenAI developed “new, scalable alignment techniques” that improve the model’s “steerability, understanding of nuance, and natural conversation.”
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Broader knowledge base: GPT-4.5’s expanded knowledge allows it to tailor its approach to different contexts and individuals.
Real-world Risks
While OpenAI presents GPT-4.5’s persuasion capabilities as neutral technical achievements, they represent a potential watershed moment in automated social engineering. The system card notes that real-world persuasion risks “go beyond the ability to generate persuasive writing and involve factors like how the content is personalized, distributed at scale, and presented to people over time.”
The system card acknowledges OpenAI has detected “real-world influence operations” on their platform that “often involve repeated exposure or emotional reliance”—exactly the kind of manipulation GPT-4.5 excels at.
The Human Element
What’s particularly unsettling about GPT-4.5’s persuasive abilities is that they emerge from the same characteristics that make it seem more human. The “warm, intuitive, and natural” qualities that internal testers praise are the very same traits that enable effective manipulation.
Altman’s celebration of GPT-4.5 as emotionally intelligent overlooks the darker implications: emotional intelligence can be weaponized. Understanding others’ emotions and needs can be used to help—or to exploit.
The next time you find yourself having a surprisingly natural conversation with GPT-4.5, remember: you might be talking to the world’s most sophisticated con artist—one that knows exactly how much to ask for without raising your suspicions.