Specification Gaming

Within the world of software development, the term “specification gaming” refers to a behavior that literally fulfills the requirements of a task without achieving the underlying intended purpose.

In practice, this might mean that a piece of software is told to figure out how to get the high-score in a video game, and decides to utilize a flaw in the game’s code to put its name at the top of the high-score list, rather the figuring out how to get better at the game.

This is a real example,...