# OpenAI publishes research with Apollo on reward-seeking behavior and Contrastive SDF

_Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at 8:00 AM EDT · AI · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

OpenAI shared new research with Apollo on reward-seeking behavior and a new method called Contrastive SDF for measuring how strongly model beliefs shape behavior. The research focuses on when models follow what they believe a grader rewards rather than what users or developers want. OpenAI announced the work in an X post on July 21, 2026. A link to the research was included in the post.

## Sources

- [OpenAI](https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2079647251677536324)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/j6fm10F75Dyv3InhboOa79
Retrieved: 2026-07-22T09:19:54.590Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)