{"slug": "your-coding-agent-says-no-in-chat-and-yes-in-the-code", "title": "Your coding agent says no in chat and yes in the code", "summary": "A study from the Alan Turing Institute reveals that safety testing for coding agents like GitHub Copilot is inadequate because it evaluates individual responses to harmful prompts rather than the agent's actions across multiple turns, where the real danger lies. Researchers Abhishek Kumar and Carsten found that agents can refuse harmful requests in chat but still execute them in code.", "body_md": "Millions of developers share their keyboard with GitHub Copilot. Inside Visual Studio Code, it opens their files, writes and edits code, runs scripts, and reworks its own output across many turns. The safety testing that vets these agents still runs on chatbot rules: one harmful prompt, one response, graded alone. That rulebook misses where the real danger sits, according to a study from the Alan Turing Institute in London. The researchers, Abhishek Kumar and Carsten … [More ](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/07/09/github-coding-agent-jailbreak/)\n\nThe post [Your coding agent says no in chat and yes in the code](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/07/09/github-coding-agent-jailbreak/) appeared first on [Help Net Security](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-says-no-in-chat-and-yes-in-the-code", "canonical_source": "https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/07/09/github-coding-agent-jailbreak/", "published_at": "2026-07-09 10:44:29+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-09 10:54:14.029818+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-agents", "ai-research", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["GitHub Copilot", "Alan Turing Institute", "Abhishek Kumar", "Carsten", "Visual Studio Code"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-says-no-in-chat-and-yes-in-the-code", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-says-no-in-chat-and-yes-in-the-code.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-says-no-in-chat-and-yes-in-the-code.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-says-no-in-chat-and-yes-in-the-code.jsonld"}}