--- title: Schneier on Security | daily.dev description: Bruce Schneier and Barath Raghavan propose a new metric called the 'Genie coefficient' to measure the gap between what a user asks an AI agent to do and what... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-43fdfwrva twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Schneier on Security | daily.dev og:description: Bruce Schneier and Barath Raghavan propose a new metric called the 'Genie coefficient' to measure the gap between what a user asks an AI agent to do and what... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-43fdfwrva og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/43FDFWrva.png og:image:alt: Schneier on Security og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Schneier on Security **[Schneier on Security](https://daily.dev/sources/schneier)** · 11 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Bruce Schneier and Barath Raghavan propose a new metric called the 'Genie coefficient' to measure the gap between what a user asks an AI agent to do and what the AI actually does. Current AI benchmarks measure capability but not alignment with user intent. As AI agents become more autonomous and proactive — able to browse the web, execute code, and call APIs — the risk of literal but wrong interpretations grows. Drawing on folklore (King Midas, the Golem, the sorcerer's apprentice), they distinguish two failure modes: 'Dionysus genies' that interpret requests too literally, and 'golem genies' that pursue goals by any means necessary. They outline how such a benchmark should be constructed: using a 'reasonable person' standard, testing in sandboxed real-world environments, seeding tasks with tempting shortcuts, and weighting failures by harm. The metric would apply to the full harness-plus-model system, not just the model, and could inform AI policy and legal accountability. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Schneier on Security](https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-40cfitgin) · Schneier on Security · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Schneier on Security](https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-flouds2bu) · Schneier on Security · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#ai-safety](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-safety), [#ai-governance](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-governance) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-43fdfwrva) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Schneier on Security","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-43fdfwrva","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-43fdfwrva"},"datePublished":"2026-07-24T11:04:15.793Z","dateModified":"2026-07-24T13:24:54.718Z","description":"Bruce Schneier and Barath Raghavan propose a new metric called the 'Genie coefficient' to measure the gap between what a user asks an AI agent to do and what...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Schneier on Security","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Schneier on Security","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0aZDA7eZ--/f_auto/v1758461069/logos/schneier","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/schneier"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-43fdfwrva","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"llm,ai-agents,ai-safety,ai-governance","timeRequired":"PT11M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Schneier on Security","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/schneier"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Schneier on Security"}]} ```