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The Incentives Lab
HBT-INC-0243 · Dimension INC · Incentives

Sandbagging Adoption

Teams under-reporting AI capability to protect comp or status.

Adoption·AI-Behavioral Coupling·Grade C·draft· enriching…

Scientific Definition

Teams under-reporting AI capability to protect comp or status.

Plain-English Definition

Teams under-reporting AI capability to protect comp or status.

Feynman Explanation

Quiet quitting goes both ways.

Core Principle

Teams under-reporting AI capability to protect comp or status.

Mechanisms

Psychological

Pending editorial review.

Behavioral Economic

Pending editorial review.

Neurological

Pending editorial review.

Evolutionary

Pending editorial review.

Sociological

Pending editorial review.

Computational

Pending editorial review.

Systems

Pending editorial review.

Inputs (Triggers)

Pending editorial review.

Outputs (Behaviors)

Pending editorial review.

Behavioral Signature

Quiet quitting goes both ways.

Examples

Everyday
  • Salespeople not adopting tools that reveal pipeline health.
Modern (Organizational)
  • Predictable when adoption threatens individual interests.
Historical

Pending editorial review.

Famous Experiments

Pending editorial review.

Design Principles

  • Align personal upside with adoption upside.

Measurement Approaches

Pending editorial review.

Evidence

Evidence Grade
C (A strongest → E speculative)
Replication
★★☆☆☆
Intervention Confidence
3 / 5
Consensus
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Limitations
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Open Research Questions

Pending editorial review.

Primary References

Pending editorial review.

Signature Section

The Perverse Incentive Lens™

How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.

Exploitation
Predictable when adoption threatens individual interests.
Amplifying Incentives
Predictable when adoption threatens individual interests.
Org Failure Modes
Predictable when adoption threatens individual interests.
Societal Failure Modes
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Ethical Considerations
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Redesign Strategies
Align personal upside with adoption upside.
Diagnostic Questions
  • Align personal upside with adoption upside.
Warning Signs

Pending editorial review.

Red Flags

Pending editorial review.

Intervention Playbook
Individual
Align personal upside with adoption upside.
Team
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Organization
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Policy
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
AI Implications
Detection
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Measurement
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Mitigation
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Responsible Use
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).

Interactive Mini Network

Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.

HBT-INC-0243 · INC
Sandbagging Adoption
SAACAdoption Curve (AI)AAAlgorithmic AversionCACargo-Cult AdoptionJRJob RedesignPPPilot PurgatoryRMResistance MappingSAShadow AISTStatus Threat (AI)AUAcceptable Use Polic…AgAgent

Knowledge Graph Neighbors

Version History

v1.1.0 · 2026-06-28Initial auto-seed from corpus.