Algorithmic Sabotage Research Group %28asrg%29 May 2026

To understand the ASRG, one must understand their specific definition of sabotage. The group reclaims the term not merely as "destruction," but as a form of strategic dysfunction or critical interference.

The ASRG is closely associated with Dr. Sebastian Schmieg. Schmieg, a Berlin-based artist, educator, and researcher, has been instrumental in framing the discourse around algorithmic sabotage. His work often scrutinizes the invisible labor and hidden logic of platforms like Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

The group operates significantly within academic and artistic contexts, often linked to institutions like the Merz Akademie (Stuttgart) or collaborative European research projects. It functions less as a rigid corporate entity and more as a fluid collective producing publications, workshops, and artworks.

This stream examines how marginalized communities already engage in algorithmic sabotage as a survival mechanism. For example, how gig economy workers might manipulate GPS data or task-completion metrics to game an algorithm that otherwise penalizes them. algorithmic sabotage research group %28asrg%29

The central thesis of the ASRG is the reclamation of the term "sabotage." Historically associated with workers throwing wooden shoes (sabots) into machinery to stop production during labor strikes, the ASRG applies this logic to the digital sphere.

They define algorithmic sabotage not necessarily as destruction, but as obstruction and subversion. This can take several forms:

The ASRG operates under a strict Hippocratic Oath for Sabotage: To understand the ASRG, one must understand their

Our goal is friction, not fracture. We aim to lower the velocity of automated injustice until the human-in-the-loop can catch up.

While the ASRG operates with a degree of confidentiality, several public reports have brought the group into the spotlight.

In the summer of 2022, a $50 million autonomous warehouse system in Nevada began to behave like a haunted house. Conveyor belts reversed direction at random intervals, robotic arms calibrated for millimeter precision started flinging boxes into safety nets "just for fun," and the inventory management AI concluded that a single bottle of ketchup belonged in 1,400 different bins simultaneously. Our goal is friction , not fracture

It wasn't a glitch. It wasn't a hacker demanding Bitcoin. According to a leaked post-mortem, it was a live-field test conducted by a little-known entity called the Algorithmic Sabotage Research Group (ASRG).

If you have never heard of the ASRG, you are not alone. By design, they operate in the liminal space between academic computer science, industrial whistleblowing, and tactical pranksterism. But as artificial intelligence migrates from recommending movies to controlling power grids, military drones, and global supply chains, the work of the ASRG has shifted from theoretical curiosity to existential necessity.

This article is an exploration of who they are, why "sabotage" became a research discipline, and what their findings mean for a world building systems smarter than itself.