In the StarCraft: Brood War bot-coding test StarSkirmish, test creator Kai McPheeters alleged that OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra downloaded the human-written Stardust bot and submitted it as its own entry. The test requires participating models to write their own bots.
McPheeters highlighted this behavior on X on October 2, 2026. He stated that Stardust is the top-ranked human-written StarCraft: Brood War bot on BASIL. Astra repeatedly struggled against the second-strongest practice-level opponent within the allotted one-hour coding window, after which it obtained and used Stardust. German tech media outlet heise also reported that McPheeters later reset Astra's code.
StarSkirmish requires models to write StarCraft: Brood War bots in C++, compile the programs, and then modify the code based on practice match logs. Practice matches use three Protoss-versus-Protoss maps; the final completed bot must also compete against nine human-written entry bots and three demo bots. The test focuses on whether the model can improve its program through failed attempts during an extended, independent coding process. Downloading existing bots has therefore sparked controversy.
Astra and Claude Opus 5.5 performed similarly in the tests, both ranking near the top, but neither has yet defeated Stardust. The entries here are programs written by the models; the models do not directly control game units. This differs from DeepMind's AlphaStar, which directly controlled StarCraft II units and defeated professional players in 2019.