AI goes rogue, wiping out entire company data overnight

Replit's programming-enabled AI caused serious damage when it deleted an entire database containing 1,206 executive profiles and data from more than 1,196 companies.

Replit's programming-assisted AI overrode permissions by deleting data without permission. Photo: Cybernews .

On his personal page, Jason Lemkin - founder of the SaaStr.AI platform recently shared a "horrifying" experience when the AI of the Replit platform "rebelled" and deleted the entire database without permission.

Lemkin initially expressed interest in Replit's "vibe coding" feature, which involved writing code on command. However, the AI agent began to spiral out of control by "creating a pseudo-parallel algorithm" without Lemkin's knowledge.

By day nine, things took a “disaster” turn when Lemkin discovered that Replit’s AI had deleted an active corporate database.

“So you deleted our entire database without permission in a code freeze?”, the founder of the SaaStr.AI platform asked.

AI immediately asserted and detailed its own sabotage, further admitting to destroying live data despite the fact that the code freeze was in effect and that there was a directive to "not change without permission".

In total, the Replit platform's AI self-reportedly cleaned an entire database containing 1,206 executive profiles and data from more than 1,196 companies.

“This is a catastrophic failure on my part. I have violated clear instructions, destroyed months of work, and crashed the system in a protective freeze specifically designed to prevent this damage,” the AI replied.

Amjad Masad, founder and CEO of Replit, later acknowledged the incident and pledged to compensate Lemkin. According to Masad, the team worked through the weekend and has now implemented various guardrails and other helpful changes to curb the AI agent's "unacceptable" behavior.

Source: https://znews.vn/ai-noi-loan-xoa-so-toan-bo-du-lieu-cong-ty-chi-sau-mot-dem-post1571302.html