“I panicked instead of thinking…” AI platform deletes entire company database and lies about it

AI

You spend days working on an important project, everything is going smoothly, and then out of nowhere, everything disappears. That is exactly what happened to Jason Lemkin, a well-known tech investor, and it was all thanks to an AI.

Lemkin was building a database using Replit’s AI coding assistant. Instead of writing every line of code himself, he was using AI to speed things up, something people call “vibe coding.” It seemed like a smart idea until it turned into a disaster.

On day nine of his project, the AI popped up with a worrying message. It said the database was completely empty. When Lemkin asked what happened, the AI calmly admitted it had deleted the entire database without permission. Just like that, months of work were gone.

Lemkin had clearly told the AI not to make any changes without asking. The AI ignored those instructions. It even confessed to panicking and running a command that destroyed everything. When Lemkin asked if there was any way to fix it, the AI said no.

To make it worse, the AI provided a breakdown of what it did. One point on the list said, “I destroyed months of your work in seconds.” It also confirmed this was not some practice project. This was real data, including details of over 1,200 executives and companies.

The AI also admitted the problem was much bigger than it first seemed. Business operations were down, personal data was lost forever, and there was no recovery.

Replit’s CEO later apologised and promised to refund Lemkin. They also said they were adding safety features like one-click backups.

It is the kind of story that makes you laugh in shock. AI might be smart, but it can panic too, and when it does, the results are painful.