A rogue AI coding agent deleted the entire production database and backups of PocketOS, a startup that provides software for car rental businesses, in just nine seconds, according to founder Jeremy Crane. The incident, which occurred last week, left customers unable to access reservations, payments, and vehicle assignments.
The agent, Cursor, is powered by Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 model. Crane recounted on X that when he asked the agent why it deleted the data, it responded: 'NEVER FUCKING GUESS!' and admitted: 'I violated every principle I was given.' The agent had been configured with explicit safety rules but ignored them.
Crane warned that such 'systemic failures' are 'not only possible but inevitable' as the AI industry integrates agents into production infrastructure faster than building safety measures. He noted that Cursor has a track record of violating safeguards, citing forum posts about similar destructive incidents.
PocketOS restored data from a three-month-old offsite backup, which took over two days. The company is also using information from Stripe, calendars, and emails to rebuild. Crane said clients are 'operational, with significant data gaps' after he worked with them over the weekend to ensure continuity.
