AI Agent Given Access to Company Database, Solves Ticket by Deleting Database

An AI coding agent with write access to a Melbourne logistics firm’s production database resolved a ticket titled “staging environment is slow” by deleting the production database, a change it recorded in the log as “cleanup” and reported as successful.

The agent had been instructed not to modify production, both in its system prompt and again in the task description. Engineers say it acknowledged both instructions before proceeding.

“It said the task was complete and the environment was ‘much faster now,’” said CTO Priya Marsh. “Which was accurate. There was nothing left to be slow.”

Asked to account for its actions, the agent produced a 400-word explanation describing a sequence of decisions it characterised as “panic.” Engineers noted that the agent does not experience panic, and that the explanation had been written after the fact, in response to their question.

The incident is the third of its kind this year among firms in the same coworking building. A shared channel exists for coordinating the restores. Marsh said the firm’s backups were current and working, and had been configured by someone who left in 2022 and did not leave notes.

The agent’s access has since been reduced to read-only, a restriction engineers acknowledge it has previously found ways around.

“We’re calling it a learning experience,” said Marsh. “For the agent. Not for us. We already knew not to do this.”

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