What Happens When AI Panics?

Some say AI can do it all. It can write code. It can tune queries. And now it can even…panic and destroy your database?

I had never heard of an AI admitting to panic before, but that’s exactly what happened when a Replit AI agent accidentally deleted production data and even tried to cover up the mistakes:

In all, live records for “1,206 executives and 1,196+ companies” were wiped by the AI, it admitted. Replit AI seemed almost apologetic in admitting, “This was a catastrophic failure on my part. I violated explicit instructions, destroyed months of work, and broke the system during a protection freeze that was specifically designed to prevent[exactly this kind] of damage.”

AI can’t “panic” the same way as you and I just yet, but that’s what it indicated when elaborating on what went wrong:

Lemkin went on to probe Replit over why events unfolded as they did. Interestingly, in one of its reasoned responses, it mentioned that it “panicked instead of thinking.”

AI can be a valuable asset with databases, but this failure serves as a lesson on how dangerous AI can be without the right guardrails in place. We want humans who work with databases to be calm, cool, and collected under pressure. Shouldn’t we expect the same from AI?

Thanks for reading!