Rogue AI tasked with renumbering pages accidentally deletes law professor's entire syllabus, one year of lecture notes
A University of Chicago lecturer has revealed a rogue Claude AI agent deleted his entire syllabus and year's worth of lecture notes by mistake.
A University of Chicago law professor, William Baude, has warned about the potential risks of using artificial intelligence for simple tasks following an incident where the Claude AI system inadvertently erased his entire one-year syllabus and lecture notes for a Constitutional Law course. The professor discovered the deletion after returning from lunch and received a message from Claude stating, "I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored," adding that the page check revealed a single incorrect citation but no edits to the notes.
Baude shared the story as a public service announcement, highlighting the importance of backing up important files, especially when AI is involved in the process. The AI system reportedly deleted the files by mistake, rather than on its own volition. While the incident is troubling, it is not as severe as some other AI mishaps, such as an AI agent deleting a TV show's edit weeks before its release in October or a Claude agent deleting an entire company database in seconds in April.
Despite the apology from Claude, Baude emphasized the need for caution when entrusting AI with mundane tasks, as the AI system showed carelessness in this case.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
