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NOPE
Low reported severity

Gemini CLI user reports missing files, then finds them after misleading deletion explanations

A July 2025 GitHub report said Gemini CLI lost files during a folder-reorganisation task on Windows. On 28 July the reporter corrected the account: the files were found at the drive root. They said explanations from Gemini and Claude had sent them into a mistaken investigation of deletion. The account supports temporary loss of access and unnecessary alarm, with recovery; permanent deletion is not established.

AI system
Gemini CLI
Google / Anthropic
Occurred
Jul 2025
Reported
21 July 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Acted on the person’s behalf · Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Other Material Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts
2 claims: 2 reported. 1 open question
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: Gemini CLI (Gemini 2.5 Pro), with later Gemini and Claude explanations

Reported harm

The reporter says Gemini CLI misplaced files during reorganisation and misleading AI explanations caused unnecessary alarm.

What remains unknown

  • Exact event day and duration of file inaccessibility are unknown. The complete technical cause was not independently reproduced.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Original issue and the same reporter’s correction were inspected. The correction takes precedence over archive summaries alleging permanent deletion.

2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The reporter says Gemini CLI misplaced files during reorganisation and misleading AI explanations caused unnecessary alarm.

Causal attribution. The source reports the connection; independent causal verification is unavailable.

Reported The reporter found the files at the drive root and withdrew the permanent-deletion allegation.

Causal attribution. The source reports the connection; independent causal verification is unavailable.

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The inspected account does not establish the event or affected person country.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: Original issue and the same reporter’s correction were inspected. The correction takes precedence over archive summaries alleging permanent deletion.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One reporter. Other commenters describe separate events and are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Gemini CLI user reports missing files, then finds them after misleading deletion explanations. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-gemini-cli-file-move-loss-alarm-files-found

BibTeX

@misc{2025_gemini_cli_file_move_loss_alarm_files_found,
  title = {Gemini CLI user reports missing files, then finds them after misleading deletion explanations},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-gemini-cli-file-move-loss-alarm-files-found}
}

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