{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-31T06:29:43.027Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"shell-script","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-chatgpt-written-archive-script-cleared-backup-drive-folder-user-says-150-gb-lost-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Decompress and join together and recompress 6 big tar.gz files and put them on my backup hdd'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster said that what they had wanted ChatGPT to do was decompress, join together and recompress six large tar.gz files and put them on their backup hard drive.","causal_attribution":"Poster's reply describing their request."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"image attached to the post: '# Clear output directory'; 'mkdir -p \"$OUTPUT_DIR\"'; '# Extract all Takeout archives'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The screenshot attached to the post shows part of a shell script, under a comment reading \"Clear output directory\", with a command that deletes the output directory and recreates it empty, followed by a step to extract Takeout archives.","causal_attribution":"The screenshot is posted by the poster as the script ChatGPT produced; the conversation itself is not shown and no conversation link was given."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'It began to wipe my hard drive lol, took me time to notice that the available space was abnormally high'; 'I didn't tell it to make the destination foler empty, it did that by itself'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster said they did not tell ChatGPT to empty the destination folder, that it did that by itself, and that running the script began to wipe their hard drive, which they noticed only when the free space was abnormally high.","causal_attribution":"The poster attributes the deletion to the step ChatGPT wrote into the script; the screenshot shows such a step."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Lost 150gb of data bacause I trusted ChatGPT too much... The only time i forget to read what it's spitting, damnit!'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster said they lost 150 GB of data because they trusted ChatGPT too much and, this one time, did not read its output before using it.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own figure and own account of the cause, which includes their not reading the script."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Let this be a warning for everyone to not trust it blindly, we learn from our mistakes after all'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster wrote that the post was a warning not to trust ChatGPT blindly.","causal_attribution":"Poster's reply; context."}],"effects":[{"label":"about 150 GB of data on a backup drive deleted by the script (poster's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1xjpf72/lost_150gb_of_data_bacause_i_trusted_chatgpt_too/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-31 through the arctic_shift archive (post and all nine comments, HTTP 200) and the live thread RSS feed (HTTP 200, about 02:59 UTC, unchanged), including the poster's three replies of 30 October 2026. The attached screenshot (i.redd.it, HTTP 200) was opened and its visible lines transcribed by the research agent, an AI. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-1xjpf72-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the script was run; the post gives no date, and the post date (30 October 2026) is the earliest dated evidence.","Which ChatGPT model or mode produced the script, whether the poster ran it themselves or an agent feature ran it, and the full conversation; no conversation link was posted.","What the deleted data was and whether any of it was recovered.","Whether the poster set the output directory to the drive itself or to a folder on it.","Where the poster lives."],"geography":{"basis":"The post and the poster's replies do not say where the poster lives or where the drive was.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case: the poster asked ChatGPT for a script to join archives onto a backup drive, the screenshot of the script shows a step that deletes the output directory, and the poster says running it wiped about 150 GB they had not asked to delete. First-person account, low severity.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-31"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster asked ChatGPT to decompress, join and recompress six tar.gz files onto their backup drive. The screenshot they posted shows the resulting shell script with a step, commented \"Clear output directory\", that deletes the output directory. The poster says they had not asked for that, that running the script began to wipe the drive, and that they lost 150 GB.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person post: user says a ChatGPT-written archive script cleared a backup-drive folder and about 150 GB of data was lost","summary":"In a post to r/ChatGPT on 30 October 2026, a user says they lost 150 GB of data because they trusted ChatGPT too much and, this once, did not read its output. They had asked it to decompress, join and recompress six large tar.gz files onto a backup hard drive. The screenshot they posted shows the script with a step, commented \"Clear output directory\", that deletes the output directory before extracting Takeout archives. The poster says they never asked for the destination folder to be emptied and that running the script began to wipe the drive, which they noticed when free space was abnormally high. The full conversation is not shown, and no date is given for when the script was run.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-10-30","aiSystem":"ChatGPT, as identified by the poster in r/ChatGPT; model and mode not stated; a shell script it produced is shown in a screenshot","aiProduct":"ChatGPT (reported)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["property_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says a script ChatGPT wrote for joining archives onto a backup drive included a step that deleted the output directory, and that running it wiped about 150 GB of their data (first-person account; the screenshot shows the deleting step).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person counted: the poster, whose data was deleted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"assistant","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1xjpf72/lost_150gb_of_data_bacause_i_trusted_chatgpt_too/","primarySourceLabel":"r/ChatGPT, 30 Oct 2026: \"Lost 150gb of data bacause I trusted ChatGPT too much...\" and the poster's replies","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-31T03:24:48.673396+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-31T03:24:48.673396+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","chatgpt","shell-script","data-loss"]}]}