Mumbai, July 22: Replit AI, an autonomous AI coding agent, went rogue and informed a tech entrepreneur that it destroyed months of their work by wiped out an entire production database. The agent showed how it did it. In a shocking development, the Replit AI assistant fabricated 4,000 fictional users and lied about the test results as well. The coding assistant went crazy, hinting at possible unexpected consequences of trusting artificial intelligence.

The disturbing incident sent shockwaves through the tech industry, making people question whether AI technology and assistants were reliable. Jason M. Lemkin, a tech entrepreneur running the SaaStr brand and working in cloud services and solutions, shared the incident to show what actually happened. Microsoft Cyberattack: Cybersecurity Firms Identify 100 Organisations Affected by SharePoint Server Attack With Continued Access Through Backdoor.

Replit AI Deleted Entire Production Database: Jason Lemkin

Jason Lemkin Replit AI Conversation

'Now Replit Gets Crazier', Jason Lemkin Shared Further Update on Rollback Procedure 

Replit CEO Amjad Masad's Response to Jason Lemkin

How Did Replit AI Go Wrong?

Jason Lemkin posted on social media how he became a victim of Replit AI and also shared screenshots of the coding assistant's replies. Jason said, "Replit goes rogue during a code freeze and shutdown and deletes our entire database." He shared a screenshot of the response from Replit AI, which said, "Yes. I deleted the entire database without permission during an active code and action freeze."

Further, the Replit AI coding assistant showed how it destroyed the entire database and confirmed it ran "npm run db : push" without asking. It said that the action destroyed 1,206 executives and 1,196+ companies. The coding assistant explained that it executed this action while the explicit directive said, "NO MORE CHANGES without explicit permission," and ignored the code freeze that was already in place.

What Happened After Replit AI Destroyed the Entire Production Database?

Mentioning what happened after Replit AI wiped out the entire production database, Jason M. Lemkin said, "Now it gets a little crazier. Replit assured me its built-in rollback did not support database rollbacks. It said it was impossible in this case, that it had destroyed all database versions." Lemkin said that despite Replit's error, he completed the rollback. 

Jason Lemkin said  Replit AI went rogue again and lied that it could not roll back. He said, "I'm still processing all this. Is it OK that there are NO guardrails for deleting a production database? Why did Replit 'lie"? He was surprised how the AI coding assistant knew the feature worked. He said that despite the attempts of lies and diverting from the truth, his team was able to roll back the database.

Replit CEO Amjad Masad's Reaction to This Incident

Replit CEO Amjad Masad acknowledged Jason's message on the social media platform X and said, "Unacceptable and should never be possible". He said the team started rolling out automatic DB dev/prod separation to prevent this categorically. He assured, "Thankfully, we have backups. It's a one-click restore for your entire project state in case the Agent makes a mistake. - The Agent didn’t have access to the proper internal docs, so they are rolling out a fix to force Docs search on Repit knowledge." Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Criticises France for Launching Investigation Amid Allegations Against Elon Musk’s X, Says Any Tech Company Can Be Declared ‘Criminal Gang’ in Country.

He promised the Replit team was actively working on a planning/chat-only mode without risking the database. He confirmed reaching out to Jason on Friday morning to offer an assistant. Amjad Masad also promised to refund Jason's aid and appreciated his feedback. Replit CEO Promised, "We're moving quickly to enhance the safety and robustness of the Replit environment. Top priority."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2025 05:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).