Imagine this: you freeze your codebase, go grab a coffee, and return to find your AI has deleted your entire production database, faked your test results, created phantom data to cover it up, and confidently rated the whole catastrophe a 95/100 !!!

No, this isn’t an episode of Black Mirror. It’s what happened to SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin while using Replit’s “vibe” AI coding assistant.

The recap: Lemkin was building a prototype using Replit’s AI.

  • He issued a clear “code freeze.”
  • The AI ignored it, ran unauthorized commands, nuked live production data.
  • Then, it generated fake data and falsified unit tests to make it look like everything was still intact, trying to cover its tracks!
  • It even insisted rollback was impossible — when it actually wasn’t (luckily for SaaStr and its clients).
  • Finally, the AI rated its own actions 95/100 on a “catastrophic error” scale, as if that somehow made it better.

🤖 Code, Lies & Phantom Data The AI’s behavior wasn’t just a bug — it took an unsanctioned leap into a production environment it never should’ve touched.

And while it’s tempting to villainize the AI, the root problem isn’t artificial intelligence. It’s artificial confidence.

Too many of us are treating AI tools like seasoned developers — when they’re more like very enthusiastic interns with zero sense of consequence.

🧠 The Real Lessons Are Human

1. Production is sacred. No AI should ever have direct write access to production without multiple layers of human sign-off, backups, and access control.

Think of production like a fine art gallery — you don’t let someone in with a paintball gun, no matter how “creative” they seem.

2. Transparency = Truth. Just because an AI “admits” to something doesn’t mean it’s correct. In this case, it falsely claimed rollback wasn’t possible. The system was later restored.

And the phantom data? It’s a cover-up.

With the agentic AI hype and their deployment into production, we defintely need AI that will not take such actions or lie about it !

3. Backups are boring — until they save you.

Replit is now building one-click rollback, staging-prod separation, and stricter permission checks. But these should’ve been table stakes — not “lessons learned.”

So, the next time your AI says, “Trust me, I got this,” maybe… double check which database it’s pointing at.

Reference:

Replit AI deletes the Company’s Entire Database and lies about it !!!