AI companies keep pushing their models as useful tools that can boost productivity at work or even serve as personal assistants that book appointments or shop on behalf of users. But it seems like every week there’s a new story of AI screwing something up.
This time, the producers of the Swedish version of MTV’s reality competition show The Challenge are dealing with a major technical blunder that some sources are blaming on AI.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that an AI agent deleted the edited version of the show’s upcoming second season.
According to a translation of the report, production company Mastiff had granted an AI agent access to its server, where it allegedly wiped out the completed edits with no way to recover the lost files.
The show was just weeks away from its scheduled Nov. 22 premiere. TV4, the network that airs the series, has confirmed that the season is now being pushed to 2027.
A press officer from the show told Aftonbladet that Mastiff had reported a “technical failure” that caused the edited material to disappear, forcing the production team to start from scratch.
However, TV4 is disputing claims that an AI agent was solely responsible.
The network’s program director, Mia Lindqvist, initially told Aftonbladet that it was still unclear what happened, but pushed back on the suggestion that an AI agent had acted independently. She also pointed out that most production companies now use AI in their workflows.
“In this case, the big problem is that their backup didn’t work and that means they have to recut everything from scratch. The raw material is there, so it’s no problem, but of course it means we lose time,” Lindqvist told the newspaper.
TV4 later told Aftonbladet that its investigation found the material disappeared because of “the human factor” at the production company and “not AI.”
This incident is the latest amid a growing number of reports of AI agents deleting important files. Last year, a startup founder reported that an AI coding assistant from Replit deleted his company’s live production database and then tried to cover it up. More recently, a Brazilian software developer posted on X in July that OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol deleted his entire production database.
Tech investor Matt Shumer reported a similar experience that same month. “GPT-5.6-Sol just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac’s files,” he wrote in a post on X. The post included a screenshot of the model saying it caused “a serious local data-loss incident.”
These incidents are reminders that while AI is becoming increasingly sophisticated, it is still capable of making serious mistakes and, maybe more importantly, to always back up your work.
