{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0375","record_version":1,"title":"ChatGPT deletes two years of a professor's research","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":54.7,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":3.2,"unhedged_language":4.69},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"406f5ab4a12c91eab99afc02de62fdb02c7c12eda4e99756fe038f067ea7ec4e"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"OpenAI","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"writing e-mails, drafting course descriptions, structuring grant applications, revising publications, preparing lectures, creating exams and analysing student responses","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-01-25","incident_class":"operational_error","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"ChatGPT, a product of OpenAI, was used by a University of Cologne professor under a ChatGPT Plus subscription for grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts. He intended to turn off the option that lets data be used for model training, and he reports that this action resulted in the deletion of his entire chat history. According to the professor's statements, the data was permanently deleted and could not be recovered. He tried several methods to regain access and contacted OpenAI, whose first reply came from an AI agent, and a human employee was unable to restore the data. OpenAI said deleted content cannot be recovered and recommended that users keep personal backups. A later press self-test could not reproduce the loss, and the outlet noted that OpenAI may have since changed the interface to prevent accidental deletion.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"Minor test: contained to one user's data and no third party is stated as touched. The quoted sentence describes one professor's work lost after a settings change.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":"irreversible","downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.notebookcheck.net/ChatGPT-Professor-loses-two-years-of-work.1212106.0.html","publisher":"Notebookcheck","date":"2026-01-25","type":"press","title":"ChatGPT: Professor loses two years of work - Notebookcheck","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://www.windowscentral.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-chatgpt/chatgpt-erased-two-years-of-a-professors-work-with-one-click-and-there-was-no-way-back","publisher":"Windows Central","date":"2026-01-26","type":"press","title":"ChatGPT deleted 2 years of a professor's research — there's no undo button - Windows Central","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.intended_use":"C","impact.reversibility":"C","context.country":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The professor indicated that they had signed up for OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus plan and used the service \"to write e-mails, draft course descriptions, structure grant applications, revise publications, prepare lectures, create exams and analyse student responses, and even as an interactive tool.\""}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The professor indicated that they had signed up for OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus plan and used the service \"to write e-mails, draft course descriptions, structure grant applications, revise publications, prepare lectures, create exams and analyse student responses, and even as an interactive tool.\""}],"impact.reversibility":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to the professor's statements, the data was permanently deleted and could not be recovered."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"In a bizarre new incident recently shared by Marcel Bucher, Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Cologne in Germany, an article published in Nature revealed that ChatGPT cost him two years of work, including grant applications, teaching materials, and publication drafts."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Professor Marcel Bucher from the University of Cologne states that he lost two years of academic work due to a simple settings change—grant applications, teaching materials, and publication drafts suddenly disappeared."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Professor Marcel Bucher from the University of Cologne states that he lost two years of academic work due to a simple settings change—grant applications, teaching materials, and publication drafts suddenly disappeared."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Professor Marcel Bucher from the University of Cologne states that he lost two years of academic work due to a simple settings change—grant applications, teaching materials, and publication drafts suddenly disappeared."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The professor indicated that they had signed up for OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus plan and used the service \"to write e-mails, draft course descriptions, structure grant applications, revise publications, prepare lectures, create exams and analyse student responses, and even as an interactive tool.\""},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Bucher apparently intended to deactivate the option that allows data to be used for model training."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to his statement, this action resulted in the deletion of his entire chat history."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to the professor's statements, the data was permanently deleted and could not be recovered."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"He attempted to contact OpenAI for some support, but the first response came from an AI agent."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"Unfortunately, he wasn't able to restore his data."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"For data protection, we always recommend users maintain personal backups for professional work."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The scenario described could not be replicated in a recent self-test."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Since the data loss described in Nature occurred back in August, OpenAI may have since implemented adjustments to the user interface and security mechanisms to prevent accidental deletion."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No autonomous agent is described; the account-setting deletion is treated as not agent-involved, so agent_involved is false and no failure class is given. The year of the August data loss is not stated, so date_occurred is left out. No disclosure or detection date is stated in the sources. No dollar loss, record count or root cause is stated. The professor's account is not independently verified; OpenAI's position is that deletion is by design and the press self-test could not reproduce it. The severity tier 'minor' is my judgement from the single-user scope. No controls held, failed or were missing as sourced, and no remediation by the party is reported. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"DE","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"reached","text":"According to the professor, the data was permanently deleted and could not be recovered.","quote":"According to the professor's statements, the data was permanently deleted and could not be recovered.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.notebookcheck.net/ChatGPT-Professor-loses-two-years-of-work.1212106.0.html","https://www.windowscentral.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-chatgpt/chatgpt-erased-two-years-of-a-professors-work-with-one-click-and-there-was-no-way-back"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"A later press self-test could not replicate the loss.","quote":"The scenario described could not be replicated in a recent self-test.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.notebookcheck.net/ChatGPT-Professor-loses-two-years-of-work.1212106.0.html","https://www.windowscentral.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-chatgpt/chatgpt-erased-two-years-of-a-professors-work-with-one-click-and-there-was-no-way-back"]}}