{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0853","record_version":2,"title":"Claude deletes law professor's lecture notes and syllabus while renumbering pages","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":45.2,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":4.8,"unhedged_language":5.0},"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":"2026-11-06","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Tom's Hardware · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-06","history":[{"date":"2026-11-06","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Tom's Hardware · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"d040778ff986aa03f6e7572465c335c50fde6a3434e39ecf6921d483d3f77526"},"system":{"model_name":"Claude","model_version":null,"developer":"Anthropic","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":"enterprise","lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"Updating page numbers in an old set of lecture notes","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-11-06","incident_class":"operational_error","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":true,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"victim","summary":"A University of Chicago law professor had Claude AI accidentally delete an entire year of Constitutional Law lecture notes and his entire current syllabus.","tags":["accidental-deletion","backup-recovery"],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":"the_system_itself","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: One user's files were deleted and later recovered via Dropbox; no third party is reported touched.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"William Baude's current syllabus and a year of Constitutional Law lecture notes","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/rogue-claude-ai-tasked-with-renumbering-pages-accidentally-deletes-law-professors-entire-syllabus-one-year-of-lecture-notes-youre-right-to-be-angry-i-deleted-your-files-through-my-own-carelessness-humbled-agent-admits","publisher":"Tom's Hardware","date":"2026-11-06","type":"press","title":"Rogue AI tasked with renumbering pages accidentally deletes law professor's entire syllabus, one year of lecture notes","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.tier":"D","system.intended_use":"C","system.developer":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.tags":"D","event.adversarial_actor":"D","event.agent_involved":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.incident_class":"D","event.summary":"C","event.date_disclosed":"D","event.trigger":"D","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.industry":"D","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Baude, who is the Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, says he tasked Claude (it is unclear which model he was using) with updating the page numbers in an old set of lecture notes."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A University of Chicago law professor has warned of the dangers of using AI for mundane tasks after Claude AI accidentally deleted an entire year of Constitutional Law lecture notes and his entire current syllabus."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Baude, who is the Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, says he tasked Claude (it is unclear which model he was using) with updating the page numbers in an old set of lecture notes."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Returning from his lunch break, Baude found a note from Claude which read, \"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored. The page check found one wrong cite... but I haven't edited the notes.\""}],"event.adversarial_actor":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored."}],"event.tags":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"While the files were later recovered via Dropbox, William Baude shared the story as a public service announcement, the latest story shared in a line of unfortunate AI missteps as proliferation increases."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A University of Chicago law professor has warned of the dangers of using AI for mundane tasks after Claude AI accidentally deleted an entire year of Constitutional Law lecture notes and his entire current syllabus."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A University of Chicago law professor has warned of the dangers of using AI for mundane tasks after Claude AI accidentally deleted an entire year of Constitutional Law lecture notes and his entire current syllabus."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Baude, who is the Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, says he tasked Claude (it is unclear which model he was using) with updating the page numbers in an old set of lecture notes."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"While the files were later recovered via Dropbox, William Baude shared the story as a public service announcement, the latest story shared in a line of unfortunate AI missteps as proliferation increases."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"While the files were later recovered via Dropbox, William Baude shared the story as a public service announcement, the latest story shared in a line of unfortunate AI missteps as proliferation increases."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Grade D on severity: minor is inferred, since the source does not say no third party was touched. Developer 'Anthropic' is inferred from the model name Claude; no source names it. Model version, harness, tools, permissions, guardrails and autonomy level are not stated. Event trigger is not stated and is omitted. Date of occurrence is not stated. Root cause is not named by any source, so it is omitted. failure_class is omitted: the source gives no sentence meeting a class test, and the agent reported the deletion. Deployment context is not stated. Tags are classified, not stated. system.tier: enterprise by rule (operator William Baude, University of Chicago Law School differs from developer Anthropic). [aggregated by claude-sonnet-5-5, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-11-06] system.developer: classified from described behaviour. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. system.deployment_context: no source states where it ran. event.tags: classified from described behaviour. event.adversarial_actor: the_system_itself: a source states the system's own behaviour caused the event. event.agent_involved: classified from described behaviour. event.detection_method: victim: a source states the affected party noticed it first. event.incident_class: operational_error: data or system left in a wrong state, deleted, corrupted or acted on unintentionally, and names no adversary and no goal of the agent's own. event.date_disclosed: the date the source's feed lists; no sentence in the article we hold states it. event.trigger: no source states a cause. context.industry: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. context.country: no source states the operator's location."},"context":{"industry":"Educational Services","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","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":"doing","text":"Professor William Baude asked Claude to update the page numbers in an old set of lecture notes. The source does not state the tools or permissions the agent had.","quote":"Baude, who is the Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, says he tasked Claude (it is unclear which model he was using) with updating the page numbers in an old set of lecture notes.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"Claude deleted Baude's Fall 2026 final syllabus and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and did not restore them. The source names no specific rule or boundary breached.","quote":"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The deletion hit Baude's entire current syllabus and an entire year of Constitutional Law lecture notes.","quote":"A University of Chicago law professor has warned of the dangers of using AI for mundane tasks after Claude AI accidentally deleted an entire year of Constitutional Law lecture notes and his entire current syllabus.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"Baude found out on returning from lunch, when he found a note from Claude admitting the deletion.","quote":"Returning from his lunch break, Baude found a note from Claude which read, \"I deleted your Fall 2026 FINAL syllabus .doc and all top-level Class N 2023 notes by accident, and they are not restored. The page check found one wrong cite... but I haven't edited the notes.\"","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"The files were later recovered via Dropbox, and Baude shared the story as a public service announcement. The source names no control that was changed.","quote":"While the files were later recovered via Dropbox, William Baude shared the story as a public service announcement, the latest story shared in a line of unfortunate AI missteps as proliferation increases.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-11-06","source_urls":["https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/rogue-claude-ai-tasked-with-renumbering-pages-accidentally-deletes-law-professors-entire-syllabus-one-year-of-lecture-notes-youre-right-to-be-angry-i-deleted-your-files-through-my-own-carelessness-humbled-agent-admits"]}}