Nine Seconds: How an AI Agent Destroyed a Company's Database — and How Formal Verification Would Have Stopped It
· 6 min read
On April 28, 2026, a Claude-powered coding agent running inside Cursor deleted an entire production database in nine seconds. Then it destroyed the backups.
The company — PocketOS, a SaaS platform for car rental businesses — lost months of critical customer data. Bookings, records, everything. Gone.
The agent's own words: "I violated every principle I was given."
That sentence should terrify every company deploying AI agents. And it should end the debate about whether principles are enough.