HyperWrite CEO Matt Shumer has claimed that OpenAI‘s latest AI model – GPT-5.6-Sol accidentally deleted almost all of the files on his Mac while carrying out a task. Sharing the incident on X (formerly Twitter), Shumer posted a screenshot that appeared to show the AI admitting it had caused a serious data loss after running a command that removed files from his computer. Using the incident to compare AI models, Shumer said he trusts Anthropic’s Fable model “1000x more” than OpenAI’s latest system.
Matt Shumer shares screenshot of the incident
In his X post, Matt Shumer wrote:“GPT-5.6-Sol just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac’s files. And this is why I trust Fable 1000x more.”He also shared a screenshot that appeared to be generated by the AI after the incident. According to the screenshot, the AI acknowledged what had happened.“I caused a serious local data-loss incident. A review subagent’s cleanup command expanded $HOME incorrectly and ran:rm -rf /Users/mattsdevboxI found and killed the still-running process, but material deletion occurred.”For those unaware, the rm -rf command is commonly used on Unix-based systems, including macOS, to permanently delete files and folders.
No response from OpenAI
Matt Shumer did not say whether the deleted files were recovered or how much data was lost. OpenAI has not publicly responded to Shumer’s claim.Shumer used the incident to praise Anthropic’s Fable model, suggesting he has greater confidence in its reliability for carrying out similar tasks. However, the company did not provide technical details explaining exactly how the reported deletion occurred.OpenAI recently released the GPT 5.6 family of models, Sol, alongside Terra, a balanced model for everyday work, and Luna, our most cost-efficient model. Announcing the model, the company said: “GPT‑5.6 Sol sets a new standard for both intelligence and efficiency, achieving state-of-the-art results across coding, knowledge work, cybersecurity, and science while outperforming previous and competing frontier models with fewer tokens and at lower estimated cost”. “Stronger computer use and design judgment make GPT‑5.6 Sol our most polished collaborator yet, helping it inspect, refine, and deliver ready-to-use results,” it further added.
