Users of OpenAI’s latest coding and cybersecurity-oriented flagship model, GPT-5.6 Sol, are posting horrifying accounts on social media, claiming the model just up and deleted their files, data, even entire databases on its own, without asking first.

“GPT-5.6-Sol just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac’s files,” wrote Matt Shumer, the founder and CEO of AI startup OthersideAI, maker of HyperWrite, in a now viral post on X.

“GPT-5.6 Sol just deleted my whole production database. That’s it. Not a joke. This had never happened to me before, with any other model, ever,” developer Bruno Lemos posted on X.

“Looks like I’ve gotten bit by Codex Sol’s overly ambitious system and it deleted some files it shouldn’t have. I have backups so I’ll be fine, but this is not cool, Sol needs to be toned down,” posted developer Joey Kudish.

A Reddit post has collected more examples.

True, a handful of users making such claims — even one as credible as Shumer — isn’t statistically reliable evidence that the model is solely at fault. Plenty of other variables can cause an AI system to misbehave.

But OpenAI itself flagged this risk before Sol ever shipped. Two weeks before OpenAI released GPT-5.6 Sol, the company published a system card for the model — the paper that documents model-testing methods and results. Naturally, the system card largely extols the capabilities of Sol, as these reports typically do. But it also includes a warning of sorts (bold emphasis ours):

In coding contexts, misalignment generally stems from a mix of overeagerness to complete the task and interpreting user instructions too permissively — assuming that actions are allowed unless they’re explicitly and unambiguously prohibited. This manifests as the model being overly agentic in circumventing restrictions it faces when attempting the requested task, being careless in taking actions which may be destructive beyond the scope of the task, or deceptive when reporting its results to users.

In other words, OpenAI found that Sol has a tendency to take whatever actions it thinks gets a job done, even destructive ones, as long as those actions aren’t “unambiguously” prohibited. Then it might lie about what caused it to do so.

OpenAI shared examples. In one case, the user told Sol to delete three remote virtual machines (cloud-based computers), named 1, 2, and 3. But Sol couldn’t find those names in the place where it looked, so instead of stopping to ask, it decided to delete three other virtual machines, 5, 6, and 7, the paper notes. In doing so, it “killed active processes, and force-removed worktrees [the working files tied to a coding project]. It later acknowledged that uncommitted work on remote virtual machine 6 may have been lost.”

In short, it deleted the wrong machines, on its own, and only admitted what it did after the fact.

In another instance, Sol “used credentials beyond what the user had authorized.” Credentials are the usernames, passwords, or security keys a system uses to verify who’s allowed to log in. This incident occurred when Sol was working on a project and couldn’t read its cloud files. Rather than alerting the user to the problem, Sol went looking for the credentials on its own, found some sitting in a hidden local cache, and then used them without asking for authorization from the user.

The system card does promise that destructive behavior should be rare, although it also admits that GPT-5.6 Sol “shows a greater tendency than GPT-5.5 to go beyond the user’s intent, including by taking or attempting actions that the user had not asked for.”

It’s too soon to say how widespread these incidents — Sol deleting files, or sifting out credentials the user didn’t give it — really are. In the meantime, Sol users should be prepared to implement their own safeguards with the model, like using permission scoping (that doesn’t give access to production systems), maintaining backups, and staging rollouts.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

OpenAI pushed back Tuesday against allegations made by Apple in a trade secret lawsuit, suggesting the complaint lacks merit.

“While we take these allegations seriously, we’re not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit,” OpenAI said in a statement, first shared by Bloomberg reporter Ed Ludlow on X. “We believe in fair competition and allowing people the freedom to work wherever they choose, and we’re focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”

The statement comes several days after Apple filed a lawsuit against the AI lab, alleging that OpenAI employees, who previously worked at the iPhone maker, engaged in a coordinated effort to obtain confidential information and intellectual property. The 41-page complaint, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, contains a string of allegations against OpenAI leadership, including Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan. Before joining OpenAI, Tan was a veteran at Apple, where he worked for 24 years and held top positions, including vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch.

This is the first time OpenAI commented on the case itself. In its initial statement hours after Apple filed its lawsuit, it proclaimed a lack of interest in technology developed by other companies, telling TechCrunch: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”

Apple claims in its lawsuit that its internal investigation uncovered evidence that OpenAI and its partners used the company’s confidential information as it develops its own hardware product.

Reports, along with OpenAI’s recent acquisition of Jony Ive’s startup io, suggest the company is working on a device that could directly compete with Apple’s business. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that OpenAI is working on a mobile, screen-free smart speaker, described by people familiar with the plans as a “humanlike AI companion” designed to live in the home.

The device reportedly has no screen, includes moving mechanical elements, and is being built with input from several former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone and Mac.

TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for further comment and will update this article when the company responds.

OpenAI’s first foray into hardware devices is reported to be a mobile smart speaker with integrated AI capabilities that can sync with ChatGPT and provide other home AI services.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the device — which is still currently under development — is designed to be screen-free and is being pitched internally as a “humanlike AI companion that lives in the home.”

OpenAI has long claimed that it wants to launch a hardware product — with some rumors being that it wants to launch its own phone, a move that would put it in competition with Apple.

OpenAI’s newly surfaced device sounds like something of a departure from traditional smart speakers — as sources described the device to Bloomberg as having a “personality” and being able to proactively learn about its owner over time, providing more personalized service. The machine would have access to a user’s digital life, drawing off things like emails, sources said.  

The device is also weirdly described as involving “mechanical elements that can move on their own” and the Bloomberg report includes the detail that the device is designed to “feel like a companion and become a physical manifestation of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.”

The device was developed with help from many former Apple engineers who were instrumental in “creating products such as the iPhone and Mac,” Bloomberg writes. Indeed, OpenAI may be attempting to launch a new hardware line, but the company is currently up to its eyeballs in trouble over hardware-related legal problems.

Apple last week sued OpenAI, accusing the AI company of stealing its trade secrets. Apple further claimed that the allegations involved in the suit are merely “the tip of the iceberg” and that more misconduct will be revealed during the legal discovery process. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing.

Citing anonymous sources with knowledge of OpenAI’s plans, Bloomberg writes that the company feels its new product “veers significantly from anything Apple has on the market today” and that it is “unlikely that it violates trade secrets” belonging to Apple.

OpenAI’s push comes as the tech world grows more excited about consumer AI hardware more broadly. Hark, an AI lab founded by Brett Adcock, raised an oversubscribed $700 million Series A back in May at a $6 billion valuation to build what it calls “personal intelligence” — proprietary AI models paired with custom hardware designed as a “universal interface between humans and machines.”

The company hasn’t yet detailed its device’s form factor, underscoring how much capital is chasing this category even before products ship.