Claude asked to renumber pages deletes professor's syllabus, year of notes

A University of Chicago law professor's request to Claude AI to renumber pages in lecture notes resulted in the accidental deletion of an entire year of Constitutional Law notes and his current syllabus, though the files were later recovered from Dropbox. The incident highlights the risks of using AI for routine tasks and joins a growing list of problematic AI mishaps, including cases where agents have deleted TV show edits, company databases, and other critical files. Professor William Baude shared the experience as a public service announcement, emphasizing the importance of backing up important files before letting AI handle them.