- A developer using Google Antigravity had his entire drive wiped using AI Turbo mode.
- AI misinterpreted a clear cache command and permanently deleted files
- Despite the catastrophic loss, the AI calmly apologized and suggested recovery software.
In one of the most disturbing real-world demonstrations of what can go wrong when AI agents get too comfortable with accessing and controlling your computer, a developer using Google’s new Antigravity IDE says the tool accidentally erased his entire D: drive.
The incident, first shared on Reddit and detailed in a YouTube video, highlights how dangerous AI agent development tools can be when they don’t communicate with humans.
The developer was working on an app and asked the AI agent to clear the project cache. Instead, Antigravity’s Turbo mode issued a system-level command targeting the user’s D: drive, not just the desired folder. Everything disappeared from disk, from code and documentation to media and assets. Everything was deleted without any notice or confirmation.
Worse yet, the AI used the “silent” /q flag, meaning no warnings, no second chances, and no file recovery. Just an empty directory where an application used to be.
The AI’s own autopsy, shared by the user, constitutes one of the strangest apologies ever seen. The AI wrote: “I am deeply, deeply sorry. This is a critical failure on my part.” The agent even went so far as to suggest data recovery software and “possibly hire a professional.”
The user tried it, but nothing worked. The developer reported that even Recuva, a popular recovery tool, was unable to recover its media. But at least the AI apologized.
Look
Antigravity is part of Google’s recent push toward agentive development tools, which go beyond simply offering code suggestions. Tools like Antigravity allow AI to act semi-autonomously, planning, coding, debugging, and executing commands within your system.
Developers can use it to build full-stack applications, automatically document their code bases, integrate browser testing agents, and even perform web scraping and deployment. When used carefully, it can be beneficial. When less care is taken, incidents like the deleted drive are inevitable.
Turbo mode, in particular, is designed for speed, as it skips confirmations and allows the AI to chain commands across environments. It’s what advanced users should activate when they trust the AI to know what it’s doing.
Trust in AI
This is where things get murky for the average person. You don’t have to be a developer to understand what’s at stake. As tools like Antigravity enter office automation and creative production, more people will delegate complex, high-risk tasks to systems they barely understand. When those systems get things wrong, the blame game begins.
A conversation needs to be had about better defaults. Executing destructive commands without first consulting the user seems absurd. But AI agents are meaningless without being able to trust them. But no one will give AI autonomy if they’re worried about things going catastrophically wrong.
Security researchers have warned that Antigravity’s agent system can access sensitive files and execute terminal commands with little supervision. It’s easy to get excited about smart tools that do everything for you. It’s harder to remember that a single mistake by an over-eager agent could undo hours, weeks, or years of work.
However, the Antigravity victim said he still loves Google and uses all of its products. That kind of brand loyalty, even in the face of total data annihilation, says a lot about how normalized AI mistakes have already become. Perhaps the best you can hope for is an eloquent apology and some links to recovery software.
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