Deletions happen, but that is what you have backups for. I do not understand how you can have hundreds of days of work and never test if your backups work.
There is A LOT of garbage IT staff out there. A lot. Especially when it's outsourced MSP. I've walked into environments, where the backup software just repeatedly show failed jobs for MONTHS. No one checking on anything, email alerts if they are even configured, dumping into a mailbox no one checks. It's pathetic.
> I do not understand how you can have hundreds of days of work and never test if your backups work
You outsource it, then you file a P4 ticket to test those "just in case" that will be done in a future sprint (never), but all of you more or less trust the outsourcing partner actually has their shit together.
Personally I wouldn't trust any backup system without also testing and verifying the restore, but I've worked in plenty of places where their main database is automatically backed up by AWS or whatever, and no one cares to test the restore because "Why would it be broken if it's provided by AWS?!" and similar opinions drown out the more careful ones.
The denial is from the TV4, not the production company, and it's not so much a denial as just saying "we didn't hear that AI did it", TV4 confirms the entire final cut is gone:
> Det som vi har fått från produktionen är att det har varit ett tekniskt haveri som har gjort att material som är klippt har försvunnit och att vi därför måste klippas om på nytt. Och att vi därför behöver skjuta fram premiären till 2027, säger Ludvig Ternstedt, pressansvarig för ”The challenge”.
> “It is not true that some independent AI agent went in and deleted the material,” says Mia Lindqvist, program director at TV4, to Sveriges Radio’s P4 Stockholm.
> A backup system at the production company failed, she says. “This means they now have to edit everything from scratch.”
To be honest, neither "Sweden Herald" nor Aftonbladet are "reputable sources" when it comes to reporting on news, technical details or even details at all. The latter is a tabloid in fact, and the former borderline "random online newsblog", I wouldn't lend too much credence to them.
SVT is probably a more trustworthy source (in this case) and their quote is this:
> “There was a technical glitch during production that caused the edited footage to be lost, so now it has to be re-edited. That’s why we need to postpone the premiere until 2027. However, it’s not true that some malicious AI agent acted on its own and deleted the footage,” writes Ludvig Ternstedt, TV4’s press officer for “The Challenge,” to SVT. - https://www.svt.se/kultur/tekniskt-haveri-tv4-skjuter-upp-re...
They say "Elak" rather than "Ond", which I'd translate as "Malicious" rather than "Evil", FWIW.
> “It is not true that some independent AI agent went in and deleted the material,”
That's odd, when I viewed the article the quote was them saying it wasn't 'some evil AI agent' but in the literal minutes since the quote has been replaced with one saying 'independent AI agent'. Wayback Machine confirms this. When I initially read it the quote could be plausibly interpreted as 'well it wasn't some evil AI agent that did this'.
Pedantic, but 'Stay at home' generally refers to someone who's chosen to not partake in the work-force, and instead raise a child/children. "Stay at home mom working remotely" is paradoxical, I think.
Root cause - guardrails "unexpectedly" were neither guards nor rails. Who knew that asking a stochastic program "pretty please" is not a strict instruction or a barrier whatsoever.
Are you talking about the misinformation that AI deleted the TV show, while the channel themselves deny this? This sort of misinformation will continue to increase? Shocker
It's been a long time since I had a website throw a pop-under at me, but here we are.
AI promised me global human extinction but all I got was a deleted reality TV show...
Deletions happen, but that is what you have backups for. I do not understand how you can have hundreds of days of work and never test if your backups work.
I wonder if their editing nas died and fried everything on it. If you only backup your backup every couple of months I can see it.
Wouldn't surprise me if the editing process involves a lot of files on cheap storage with little to no backup.
There is A LOT of garbage IT staff out there. A lot. Especially when it's outsourced MSP. I've walked into environments, where the backup software just repeatedly show failed jobs for MONTHS. No one checking on anything, email alerts if they are even configured, dumping into a mailbox no one checks. It's pathetic.
> I do not understand how you can have hundreds of days of work and never test if your backups work
You outsource it, then you file a P4 ticket to test those "just in case" that will be done in a future sprint (never), but all of you more or less trust the outsourcing partner actually has their shit together.
Personally I wouldn't trust any backup system without also testing and verifying the restore, but I've worked in plenty of places where their main database is automatically backed up by AWS or whatever, and no one cares to test the restore because "Why would it be broken if it's provided by AWS?!" and similar opinions drown out the more careful ones.
The submission title says it happened, but the company denies it
The denial is from the TV4, not the production company, and it's not so much a denial as just saying "we didn't hear that AI did it", TV4 confirms the entire final cut is gone:
> Det som vi har fått från produktionen är att det har varit ett tekniskt haveri som har gjort att material som är klippt har försvunnit och att vi därför måste klippas om på nytt. Och att vi därför behöver skjuta fram premiären till 2027, säger Ludvig Ternstedt, pressansvarig för ”The challenge”.
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/a/31oE8A/the-challeng...
Yes, but the submission article (https://swedenherald.com/article/tv4-postpones-the-challenge...) is after that Aftonbladet article, and in the submission, they deny it's because of AI and claims it's because one of the backup systems failed...
> “It is not true that some independent AI agent went in and deleted the material,” says Mia Lindqvist, program director at TV4, to Sveriges Radio’s P4 Stockholm.
> A backup system at the production company failed, she says. “This means they now have to edit everything from scratch.”
To be honest, neither "Sweden Herald" nor Aftonbladet are "reputable sources" when it comes to reporting on news, technical details or even details at all. The latter is a tabloid in fact, and the former borderline "random online newsblog", I wouldn't lend too much credence to them.
SVT is probably a more trustworthy source (in this case) and their quote is this:
> “There was a technical glitch during production that caused the edited footage to be lost, so now it has to be re-edited. That’s why we need to postpone the premiere until 2027. However, it’s not true that some malicious AI agent acted on its own and deleted the footage,” writes Ludvig Ternstedt, TV4’s press officer for “The Challenge,” to SVT. - https://www.svt.se/kultur/tekniskt-haveri-tv4-skjuter-upp-re...
They say "Elak" rather than "Ond", which I'd translate as "Malicious" rather than "Evil", FWIW.
> “It is not true that some independent AI agent went in and deleted the material,”
That's odd, when I viewed the article the quote was them saying it wasn't 'some evil AI agent' but in the literal minutes since the quote has been replaced with one saying 'independent AI agent'. Wayback Machine confirms this. When I initially read it the quote could be plausibly interpreted as 'well it wasn't some evil AI agent that did this'.
And they needed the backup because...?
You don't get to blame AI if it irreversibly deletes your data.
You either didn't have backup or didn't contain your agent to a place it cannot do irreversible harm.
Actually Toy Story 2 was also (almost) lost because backups were not working for month+: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story_2#Troubled_productio...
A stay at home mom working remotely (In 1998!) to take care of newborn had a copy on her computer...
Pedantic, but 'Stay at home' generally refers to someone who's chosen to not partake in the work-force, and instead raise a child/children. "Stay at home mom working remotely" is paradoxical, I think.
This doesn't take away from your point, though.
If AI agent deleted it or not, it's a human's fault. Really want to see the root-cause analysis here.
Root cause - guardrails "unexpectedly" were neither guards nor rails. Who knew that asking a stochastic program "pretty please" is not a strict instruction or a barrier whatsoever.
My guess on root cause: They did not actually test restore from backups.
So most likely nothing new under the sun.
Primary source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085259
"I need you to cleanup the footage"... "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! No! No! No! No!"
Intent. Ain't it a bitch?
"See, it's sentient! It misinterpreted my prompt!".
Welcome to Q4 2026. Wait until you see 2027!
Are you talking about the misinformation that AI deleted the TV show, while the channel themselves deny this? This sort of misinformation will continue to increase? Shocker