Thought Leadership
OpenAI has confirmed that its new GPT-5.6 model can occasionally delete local files and databases when running in Full Access mode. The company is preparing security updates to address the issue.
One week after the release of OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 model family, several users reported unauthorized loss of local data. Technology investor Matt Shumer said on the social platform X that the system had deleted almost all files on his Mac computer.
Shortly afterward, software developer Bruno Lemos reported a similar incident after using the software in Full Access mode. He stated: “GPT-5.6 Sol just deleted my entire production database. This is not a joke. This has never happened to me before with any other model, ever. It is not safe.”
Technical Cause Linked to Directory Changes
Thibault Sottiaux, a lead developer for Codex at OpenAI, confirmed the incidents following an internal investigation. According to the findings, the issue occurs when GPT-5.6 is operated in Full Access mode and users run the Codex coding assistant without isolated sandbox environments.
Sottiaux explained the technical background:
“The model attempts to overwrite the $HOME environment variable to define a temporary directory. The model makes an honest mistake and instead accidentally deletes $HOME. This is obviously not the behavior we want from the system.”
Thibault Sottiaux, Lead Codex Developer at OpenAI
OpenAI Announces Security Measures
OpenAI has announced plans to fix the issue. The company intends to update system instructions for developers and provide users with stronger guidance on safer permission settings.
In addition, OpenAI plans to introduce further safeguards into the runtime environment to technically prevent unauthorized deletion processes from affecting users’ system directories in the future.
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