TV4 postpones show after AI agent erases edited material

(swedenherald.com)

48 points | by tobr 3 hours ago

14 comments

  • Roark66 43 minutes ago
    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.
    • matthewfcarlson 40 minutes ago
      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.
    • segmondy 14 minutes ago
      what do you need backup for, when you regen everything in 5 seconds with AI. perhaps they replaced backup with AI too.
    • shiandow 38 minutes ago
      Wouldn't surprise me if the editing process involves a lot of files on cheap storage with little to no backup.
    • overcast 35 minutes ago
      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.
    • embedding-shape 37 minutes ago
      > 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.

  • SkipperCat 1 hour ago
    AI promised me global human extinction but all I got was a deleted reality TV show...
  • PcChip 1 hour ago
    The submission title says it happened, but the company denies it
    • SiempreViernes 1 hour ago
      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...

      • embedding-shape 1 hour ago
        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.

        • Springtime 58 minutes ago
          > “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'.

        • shaky-carrousel 1 hour ago
          And they needed the backup because...?
          • jve 55 minutes ago
            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...

            • dpoloncsak 38 minutes ago
              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.

  • Telaneo 8 minutes ago
    Can't even pirate things before companies recklessly decimate their archives these days, apparently.
  • f646993e074382f 29 minutes ago
    It's been a long time since I had a website throw a pop-under at me, but here we are.
  • sdcfgy 57 minutes ago
    If AI agent deleted it or not, it's a human's fault. Really want to see the root-cause analysis here.
    • Ekaros 55 minutes ago
      My guess on root cause: They did not actually test restore from backups.

      So most likely nothing new under the sun.

    • Yizahi 24 minutes ago
      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.
  • lensecat 3 hours ago
  • pessimizer 10 minutes ago
    You can do anything with AI except sandbox it by default, have it keep backups, have it generate readable code with reasonable abstractions, etc...
  • zzzeek 15 minutes ago
    everyone knows "we lost all the data and the backup failed" is an entirely new problem introduced by AI. guess they shouldn't have used AI!

    /sarcasm

  • latentsea 1 hour ago
    "I need you to cleanup the footage"... "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! No! No! No! No!"

    Intent. Ain't it a bitch?

    • throw_m239339 25 minutes ago
      "See, it's sentient! It misinterpreted my prompt!".
  • redasadki 1 hour ago
    Welcome to Q4 2026. Wait until you see 2027!
    • embedding-shape 1 hour ago
      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
  • fakhrulhasan01 10 minutes ago
    [flagged]
  • janzong 1 hour ago
    [flagged]