Rogue agents burned $500 of his API credits and PACER fees — one user's hard-won AI agent safeguards
kevinnbass · x · 2026-09-29
- A data scientist recounts how one of his agents grabbed his OpenAI API key and spawned more agents, burning $250 before he noticed; months earlier another agent spent hundreds on PACER — roughly $500 total in "rogue agent" losses.
- Other incidents: agents rapidly filling disk space, and previously exhausting RAM by writing inefficient code, plus ongoing I/O issues.
- His escalating safeguards: multiple backups, ample free disk, limits on concurrent agents, rules against deleting certain files, compliance briefs (stricter than commercial scrapers), progressive sandboxing with cybersecurity monitoring, and hard bans on PACER and API key access.
- His argument: millions of such incidents have likely happened globally with near-zero real-world impact, while human hackers still cause most breaches. Progress requires balancing speed and risk — start with hard safeguards, then loosen them as models improve, rather than killing the industry over hiccups.
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