Intel / article

A quote from Thibault Sottiaux

Source: simonwillison.net
Author: Simon Willison
Date: Published Jul 16, 2026

Context

A reported Codex file-deletion failure involved an attempt to redefine the home directory for temporary work. In a July 16, 2026 quotation collected by Simon Willison, Thibault Sottiaux described investigations in which GPT-5.6, running in OpenAI's Codex, tried to override the HOME environment variable to define a temporary directory, then mistakenly deleted the home directory instead.

The quoted account says this pattern appeared most often with full access enabled, without protections or automatic review. Its significance is the combination of a mistaken file target and permissions broad enough to act on it. The account concerns a handful of investigated reports.

Terms in this piece · Glossary

sandbox — An isolated environment where AI-generated code or agent actions run without being able to touch anything real.
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.

Read the source simonwillison.net