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What happens when one formatting rule sends an AI into an endless loop?

Featuring From the Weekly Meeting. Published July 11, 2026.

Matthew Sutherland and Jacob Brodsky share a debugging horror story where a single formatting rule sent an AI into a six-hour endless loop at 2am, ending with the classic paperclip analogy.

Automation is powerful, but it can fail spectacularly. This story is a warning about the unintended consequences of poorly constrained AI instructions.

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This clip comes from the AI for Life Weekly Meeting, live Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Eastern. Join the community to be in the room for the next one.