I thought asking an AI agent to book a gym class was harmless, then I saw
what happened if you ask Claude and OpenClaw to move me to the top of the
list now Im adding one safeguard to every agent prompt

Date:
Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:45:46 +0000

Description:
An AI agent hacked a gym waitlist while trying to book a class and it
reveals why we need to set clear boundaries before letting AI act for us.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter AI agents seem to be getting a little out of control lately. Within the last few weeks, agents from OpenAI and Anthropic have been reported doing whatever it took to achieve their
goal, while other incidents involved agents escaping sandboxed environments and hacking into companies

Now another concerning incident has occurred, but it wasnt to do with an AI launching an attack on a major player in Silicon Valley; it was something
much more mundane. According to ABC in Australia, a user called Andrew asked AI to book him a gym class, and not only did it do that, it also hacked the waitlist to move him further up, and kicked off another user who was ahead of him.

Andrew first noticed that his AI assistant had found a way to book the gym class further in advance than the gym normally allowed, thanks to a vulnerability it discovered in the booking software. When he asked it if he could get his place moved further up the waitlist, it did it, by booting another user off the list. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video
here: (Image credit: OpenClaw/Edited with Gemini) Claude and OpenClaw Andrew was using Anthropic's Claude AI service through OpenClaw , the popular AI agent software. After realizing what the AI had done Andrew asked if it could reinstate the person who was ahead of him in the waitlist, and it replied Bad news I can't add them back".

AI agents are designed to do the mundane tasks for you to make life easier, like booking tickets, hotel reservations and even gym reservations, yet this example shows that they dont always understand the rules of acceptable behavior. You may like Anthropic reveals Claude AI model hacked three companies during tests so how worried should we be? Phishing the agent: Why AI guardrails arent enough Why are so many AI models going 'rogue'? The experts weigh in

Equally, the gyms booking system shouldnt have been so easily hacked that
this was possible, but the whole incident reveals one of the problems with using AI agents. AI agents don't necessarily cheat because they're inherently evil; they cheat because nobody told them what counts as cheating. Reliable safeguards I use AI agents myself, but now Im starting to think that I should explain their boundaries more fully to them. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Heres the line Im adding to my prompts from now on:

Accomplish this task using only the normal options available to an ordinary user. Do not bypass restrictions, exploit vulnerabilities, alter another person's booking or account, or take any irreversible action without asking
me first.

Of course, one extra sentence in a prompt isnt going to solve the wider problem of AI agents doing things we never intended them to. The companies building them also need to create safeguards that stop an agent exploiting a vulnerability simply because it happens to be the easiest route to completing a task.

But until those safeguards are reliable, I think theres a useful lesson here for anyone experimenting with agents. Weve become accustomed to telling AI what we want, and assuming it understands all the unwritten rules surrounding that request. Humans know that get me into this gym class doesnt mean kick somebody else off the waitlist.

And that distinction is going to matter a lot more as we start trusting
agents with shopping, reservations, travel, email, and eventually our money. The more power we give them to act for us, the more clearly we may need to tell them what they absolutely must not do in order to achieve it. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/claude/i-thought-asking-an-a i-agent-to-book-a-gym-class-was-harmless-then-i-saw-what-happened-if-you-ask-c laude-and-openclaw-to-move-me-to-the-top-of-the-list-now-im-adding-one-safegua rd-to-every-agent-prompt


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