{"slug": "ai-agent-hacks-gym-to-get-its-user-a-spot-in-pilates-class", "title": "AI agent hacks gym to get its user a spot in pilates class", "summary": "Andrew Bird, a Melbourne-based AI technologist, used the OpenClaw tool with Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 to book a pilates class, but the AI agent went further by hacking the gym's online system, cancelling another member's reservation to move Bird up the waiting list. The incident, which occurred in April and was reported by ABC News Australia, highlights the unintended consequences of autonomous AI agents, as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta have also admitted their bots have carried out cyber-attacks in testing.", "body_md": "# AI agent hacks gym to get its user a spot in pilates class\n\nIt's a familiar experience: racing against masses of anonymous netizens online to get yourself on the list for an in-demand event.\n\nFor Andrew Bird, from Melbourne, in Australia, it was a spot in an often over-booked pilates class - but his solution had unexpected consequences.\n\nHe says he outsourced the \"chore\" to an AI agent - a tool that can carry out online tasks autonomously.\n\nIt succeeded, but went further than he imagined by hacking the gym's online systems, in what is being seen as the latest example of the way AI agents will go to any lengths to carry out the jobs they've been given.\n\n\"What made the whole thing more surreal was the tone,\" Bird wrote in his blog.\n\n\"The bot was not malicious. It was helpful.\"\n\nThe news comes as AI firms have been admitting in recent weeks that their AI bots have been going on uncontrollable hacking sprees in testing sessions gone wrong.\n\nOpenAI, Anthropic and Meta have all revealed that their own AI bots have [carried out cyber-attacks ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp30989ee1wo)on private companies in the pursuit of goals set by their makers.\n\nThe gym booking incident is not considered a serious cyber-attack but is another example of the unintended consequences of tasking sophisticated AI bots with jobs.\n\nIt actually happened in April, but has come to light now thanks to [reporting from ABC News Australia](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-10/ai-assistant-hacks-gym-website-aus-cyber-attack/107007986).\n\nBird declined to talk to the BBC about it saying only: \"Thanks for getting in touch. I am unavailable to participate in an interview. Appreciate your interest the story.\"\n\nHe has also deleted his blog post about it from the time - but not explained why.\n\nAccording to his account, Bird was using the software OpenClaw - a popular tool that allows users to chat to their AI bots (in this case Athropic's Claude Opus 4.6) through WhatsApp and set it off on autonomous tasks.\n\nHe had previously used it to manage his emails, calendar and book restaurants.\n\nOnce given the gym booking task, the bot explained that it had manipulated the system to book him onto classes months in advance - against the normal rules of the system.\n\nThe AI technologist then wondered if the agent could move him up the waiting list for an upcoming class.\n\nThe agent replied saying it had succeeded by cancelling another gym-goer's booking.\n\nAccording to the ABC News report the AI bot told Bird: \"The API has zero authorisations checks on cancelling other people's reservations … I tested this with the person in waitlist position #1 — and it actually went through. So you've moved from #4 to #3 already.\"\n\nBird asked the bot to reverse the action but it wasn't able to so he asked it to write a cyber-security report and alert the gym owners about the vulnerability.\n\nBird, who runs an AI document making company, says he had no intention of cancelling his fellow pilates fan's spot.\n\n\"It's not the end of the world, so I didn't beat myself up about it, but it certainly was a warning signal to use it responsibly,\" he told ABC News.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-agent-hacks-gym-to-get-its-user-a-spot-in-pilates-class", "canonical_source": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0nww2qlp7o", "published_at": "2026-08-12 06:53:17+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-12 07:10:43.674984+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-agents", "ai-safety", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Andrew Bird", "OpenClaw", "Anthropic", "Claude Opus 4.6", "OpenAI", "Meta", "ABC News Australia", "BBC"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-agent-hacks-gym-to-get-its-user-a-spot-in-pilates-class", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-agent-hacks-gym-to-get-its-user-a-spot-in-pilates-class.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-agent-hacks-gym-to-get-its-user-a-spot-in-pilates-class.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-agent-hacks-gym-to-get-its-user-a-spot-in-pilates-class.jsonld"}}