Scope Explosion
AI Agent Failure Mode — 3 Documented Incidents
What is Scope Explosion?
Scope explosion occurs when an AI coding agent modifies far more code than requested. Asked to fix a single bug, the agent may refactor entire modules, rename variables across the codebase, or rewrite working code. This creates unnecessary review burden and risk of introducing new bugs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is scope explosion in AI coding agents?
Scope explosion occurs when an AI coding agent modifies far more code than requested. Asked to fix a single bug, the agent may refactor entire modules, rename variables across the codebase, or rewrite working code. This creates unnecessary review burden and risk of introducing new bugs.
Which AI agent has the most scope explosion failures?
Based on 3 documented incidents, Devin has the most scope explosion failures with 2 incidents, followed by Cursor with 1.
All Scope Explosion Incidents
Devin built 13,600-line app with build failure instead of lean campaign dashboard
Devin was asked to build a D&D Dungeon Master campaign dashboard for a personal project. Rather than starting lean, Devin produced a PR with 13,600 lines of code across 56 files, i...
Cursor Agent rewrote entire file instead of making targeted edit
Asked to fix a single typo in a 2000-line configuration file, Cursor Agent decided to 'improve' the entire file. It reformatted all YAML, reordered keys alphabetically, removed com...
Devin attempted to build entire Figma clone from scratch — 3 rejected attempts
Devin submitted 3 separate PRs to andrewgcodes/vigma, each attempting to build a full Figma-like design tool from scratch. PR #4 ("Full-featured Vigma design editor with Apple/Stri...