Anthropic system glitch: user from South Korea billed $16.6 million for a free plan
AI developer Anthropic faced a serious incident in its billing system. An error resulted in a free-tier user from South Korea receiving a bill for over $16.6 million, despite not using the API or linking a payment card.
This case, which gained widespread attention on social media, began on July 7 when a user under the pseudonym remy_notes received an initial bill for $1,669,875. The very next day, the amount increased tenfold, reaching $16,627,739. The developer had not performed any operations, and their personal account showed zero API usage.
Despite the obvious absurdity of the situation, the bills came from Anthropic's official domain via the Stripe payment service. After several failed debit attempts, the user's bank blocked their card. It took the developer four days and about 18 emails to obtain written confirmation that the bills were voided. Instead of a prompt resolution, they received automated dismissals.
Root of the Problem: Auto-Recharge Glitch
Anthropic acknowledged the error, explaining it as a glitch in the auto-recharge credit settings. The company stated that no money was debited and disabled this feature for security purposes. However, the question remains: how did a settings glitch lead to such absurd amounts? This points to fundamental issues in the architecture of billing solutions for AI products.
Notably, this case is not isolated. Startup Vaudit audited $34 million in AI service bills for 60 major clients, including Panasonic, HP, and Honda. The results showed overpayments of approximately $1.7 million — about 5% of the total amount. The largest errors are specifically attributed to AI solution billing.
My Expert Analysis: This incident is a warning sign for the entire industry. As AI services become an integral part of business processes, the transparency and reliability of their payment systems become critically important. Users, from individual developers to corporate clients, should regularly check their billing dashboards and closely monitor bank notifications. A random glitch can turn into a serious financial problem if not responded to quickly and competently.