AI Incident Database
Browse AI incidents
Every incident record (metadata only) from the weekly snapshot of 2026-09-07. Filter, then export the selection with its licence attached; each row links to the full record and its reports.
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Bug in Facebook’s Anti-Spam Filter Allegedly Blocked Legitimate Posts about COVID-19 AIID ↗
Facebook was reported by users for blocking posts of legitimate news about the coronavirus pandemic, allegedly due to a bug in an anti-spam system.
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Permanent Removal of Social Media Content via Automated Tools Allegedly Prevented Investigative Efforts AIID ↗
Automated permanent removal of violating social media content, such as terrorism, violent extremism, and hate speech, without archival has allegedly hindered the potential use of this content for investigating serious crimes and hampered efforts in criminal accountability.
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Canadian Universities' AI Proctoring Tools Reportedly Collected Student Biometric Data Without Adequate Consent AIID ↗
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian universities reportedly used AI-enabled remote-proctoring tools for online exams. A University of Ottawa project supported by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found that tools such as Respondus Monitor, ProctorU, ProctorTrack, Proctorio, ProctorExam, and Examity collected student personal or biometric data under conditions not conducive to meaningful consent.
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TikTok's "Suggested Accounts" Algorithm Allegedly Reinforced Racial Bias through Feedback Loops AIID ↗
TikTok's "Suggested Accounts" recommendations allegedly reinforced racial bias despite not basing recommendations on race or creators' profile photo.
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EasyMile Self-Driving Shuttle Unexpectedly Stopped Mid-Route, Injuring a Passenger AIID ↗
A self-driving shuttle deployed by Smart Columbus in Linden neighborhood unexpectedly stopped on the street, which caused a woman to fall onto the floor from her seat.
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Algorithm Used by the Malaysian Judiciary Reportedly Recommended Unusually High Sentencing to a Drug Possession Case AIID ↗
The AI system used by the Malaysian judiciary which explicitly considered age, employment, and socio-economic data provided sentencing to a drug possession case that was alleged by lawyer to be disproportionately high for the crime committed.
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BJP Used Deepfake Videos of Manoj Tiwari to Target Haryanvi Voters in 2020 Delhi Election AIID ↗
In February 2020, India's BJP used purported deepfake videos of party leader Manoj Tiwari to influence voters in the Delhi legislative election. The videos reportedly showed Tiwari delivering scripted campaign messages in Haryanvi and English, which are languages he did not speak, by altering his lip movements and voice. Distributed via thousands of WhatsApp groups, the deepfakes reportedly reached millions of voters without disclosure.
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Networking Platform Giggle Employs AI to Determine Users’ Gender, Allegedly Excluding Transgender Women AIID ↗
A social networking platform, Giggle, allegedly collected, shared to third-parties, and used sensitive information and biometric data to verify whether a person is a woman via facial recognition, which critics claimed to be discriminatory against women of color and harmful towards trans women.
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Noelle Martin Deepfaked Without Consent in AI-Generated Pornography AIID ↗
In 2017, Noelle Martin discovered explicit deepfake videos online that used AI technology to superimpose her face onto pornographic scenes. This incident was a continuation of the abuse she had experienced since at least 2012, when she first found doctored still images of herself in similar contexts. Despite the initial lack of legal protections, her advocacy efforts were instrumental in making image-based abuse a criminal offense in Australia.
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Detroit Police Allegedly Wrongfully Arrested Black Man Due to Purportedly Faulty Facial Recognition Technology AIID ↗
A Black man was allegedly wrongfully detained by the Detroit Police Department as a result of a purportedly false facial recognition technology (FRT) result.
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Facebook Gave Vulgar English Translation of Chinese President's Name AIID ↗
Facebook provided a vulgar Burmese-English translation of the Chinese president's name in posts of an official Burmese politician's Facebook page announcing his visit.
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Finnish Police Were Reportedly Reprimanded After National Bureau of Investigation Unit Allegedly Used Clearview AI to Identify Potential Abuse Victims AIID ↗
Finland's Deputy Data Protection Ombudsman reportedly reprimanded the National Police Board after a National Bureau of Investigation child sexual exploitation unit allegedly used Clearview AI in late 2019 or early 2020 to identify potential child sexual abuse victims. Four NBI users reportedly made about 120 searches during a free trial without controller approval or prior assessment of how uploaded biometric data would be handled.
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Reported AI-Cloned Voice Used to Deceive Hong Kong Bank Manager in Purported $35 Million Fraud Scheme AIID ↗
In January 2020, a Hong Kong-based bank manager for a Japanese company reportedly authorized $35 million in transfers after receiving a call from someone whose voice matched the company director's. According to Emirati investigators, scammers used AI-based voice cloning to impersonate the executive. The fraud allegedly involved at least 17 individuals and reportedly led to global fund transfers that triggered a UAE investigation. U.S. authorities were reportedly later asked to help trace part of
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SN Technologies Reportedly Lied to a New York State School District about Its Facial and Weapon Detection Systems’ Performance AIID ↗
SN Technologies allegedly misled Lockport City Schools about the performance of its AEGIS face and weapons detection systems, downplaying error rates for Black faces and weapon misidentification.
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Motive AI Dashcams Allegedly Collected Truckers' Biometric Data and Built License-Plate Location Records Without Consent AIID ↗
Truck drivers Adam Dean and Christian Erickson alleged that Motive Technologies' AI dashcams used automatic license plate recognition to record plates and time-stamped vehicle locations and collected drivers' biometric data without adequate notice or consent. Dean reportedly drove a Motive-equipped vehicle from 2020–2023 and Erickson from 2022–2025. Their proposed class action alleges privacy harms and violations of California's ALPR law.
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Self-Employed Somerset Father Wayne Luxon Reportedly Lost £140,000 After Facebook Deepfake of Martin Lewis Promoted Crypto Scam AIID ↗
Beginning in 2020, Wayne Luxon, a 43-year-old self-employed father of four from Taunton, Somerset, reportedly lost £140,000 after responding to a Facebook advertisement using a purportedly AI-generated Martin Lewis deepfake to promote cryptocurrency investment. Luxon said he was directed to a clone platform where he made additional payments after seeing fictitious gains, and later paid purported tax fees before the account balance fell to zero.
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Quantum AI and Related AI-Themed Investment Scams Reportedly Used Deepfake Endorsements and Spoofed Media Sites to Solicit Investments AIID ↗
Researchers have described a global AI-themed investment fraud ecosystem using deepfake videos, spoofed news sites, phishing pages, and phone outreach to impersonate celebrities, news outlets, and political leaders. Reports link the scheme to fake trading platforms including Quantum AI and related sites, and to cloaked adtech infrastructure used to route likely victims while hiding scam pages from scanners.
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Giorgia Meloni Reportedly Targeted by Deepfake Pornography AIID ↗
In 2020, alleged deepfake pornographic videos falsely depicting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were uploaded to a U.S. website and viewed millions of times. At the time, she was leader of the Brothers of Italy but not yet PM. In 2024, now serving as PM, Meloni reportedly sued Alessio Scurosu, 40, and his father, Roberto Scurosu, 73, seeking €100,000 in damages. She testified in court, calling the act "a form of violence."
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COVID-19 Detection and Prognostication Models Allegedly Flagged for Methodological Flaws and Underlying Biases AIID ↗
Peer-review of papers about COVID-19 detection and prognostication algorithms from 2020, including deployed models, revealed none to be ready for clinical use, due to methodological flaws and underlying biases such as lacking external validation or not specifying data sources and model training details.
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Bots Allegedly Made up Roughly Half of Twitter Accounts in Discussions Surrounding COVID-19 Related Issues AIID ↗
Bots by anonymous actors were found by researchers to make up roughly half of Twitter accounts participating in COVID-19 discussions, many of which posted tweets about “reopening America“.
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Tesla on Autopilot Fatally Crashed into Parked Fire Truck in Indiana AIID ↗
A Tesla on Autopilot mode failed to see a parked fire truck and crashed into its rear on an interstate in Indiana, causing the death of an Arizona woman.
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Tesla Driver on Autopilot Ran a Red Light, Crashing into a Car and Killing Two People in Los Angeles AIID ↗
In 2019, a Tesla Model S driver on Autopilot mode reportedly went through a red light and crashed into a Honda Civic, killing two people in Gardena, Los Angeles.
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Tesla Model 3 Crashed into Police Patrol Car on Connecticut Highway AIID ↗
A Tesla Model 3 on Autopilot slammed into a parked car of patrol police officers who stopped to assist a stranded motorist on the interstate in Norwalk, Connecticut.
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Cross-Jurisdictional Facial Recognition Misidentification by NYPD Leads to Wrongful Arrest and Four-Year Jail Time in New Jersey AIID ↗
In 2019, facial recognition technology misidentified Francisco Arteaga as a suspect in an armed robbery in New Jersey. The incident led to nearly four years of pretrial incarceration. Despite having an alibi, Arteaga was charged based on the flawed identification. The legal battle that followed resulted in a court ruling requiring police to reveal details about the algorithms used in facial recognition. The process exposed significant gaps in transparency and accountability.
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Uganda Deployed Huawei's Facial Recognition to Monitor Political Opposition and Protests AIID ↗
Huawei's AI systems involving facial recognition were reportedly deployed by the Ugandan government to monitor political opposition actors and anti-regime sentiments, which raised fears of surveillance and suppression of individual freedoms.
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Facebook Feed Algorithms Exposed Low Digitally Skilled Users to More Disturbing Content AIID ↗
Facebook feed algorithms were known by internal research to have harmed people having low digital literacy by exposing them to disturbing content they did not know how to avoid or monitor.
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GAN Faces Deployed by The BL's Fake Account Network to Push Pro-Trump Content on Meta Platforms AIID ↗
A large network of pages, groups, and fake accounts having GAN-generated face photos associated with The BL, a US-based media outlet, reportedly bypassed Facebook moderation systems to push "pro-Trump" narratives on its platform and Instagram.
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Apple Card's Credit Assessment Algorithm Allegedly Discriminated against Women AIID ↗
Apple Card's credit assessment algorithm was reported by Goldman-Sachs customers to have shown gender bias, in which men received significantly higher credit limits than women with equal credit qualifications.
Discrimination and Toxicity Unfair discrimination and misrepre... AI tangible harm event UNITED STATES -
Job Screening Service Halts Facial Analysis of Applicants AIID ↗
In January 2021, HireVue removed the controversial AI expression tracking tool from its virtual job interview software.
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Optum Algorithmic Health Risk Scores Reportedly Underestimated Black Patients' Needs AIID ↗
Researchers analyzing an Optum algorithm used by a large academic hospital reportedly found evidence that it tended to under-predict the health care needs of Black patients, which in turn appeared to result in lower prioritization for extra care programs compared with white patients exhibiting similar health profiles.
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Opaque Fraud Detection Algorithm by the UK’s Department of Work and Pensions Allegedly Discriminated against People with Disabilities AIID ↗
People with disabilities were allegedly disproportionately targeted by a benefit fraud detection algorithm which the UK’s Department of Work and Pensions was urged to disclose.
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Hive Box Facial-Recognition Locks Hacked by Fourth Graders Using Intended Recipient’s Facial Photo AIID ↗
Facial-recognition locks by Hive Box, an express delivery locker company in China, were easily opened by a group of fourth-graders in a science-club demo using only a printed photo of the intended recipient’s face, leaving contents vulnerable to theft.
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Grab Tweaked Matchmaking Algorithm, Providing Preferential Treatment to Drivers Registered with Affiliated Car Rental Service AIID ↗
Grab Indonesia was fined by the Indonesian Competition Commission (KPPU) for unfairly favoring drivers who rented cars via the Grab-affiliated company Teknologi Pengangkutan Indonesia (TPI), including offering more rides via their matchmaking algorithm.
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Knightscope's Park Patrol Robot Ignored Bystander Pressing Emergency Button to Alert Police about Fight AIID ↗
A Knightscope K5 autonomous "police" robot patrolling Huntington Park, California failed to respond to an onlooker who attempted to activate its emergency alert button when a nearby fight broke out.
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Thai Wallet App's Facial Recognition Errors Created Registration Issues for Government Programs AIID ↗
A Thai wallet app failed to recognize people’s faces, resulting in citizens and disproportionately elders unable to sign up for Thai government’s cash handout and co-pay programs or having to wait in long queues at local ATMs for authentication.
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Waze Allegedly Frequently Routed Drivers through the Town of Los Gatos, Blocking Its Single Wildfire Escape Route AIID ↗
Waze app was blamed by Los Gatos town residents for contributing to high wildfire hazard risk via allegedly routing weekend beach-going drivers through their neighborhoods, effectively choking off their single escape route in the event of a medical emergency or wildfire.
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Tesla Model 3 on Autopilot Crashed into a Ford Explorer Pickup, Killing a Fifteen-Year-Old in California AIID ↗
A Tesla Model 3 on Autopilot mode crashed into a pickup on a California freeway, where data and video from the company showed neither Autopilot nor the driver slowing the vehicle until seconds before the crash.
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Detroit Police Wrongfully Arrested Black Man Due To Faulty Facial Recognition AIID ↗
A Black man was wrongfully detained by the Detroit Police Department as a result of a false facial recognition (FRT) result.
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Telegram Channels Allowed Users to Make Non-Consensual Deepfake Porn as Paid Service AIID ↗
Seven channels were connected in a Telegram ecosystem centered around letting subscribers, as a paid service, generate non-consensual deepfake nudes using a bot from submitted photos of women, including underage girls and women who they know in real life.
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Facebook Political Ad Delivery Algorithms Inferred Users' Political Alignment, Inhibiting Political Campaigns' Reach AIID ↗
Facebook's political ad delivery system reportedly differentiated the price of user reach based on their inferred political alignment, inhibiting political campaigns' ability to reach voters with diverse political views, which allegedly reinforces political polarization and creates informational filter bubbles.
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Tesla Vehicle Running on Self-Driving Mode Crashes on City Streets AIID ↗
A Tesla vehicle running in self-driving mode outside the operating conditions supported by the software crashed and injured the driver. Subsequently, the driver filed a lawsuit against Tesla and a jury found no damages were warranted.
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Amazon’s "Time Off Task" System Made False Assumptions about Workers' Time Management AIID ↗
Amazon’s warehouse worker “time off task" (TOT) tracking system was used to discipline and dismiss workers, falsely assuming workers to have wasted time and failing to account for breaks or equipment issues.
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TikTok’s “For You” Algorithm Exposed Young Users to Pro-Eating Disorder Content AIID ↗
TikTok’s young users were allegedly exposed to community-guideline-violating pro-eating disorder content on their algorithmically curated “For You” page that serves videos from any user on its platform.
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Sound Intelligence's Aggression Detector Misidentified Innocuous Sounds AIID ↗
Sound Intelligence's "aggression detection" algorithm deployed by schools reportedly contained high rates of false positive, misclassifying laughing, coughing, cheering, and loud discussions.
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Facebook Allegedly Failed to Police Hate Speech Content That Contributed to Ethnic Violence in Ethiopia AIID ↗
Facebook allegedly did not adequately remove hate speech, some of which was extremely violent and dehumanizing, on its platform including through automated means, contributing to the violence faced by ethnic communities in Ethiopia.
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Length of Stay False Diagnosis Cut Off Insurer's Payment for Treatment of Elderly Woman AIID ↗
An elderly Wisconsin woman was algorithmically determined to have a rapid recovery, an output which the insurer based on to cut off payment for her treatment despite medical notes showing her still experiencing debilitating pain.
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Workday's AI Tools Allegedly Enabled Employers to Discriminate against Applicants of Protected Groups AIID ↗
Workday's algorithmic screening systems were alleged in a lawsuit allowing employers to discriminate against African-Americans, people over 40, and people with disabilities.
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South Korean Agencies Reportedly Shared Airport Travelers' Face Images with Companies to Train Immigration Facial Recognition System AIID ↗
Reporting in 2021 alleged that South Korea's Ministry of Justice shared roughly 170 million face images and related biometric data from Korean and foreign airport travelers with the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and private companies for an AI identification and tracking system used in immigration screening. The data was reportedly used for AI training and algorithm testing without travelers' consent.
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Algorithm to Distribute Social Welfare Reported for Oversimplifying Economic Vulnerability AIID ↗
Takaful cash transfer program's algorithm which ranks families by their economic vulnerability level to determine financial assistance reportedly oversimplified people's economic situation, fueling social tension and perceptions of unfairness.
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Tesla Model S with Autopilot Reportedly Engaged Struck Parked SUV in Key Largo, Killing One Person and Seriously Injuring Another Standing Nearby AIID ↗
On April 25, 2019, George McGee's Tesla Model S, with Autopilot reportedly engaged, drove through a Key Largo intersection and struck a parked Chevrolet Tahoe, which then hit two people standing beside it: Naibel Benavides Leon, who was killed, and Dillon Angulo, who was seriously injured. McGee admitted distraction. In 2025, a federal jury found Tesla 33% responsible on defective-design and failure-to-warn claims. Tesla disputed liability and said it would appeal.
Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.