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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Facebook's Friend Suggestion Feature Recommends Patients of Psychiatrist to Each Other AIID ↗
Facebook's "People You May Know" (PYMK) feature was reported by a psychiatrist for recommending her patients as friends through recommendations, violating patients' privacy and confidentiality.
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Collection of Robotic Surgery Malfunctions AIID ↗
Study on database reports of robotic surgery malfunctions (8,061), including those ending in injury (1,391) and death (144), between 2000 and 2013.
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Worker killed by robot in welding accident at car parts factory in India AIID ↗
A factory robot at the SKH Metals Factory in Manesar, India pierced and killed 24-year-old worker Ramji Lal when Lal reached behind the machine to dislodge a piece of metal stuck in the machine.
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Australian Automated Debt Assessment System Issued False Notices to Thousands AIID ↗
Australian Department of Human Services (DHS)’s automated debt assessment system issued false or incorrect debt notices to hundreds of thousands of people, resulting in years-long lawsuits and damages to welfare recipients.
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Google and Delphi Self-Driving Prototypes Allegedly Involved in Near-Miss on San Antonio Road, Palo Alto AIID ↗
A Delphi self-driving Audi Q5 prototype reportedly aborted a lane change after a Google self-driving Lexus RX400h allegedly cut in front of it on San Antonio Road in Palo Alto, California. According to Delphi executive John Absmeier, the Delphi car "took appropriate action" to avoid collision. No crash or injuries occurred.
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Facebook's 'Tag Suggestions' Allegedly Stored Biometric Data without User Consent AIID ↗
Facebook's initial version of the its Tag Suggestions feature where users were offered suggestions about the identity of people's faces in photos allegedly stored biometric data without consent, violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
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Images of Black People Labeled as Gorillas AIID ↗
Google Photos image processing software mistakenly labelled a black couple as "gorillas."
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Facebook's AI-Supported Moderation Failed to Classify Terrorist Content in East African Languages AIID ↗
Facebook's system involving algorithmic content moderation for East African languages was reportedly failing to identify violating content on the platform such as mistakenly classifying non-terrorist content.
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Google’s YouTube Kids App Presents Inappropriate Content AIID ↗
YouTube’s content filtering and recommendation algorithms exposed children to disturbing and inappropriate videos.
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Google's Face Grouping Allegedly Collected and Analyzed Users' Facial Structure without Consent, Violated BIPA AIID ↗
A class-action lawsuit alleged Google failing to provide notice, obtain informed written consent, or publish data retention policies about the collection, storage, and analysis of its face-grouping feature in Google Photos, which violated Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
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Gender Biases of Google Image Search AIID ↗
Google Image returns results that under-represent women in leadership roles, notably with the first photo of a female "CEO" being a Barbie doll after 11 rows of male CEOs.
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Waze Allegedly Clogged Streets and Directed Drivers to Make Unsafe Traffic Decisions AIID ↗
For years, Waze has, in an attempt to cut travel times, allegedly caused more traffic and guided drivers to make unsafe and often un-permitted traffic decisions, which was described by a Los Angeles city council member as a threat to public safety.
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Facebook’s On-This-Day Feature Mistakenly Showed Painful Memories to Users AIID ↗
Facebook’s “On This Day” algorithm which highlighted past posts on a user’s private page or News Feed confronted unwanted and painful personal memories to its users.
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UK Home Office's Sham Marriage Detection Algorithm Reportedly Flagged Certain Nationalities Disproportionately AIID ↗
UK Home Office's opaque algorithm to detect sham marriages flagged some nationalities for investigation more than others, raising fears surrounding discrimination based on nationality and age.
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UK Visa Streamline Algorithm Allegedly Discriminated Based on Nationality AIID ↗
UK Home Office's algorithm to assess visa application risks explicitly considered nationality, allegedly caused candidates to face more scrutiny and discrimination.
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Tinder's Personalized Pricing Algorithm Found to Offer Higher Prices for Older Users AIID ↗
Tinder’s personalized pricing was found by Consumers International to consider age as a major determinant of pricing, and could be considered a direct discrimination based on age, according to anti-discrimination law experts.
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Oracle's Algorithmic Data Processing System Alleged as Unlawful and Violating Privacy Rights AIID ↗
Oracle's automated system involving algorithmic data processing was alleged in a lawsuit to have been unlawfully collecting personal data from millions of people and violating their privacy rights.
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Facebook Automated Year-in-Review Highlights Showed Users Painful Memories AIID ↗
Facebook’s “Year in Review” algorithm which compiled content in users’ past year as highlights inadvertently showed painful and unwanted memories to users, including death of family member.
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Employee Automatically Terminated by Computer Program AIID ↗
An employee was laid off, allegedly by an artificially intelligent personnel system, and blocked from access to the building and computer systems without their knowledge.
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Uber Deployed Secret Program To Deny Local Authorities Rides AIID ↗
Uber developed a secret program "Greyball" which prevented known law enforcement officers in areas where its service violated regulations from receiving rides.
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US DHS’s Opaque Vetting Software Allegedly Relied on Poor-Quality Data and Discriminated against Immigrants AIID ↗
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)’s ATLAS software used in vetting immigration requests was condemned by advocacy groups as a threat to naturalized citizens for its secretive algorithmic decision-making, reliance on poor quality data and unknown sources, and alleged discrimination of immigrants using biometric and sensitive information.
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Uber Autonomous Cars Running Red Lights AIID ↗
Uber vehicles equipped with technology allowing for autonomous driving running red lights in San Francisco street testing.
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Kronos Scheduling Algorithm Allegedly Caused Financial Issues for Starbucks Employees AIID ↗
Kronos’s scheduling algorithm and its use by Starbucks managers allegedly negatively impacted financial and scheduling stability for Starbucks employees, which disadvantaged wage workers.
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Robot kills worker at German Volkswagen plant AIID ↗
A Volkswagen plant robot "crushed to death" a worker by pinning him to a metal plate.
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Tech Companies Reportedly Influenced Gig Workers' Behaviors Using Algorithms to Vary Pay for Same Amount of Work AIID ↗
Amazon and Uber were alleged in a multiyear ethnographic study using algorithmic systems based on gig workers' data to vary pay, such as by offering them lower wages for the same amount of work.
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Misreading of an Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Unverified by Police, Resulting in Traffic Stop in Missouri AIID ↗
An automated license plate reader (ALPR) camera misread a 7 as a 2 and incorrectly alerted the local police about a stolen Oldsmobile car, which was allegedly not able to be verified by an officer before a traffic stop was effected on a BMW in Kansas City suburb.
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Facebook's Auto-Generated Targeting Ad Categories Contained Anti-Semitic Options AIID ↗
Facebook's automated advertising categories generated using users' declared interests contained anti-Semitic categories such as "Jew hater" and "How to burn Jews" which were listed as fields of study.
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Nest Smoke Alarm Erroneously Stops Alarming AIID ↗
In testing, Google Nest engineers demonstrated that the Nest Wave feature of their Nest Protect: Smoke + CO Alarm could inadvertently silence genuine alarms.
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ETS Used Allegedly Flawed Voice Recognition Evidence to Accuse and Assess Scale of Cheating, Causing Thousands to be Deported from the UK AIID ↗
International testing organization ETS admits voice recognition as evidence of cheating for thousands of previous TOEIC test-takers that reportedly included wrongfully accused people, causing them to be deported without an appeal process or seeing their incriminating evidence.
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Excessive Automated Monitoring Alerts Ignored by Staff, Resulting in Private Data Theft of Seventy Million Target Customers AIID ↗
Alerts about a Target data breach were ignored by Minneapolis Target’s staff reportedly due to them being included with many other potential false alerts, and due to some of the company’s network infiltration alerting systems being off to reduce such false alerts, causing private data theft for millions of customers.
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Michigan's Unemployment Benefits Algorithm MiDAS Issued False Fraud Claims to Thousands of People AIID ↗
Michigan’s MiDAS system falsely accused over 34,000 people of unemployment fraud from 2013 to 2015, which reportedly caused financial ruin for many. The automated system was designed to cut costs, but it adjudicated fraud cases without human oversight. That led to an 85% error rate. Victims faced wage garnishments, some lost homes, and some faced bankruptcy. Despite early warnings, Michigan’s UIA defended MiDAS until lawsuits and federal pressure forced reforms. Legislators have been seeking com
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Facial Recognition Researchers Allegedly Used YouTube Videos of Transgender People Without Consent AIID ↗
YouTube videos of transgender people used by researchers to study facial recognition during gender transitions were allegedly used and distributed without permission.
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Compromise of National Biometric ID Card System Leads to Reverification and Change of Status AIID ↗
When the leader of the Afghan Taliban was found possessing a valid ID card in the Pakistani national biometric identification database system, Pakistan launch a national re-verification campaign that is linked to numerous changes in recognition status and loss of services.
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Coffee Meets Bagel’s Algorithm Reported by Users Disproportionately Showing Them Matches of Their Own Ethnicities Despite Selecting “No Preference” AIID ↗
Users selecting “no preference” were shown by Coffee Meets Bagels’s matching algorithm more potential matches with the same ethnicity, which was acknowledged and justified by its founder as a means to maximize connection rate without sufficient user information.
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Sexist and Racist Google Adsense Advertisements AIID ↗
Advertisements chosen by Google Adsense are reported as producing sexist and racist results.
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NJ Transit's Use of Modeling Software Miscalculated Storm Surge Threat Level AIID ↗
New Jersey Transit's use of a federal government storm modeling software underestimated the threat of storm surges to the Meadows Maintenance Complex, leaving millions of dollars worth of equipment in the rail yard before Hurricane Sandy struck.
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UT Austin's GRADE Algorithm Reportedly Reduced Review of Lower-Scored PhD Applicants Amid Bias Concerns AIID ↗
From the 2013 through 2019 admissions cycles, UT Austin's Department of Computer Science used GRADE, a statistical machine-learning system trained on past admissions decisions, to score and organize PhD applications. Critics said the system could reproduce historical admissions inequities and reduce attention to lower-scored applicants, while UT Austin said human reviewers still evaluated each file and later discontinued the tool.
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Police Departments Reported ShotSpotter as Unreliable and Wasteful AIID ↗
ShotSpotter algorithmic systems locating gunshots were reported by police departments for containing high false positive rates and wasting police resources, prompting discontinuation.
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Chicago Police's Strategic Subject List Reportedly Biased Along Racial Lines AIID ↗
The Chicago Police Department reportedly used person-based predictive policing models, including the Strategic Subject List and Crime and Victimization Risk Model, to assign violence-risk scores to hundreds of thousands of residents. Official and media reports alleged that the program gave police a mathematically fragile basis for treating heavily policed residents as future victims or suspects, with Black Chicago residents especially exposed to the consequences of that scoring.
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Police Reportedly Deployed ShotSpotter Sensors Disproportionately in Neighborhoods of Color AIID ↗
Police departments disproportionately placed ShotSpotter sensors in black and brown neighborhoods, which is denounced by communities for allegedly creating dangerous situations, such as one involving in Adam Toledo's death.
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New York City Reportedly Released Disputed Value-Added Teacher Ratings for Thousands of Teachers AIID ↗
After a legal dispute over public-records requests, the New York City Department of Education released Teacher Data Reports that used a value-added statistical model to rate thousands of public-school teachers based on estimated student test-score growth. News outlets published the ratings in February 2012, and teachers, unions, and analysts disputed the scores as imprecise and potentially misleading, citing large error margins, limited samples, and apparent roster-linkage errors.
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Google Instant's Allegedly 'Anti-Semitic' Results Lead To Lawsuit In France AIID ↗
The organizations SOS Racisme, Union of Jewish Students of France, Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples are suing Google due to its autocomplete software suggesting "jewish" when the names of certain public figures were searched on the platform.
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Major Universities Are Reportedly Using Race as a 'High Impact Predictor' of Student Success AIID ↗
Several major universities are reportedly using a tool that uses race as one factor to predict student success.
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Image Classification of Battle Tanks AIID ↗
A potentially apocryphal story in which an image classifier was produced to differentiate types of battle tanks, but the resulting model keyed in on environmental attributes rather than tank attributes
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Apple Tweaked App Store Ranking Algorithms, Allegedly Resulted in Demotion of Local Apps in China AIID ↗
Following Apple’s changes in ranking algorithm in its iTunes App Store, apps by allegedly reputable companies and local startups in China experienced significant drops in ranking order.
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Defamation via AutoComplete AIID ↗
Google's autocomplete feature alongside its image search results resulted in the defamation of people and businesses.
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2010 Market Flash Crash AIID ↗
A modified algorithm was able to cause dramatic price volatility and disrupted trading in the US stock exchange.
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Algorithmic Teacher Evaluation Program Reportedly Failed to Improve Student Outcomes and Was Alleged to Have Harmed Teachers AIID ↗
Gates Foundation-funded Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Initiative's algorithmic program to assess teacher performance reportedly failed to achieve its goals for student outcomes, particularly for minority students, and was criticized for potentially causing harm against teachers.
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Unverified Misreading by Automated Plate Reader Led to Traffic Stop and Restraint of an Innocent Person at Gunpoint in California AIID ↗
In San Francisco, an automated license plate reader (ALPR) camera misread a number as belonging to a stolen vehicle having the wrong make, but its photo was not visually confirmed by the police due to poor quality and allegedly despite multiple chances prior to making a traffic stop, causing an innocent person to be pulled over at gunpoint and restrained in handcuffed.
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IRS Audited Black Taxpayers More Frequently Reportedly Due to Algorithm AIID ↗
The IRS was auditing Black taxpayers more frequently than other groups allegedly due to the design of their algorithms, focusing on easier-to-conduct audits which inadvertently correlated with the group's pattern of tax filing errors.
Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.