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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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.
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Machine Personal Assistants Failed to Maintain Social Norms AIID ↗
During an experiment of software personal assistants at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California (USC), researchers found that the assistants violated the privacy of their principals and were unable to respect the social norms of the office.
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Amazon Censors Gay Books AIID ↗
Amazon's book store "cataloging error" led to books containing gay and lesbian themes to lose their sales ranking, therefore losing visibility on the sales platform.
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Algorithm Assessing Risk Faced by Victims of Gender Violence Misclassified Low-Risk Cases, Allegedly Leading to Homicide of Women and Children in Spain AIID ↗
In Spain, the algorithm that assesses recidivism risk in gender violence, VioGén, has allegedly critically underestimated the level of risk in a series of cases that ended in homicide of women and children since its first deployment.
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Automated Adult Content Detection Tools Showed Bias against Women Bodies AIID ↗
Automated content moderation tools to detect sexual explicitness or "raciness" reportedly exhibited bias against women bodies, resulting in suppression of reach despite not breaking platform policies.
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Virginia Courts’ Algorithmic Recidivism Risk Assessment Failed to Lower Incarceration Rates AIID ↗
Virginia courts’ use of algorithmic predictions of future offending risks were found by researchers failing to reduce incarceration rates, showed racial and age disparities in risk scores and its application, and neither exacerbated or ameliorated historical racial differences in sentencing.
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Target Suggested Maternity-Related Advertisements to a Teenage Girl's Home, Allegedly Correctly Predicting Her Pregnancy via Algorithm AIID ↗
Target recommended maternity-related items to a family in Atlanta via ads, allegedly predicting their teenage daughter’s pregnancy before her father did, although critics have called into question the predictability of the algorithm and the authenticity of its claims.
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Patriot Missile System Misclassified US Navy Aircraft, Killing Pilot Upon Approval to Fire AIID ↗
US Navy's Patriot missile system misidentified an American Navy F/A-18C Hornet as an enemy projectile, prompting an operator to fire two missiles at the aircraft, which killed the pilot.
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US Air Force's Patriot Missile Mistakenly Launched at Ally Fighter Jet, Killing Two AIID ↗
Acting on the recommendation of their Patriot missile system, American Air Force mistakenly launched the missile at an ally UK Tornado fighter jet, which killed two crew members on board.
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Kidney Testing Method Allegedly Underestimated Risk of Black Patients AIID ↗
Decades-long use of the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) method to test kidney function which considers race has been criticized by physicians and medical students for its racist history and inaccuracy against Black patients.
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St George's Hospital Medical School allegedly Automated Admissions with Discriminatory Results AIID ↗
From 1982 to 1986, St George's Hospital Medical School used a program to automate a portion of their admissions process that allegedly discriminated against women and members of ethnic minorities.
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Inefficiencies in the United States Resident Matching Program AIID ↗
Alvin Roth, a Ph.D at the University of Pittsburgh, describes the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and suggests future changes that are needed in the algorithm used to match recently graduated medical students to their residency programs.
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Error in Pepsi's Number Generation System Led to Decades-Long Damages in the Philippines AIID ↗
Pepsi's number generation system determining daily winners in its Number Fever promotion in the Philippines mistakenly produced a number held by thousands which resulted in riots, deaths, conspiracy theories, and decades of lawsuits.
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Nuclear False Alarm AIID ↗
An alert of five incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles was properly identified as a false-positive by the Soviet Union operator Stanislov Petrov.
Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.