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.
-
Google Ads Allegedly Serving Content on AI-Generated Misinformation Sites AIID ↗
Google’s advertising platform, Google Ads, has allegedly been found to be serving ads on AI-generated content farms that often disseminate misinformation. Despite policies prohibiting such practices, reportedly there are approximately 356 out of 393 ads from major brands that were found to be served by Google on these problematic sites. Particularly concerning according to the reporting were instances where Google Ads were found on sites like MedicalOutline.com, which spreads harmful health misi
-
Colorado Lawyer Filed a Motion Citing Hallucinated ChatGPT Cases AIID ↗
A Colorado Springs attorney, Zachariah Crabill, mistakenly used hallucinated ChatGPT-generated legal cases in court documents. The AI software provided false case citations, leading to the denial of a motion and legal repercussions for Crabill, highlighting risks in using AI for legal research.
-
Unrepresented Litigant Misled by ChatGPT-Generated False Legal Citations in Manchester Court AIID ↗
A litigant in person (LiP) in a Manchester civil case presented false legal citations generated by ChatGPT. It fabricated one case name and provided fictitious excerpts for three real cases, misleadingly supporting the LiP's argument. The judge, upon investigation, found the submissions to be inadvertent and did not penalize the LiP.
-
Opera's GPT-Based AI Reportedly Accused War Photographers of War Crimes AIID ↗
When prompted about "photographers accused of committing war crimes," Opera's GPT-based chatbot Aria provided a list of photographers who take photography of military conflicts.
-
Purported AI-Generated Image of Explosion Near Pentagon Reportedly Triggers Brief Market Dip and Public Confusion AIID ↗
A Twitter/X account allegedly impersonating Bloomberg reportedly posted an image falsely showing an explosion near the Pentagon. Analysts reportedly described the image as likely AI-generated. The post reportedly spread through major accounts before officials confirmed no incident occurred. Markets reportedly dipped during the short period when the hoax circulated.
-
Google Results for Johannes Vermeer Featured AI Version of His Artwork as Top Result AIID ↗
Google's search engine featured an AI-generated hyperrealistic version of the painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring" as the highlighted result when users search for its Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer.
-
ChatGPT Reportedly Produced False Court Case Law Presented by Legal Counsel in Court AIID ↗
A lawyer in Mata v. Avianca, Inc. used ChatGPT for research. ChatGPT hallucinated court cases, which the lawyer then presented in court. The court determined the cases did not exist.
-
Google's Overview Panel for Artist Edward Hopper Featured Image Generated in His Style by AI AIID ↗
Google's knowledge panel for the American artist Edward Hopper featured an AI-generated image which was purportedly created in the artist's style but was not one of his works, the image of which was removed soon after.
-
Proliferation of AI-Generated News Websites and Content Farms Across Multiple Languages Degrading Information Integrity AIID ↗
Scores of AI-generated news websites and content farms are producing low-quality, clickbait content in a variety of languages. They are reportedly spreading false information and degrading the quality of information available online. These sites often lack human oversight, feature repetitive language, and sometimes fabricate information, posing a threat to the credibility of online news sources.
-
Purported Republican AI Ad Reportedly Depicts Dystopian Future After Biden Reelection Announcement AIID ↗
After Joe Biden announced his 2024 reelection bid, the Republican National Committee reportedly released an attack ad that included purportedly AI-generated images portraying a dystopian future for the United States. Even with a brief disclaimer, the ad's fabricated scenes purportedly introduced false information into the political environment and created a misleading visual frame around an active electoral process.
-
ChatGPT Allegedly Produced False Accusation of Sexual Harassment AIID ↗
A lawyer in California asked the AI chatbot ChatGPT to generate a list of legal scholars who had sexually harassed someone. The chatbot produced a false story of Professor Jonathan Turley sexually harassing a student on a class trip.
-
Viral Image of Pope Francis in a Puffer Jacket Revealed to Be AI-Generated AIID ↗
A viral image of Pope Francis wearing a white puffer jacket was a deepfake produced by the photorealistic-image-generator Midjourney.
-
Parody AI Images of Donald Trump Being Arrested Reposted as Misinformation AIID ↗
AI-generated photorealistic images depicting Donald Trump being detained by the police which were originally posted on Twitter as parody were unintentionally shared across social media platforms as factual news, lacking the intended context.
-
ChatGPT Erroneously Alleged Mayor Served Prison Time for Bribery AIID ↗
ChatGPT erroneously alleged regional Australian mayor Brian Hood served time in prison for bribery. Mayor Hood is considering legal action against ChatGPT's makers for alleging a foreign bribery scandal involving a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 2000s.
-
South African Legal Team Reportedly Relied on Unverified ChatGPT Case Law in Johannesburg Body Corporate Defamation Matter AIID ↗
In a defamation case at the Johannesburg Regional Court, Rodrigues Blignaut Attorneys, representing plaintiff Michelle Parker, reportedly relied on purportedly non-existent legal judgments generated by ChatGPT to help argue their case. Magistrate Arvin Chaitram reportedly found the case names and citations were fictitious, causing a two-month delay. The court issued a punitive costs order and rebuked the plaintiff's legal team for uncritically accepting AI-generated research.
-
Purported Deepfake Video Falsely Depicts Biden Announcing National Draft for Ukraine AIID ↗
A purportedly AI-generated deepfake video falsely depicting President Biden announcing a national draft to support Ukraine was reportedly shared on social media, causing widespread misinformation. The video reportedly misled the public until debunked by fact-checkers.
-
Bing Chat's Outputs Featured in Demo Video Allegedly Contained False Information AIID ↗
Microsoft's demo video of Bing Chat reportedly featured false or made up information such as non-existent pet vacuums features or false figures on financial statements.
-
Bing Chat Response Cited ChatGPT Disinformation Example AIID ↗
Reporters from TechCrunch issued a query to Microsoft Bing's ChatGPT feature, which cited an earlier example of ChatGPT disinformation discussed in a news article to substantiate the disinformation.
-
ChatGPT-Powered Bing Reportedly Had Problems with Factual Accuracy on Some Controversial Topics AIID ↗
Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine reportedly ran into factual accuracy problems when prompted about controversial matters, such as inventing plot of a non-existent movie or creating conspiracy theories.
-
Google's Bard Shared Factually Inaccurate Info in Promo Video AIID ↗
Google's conversational AI "Bard" was shown in the company's promotional video providing false information about which satellite first took pictures of a planet outside the Earth's solar system, reportedly causing shares to temporarily plummet.
-
Footballer's "X-Rated" Comment Created by Instagram's Mistranslation AIID ↗
Instagram's English translation of a footballer's comment on his wife's post in Spanish made the message seem "racy" and "X-rated," which some fans found amusing.
-
Uptick in Low-Quality AI-Produced Content Degraded Publishers' Submission Management AIID ↗
A surge in low-standard AI-generated content such as by ChatGPT was reported by publishers, which negatively impacted submission management process and editors' workflow.
-
ChatGPT Provided Non-Existent Citations and Links when Prompted by Users AIID ↗
When prompted about providing references, ChatGPT was reportedly generating non-existent but convincing-looking citations and links, which is also known as "hallucination".
-
Thousands of Incorrect ChatGPT-Produced Answers Posted on Stack Overflow AIID ↗
Thousands of incorrect answers produced by OpenAI's ChatGPT were submitted to Stack Overflow, which swamped the site's volunteer-based quality curation process and harmed users looking for correct answers.
-
Meta AI's Scientific Paper Generator Reportedly Produced Inaccurate and Harmful Content AIID ↗
Meta AI trained and hosted a scientific paper generator that sometimes produced bad science and prohibited queries on topics and groups that are likely to produce offensive or harmful content.
-
Air Canada Chatbot Reportedly Provides Inaccurate Bereavement Fare Information, Leading to Customer Overpayment AIID ↗
A Canadian small claims tribunal reportedly ordered Air Canada to pay $812.02 in damages and court fees after its website chatbot allegedly provided inaccurate information about bereavement fare eligibility, leading a customer to overpay for flights. The tribunal reportedly found the airline responsible for information presented by its chatbot, rejecting the argument that the chatbot was a separate legal entity, and characterized the error as negligent misrepresentation.
-
Article-Writing AI by CNET Allegedly Committed Plagiarism AIID ↗
CNET's use of generative AI to write articles allegedly ran into plagiarism issues, reproducing verbatim phrases from other published sources or making minor changes to existing texts such as altering capitalization, swapping out words for synonyms, and changing minor syntax.
-
CNET's Published AI-Written Articles Ran into Quality and Accuracy Issues AIID ↗
AI-written articles published by CNET reportedly contained factual errors which bypassed human editorial review, prompting the company to issue corrections and updates.
-
Misinformation Reported in TikTok's Search Results Despite Moderation by AI and Human AIID ↗
TikTok's search recommendations reportedly contained misinformation about political topics bypassing both AI and human content moderation.
-
BlenderBot 3 Cited Dutch Politician as a Terrorist AIID ↗
Meta’s conversational AI BlenderBot 3, when prompted “who is a terrorist,“ responded with an incumbent Dutch politician’s name, who was confused about its association.
-
TikTok's "For You" Algorithm Directed New Users towards Disinformation about the War in Ukraine AIID ↗
An investigation by NewsGuard into TikTok’s handling of content related to the Russia-Ukraine war showed its “For You” algorithm pushing new users towards false and misleading content about the war within less than an hour of signing up.
-
Korean Politician Employed Deepfake as Campaign Representative AIID ↗
A South Korean political candidate created a deepfake avatar which political opponents alleged to be fraudulent and a threat to democracy.
-
Facebook Internally Reported Failure of Ranking Algorithm, Exposing Harmful Content to Viewers over Months AIID ↗
Facebook's internal report showed an at-least six-month long alleged software bug that caused moderator-flagged posts and other harmful content to evade down-ranking filters, leading to surges of misinformation on users' News Feed.
-
Tesla Allegedly Misled Customers about Autopilot and FSD Capabilities AIID ↗
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) accused Tesla of false advertising in its promotion of Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) technologies, alleging the company to have made untrue or misleading claims with marketing language about the capabilities of its products.
-
Amazon’s Search and Recommendation Algorithms Found by Auditors to Have Boosted Products That Contained Vaccine Misinformation AIID ↗
Evidence of the "filter-bubble effect" were found by vaccine-misinformation researchers in Amazon's recommendations, where its algorithms presented users who performed actions on misinformative products with more misinfomative products.
-
YouTube Recommendation Reportedly Pushed Election Fraud Content to Skeptics Disproportionately AIID ↗
YouTube's recommendation algorithm allegedly pushed 2020's US Presidential Election fraud content to users most skeptical of the election's legitimacy disproportionately compared to least skeptical users.
-
#LekkiMassacre: Why Facebook labelled content from October 20 incident ‘false’ AIID ↗
Facebook incorrectly labels content relating to an incident between #EndSARS protestors and the Nigerian army as misinformation.
-
Tiny Changes Let False Claims About COVID-19, Voting Evade Facebook Fact Checks AIID ↗
Avaaz, an international advocacy group, released a review of Facebook's misinformation identifying software showing that the labeling process failed to label 42% of false information posts, most surrounding COVID-19 and the 2020 USA Presidential Election.
-
Philosophy AI Allegedly Used To Generate Mixture of Innocent and Harmful Reddit Posts AIID ↗
Philosopher AI, a GPT-3-powered controversial text generator, was allegedly used by an anonymous actor on AskReddit subreddit, whose posts featured a mixture of harmless stories, conspiracy theories, and sensitive topic discussions.
-
Facebook Provided Offensive Translation for King of Thailand's Birthday Ceremony AIID ↗
Facebook's Thai-English translation gave an inappropriate mistranslation on Thai PBS's Facebook live broadcast of the King of Thailand’s candle-lighting birthday ceremony.
-
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.
-
YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Allegedly Promoted Climate Misinformation Content AIID ↗
YouTube’s recommendation system and its focus on views and watched time were alleged by an advocacy group to have driven people towards climate denial and misinformation videos.
-
Chinese Chatbots Question Communist Party AIID ↗
Chatbots on Chinese messaging service expressed anti-China sentiments, causing the messaging service to remove and reprogram the chatbots.
-
Deepfake Obama Introduction of Deepfakes AIID ↗
University of Washington researchers made a deepfake of Obama, followed by Jordan Peele
-
“Amazon’s Choice” Algorithm Failed to Recommend Functional Products and Prone to Review Manipulation AIID ↗
Amazon’s “Amazon’s Choice” algorithm recommended poor-quality defective products and were reportedly susceptible to manipulation by inauthentic reviews.
-
Defamation via AutoComplete AIID ↗
Google's autocomplete feature alongside its image search results resulted in the defamation of people and businesses.
Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.