Artificial Intelligence Policy Tracker

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.

Filter incidents (1 active)

Two-letter code, e.g. US

Reset

305 incidents · subdomain: Lack of capability or robustness · page 12 of 13

  1. #110 · 2 reports

    Arkansas's Opaque Algorithm to Allocate Health Care Excessively Cut Down Hours for Beneficiaries AIID ↗

    Beneficiaries of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS)'s Medicaid waiver program were allocated excessively fewer hours of caretaker visit via an algorithm deployed to boost efficiency, which reportedly contained errors and whose outputs varied wildly despite small input changes.

    Deployer: Arkansas Department Of Human Services · Developer: Interrai · Harmed: Arkansas Medicaid Waiver Program Beneficiaries, Arkansas Healthcare Workers

  2. #34 · 35 reports

    Amazon Alexa Responding to Environmental Inputs AIID ↗

    There are multiple reports of Amazon Alexa products (Echo, Echo Dot) reacting and acting upon unintended stimulus, usually from television commercials or news reporter's voices.

    Deployer: Amazon · Developer: Amazon · Harmed: Alexa Device Owners

  3. #458 · 1 report

    Robot Destroyed while Hitchhiking through the United States AIID ↗

    A non-actuated conversational robot that previously asked people to move it across Canada was destroyed shortly after beginning its attempt to replicate the journey across the United States.

    Deployer: Frauke Zeller, David Harris · Developer: Frauke Zeller, David Harris · Harmed: Frauke Zeller, David Harris

  4. #5 · 11 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Hospitals, Doctors · Developer: Intuitive Surgical · Harmed: Patients

  5. #69 · 12 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Skh Metals · Developer: Unknown · Harmed: Ramji Lal

  6. #57 · 39 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Australian Department Of Human Services · Developer: Centrelink · Harmed: Australian Welfare Recipients

  7. #25 · 12 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Google, Delphi Technologies · Developer: Google, Delphi Technologies · Harmed: Delphi Technologies, John Absmeier

  8. #392 · 2 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Facebook · Developer: Facebook · Harmed: Facebook Users Speaking East African Languages, Facebook Users In East Africa

  9. #226 · 3 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Waze · Developer: Waze · Harmed: Sherman Oaks Residents, Waze Users, Los Angeles City Government

  10. #327 · 1 report

    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.

    Deployer: Facebook · Developer: Facebook · Harmed: Facebook Users Having Posts About Painful Events, Facebook Users

  11. #326 · 3 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Facebook · Developer: Facebook · Harmed: Facebook Users Having Posts About Painful Events, Facebook Users

  12. #35 · 20 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Unknown · Developer: Unknown · Harmed: Ibrahim Diallo

  13. #8 · 9 reports

    Uber Autonomous Cars Running Red Lights AIID ↗

    Uber vehicles equipped with technology allowing for autonomous driving running red lights in San Francisco street testing.

    Deployer: Uber · Developer: Uber · Harmed: Pedestrians, Motorists

  14. #24 · 27 reports

    Robot kills worker at German Volkswagen plant AIID ↗

    A Volkswagen plant robot "crushed to death" a worker by pinning him to a metal plate.

    Deployer: Volkswagen · Developer: Volkswagen · Harmed: Robotics Consultant

  15. #246 · 2 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Prairie Village Police Department · Developer: Unknown · Harmed: Mark Molner

  16. #46 · 6 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Nest Labs · Developer: Nest Labs · Harmed: Fire Victims

  17. #162 · 1 report

    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.

    Deployer: ETS · Developer: ETS · Harmed: UK Home Office, UK ETS test takers, UK ETS past test takers

  18. #193 · 1 report

    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.

    Deployer: Target · Developer: Fireeye · Harmed: Target, Target Customers

  19. #373 · 14 reports

    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

    Deployer: Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency · Developer: Fast Enterprises, Csg Government Solutions · Harmed: Unemployed Michigan Residents Falsely Accused Of Fraud, Michigan Residents Who Faced Bankruptcy Or Foreclosure Due To Midas

  20. #196 · 5 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Pakistan National Database And Registration Authority · Developer: Pakistan National Database And Registration Authority · Harmed: Pakistani Citizens

  21. #536 · 2 reports

    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.

    Deployer: New Jersey Transit · Developer: National Weather Service · Harmed: New Jersey Transit, New Jersey Transit Passengers

  22. #112 · 15 reports

    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.

    Deployer: Troy Police Department, Syracuse Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, San Antonio Police Department, New York City Police Department, Fall River Police Department, Chicago Police Department · Developer: ShotSpotter · Harmed: Troy residents, Troy Police Department, Syracuse residents, Syracuse Police Department, San Francisco residents, San Francisco Police Department, San Antonio residents, San Antonio Police Department

  23. #9 · 6 reports

    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.

    Deployer: New York City Department of Education · Developer: New York City Department of Education · Harmed: Teachers, Students, New York City teachers, New York City students, Epistemic integrity, Educational communities

  24. #239 · 1 report

    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.

    Deployer: Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching · Developer: Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching · Harmed: Teachers, Students, Minority students, Minority groups, Epistemic integrity, Educational communities, Economically vulnerable students, Economically vulnerable people

  25. #245 · 1 report

    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.

    Deployer: San Francisco Police Department · Developer: Unknown · Harmed: Denise Green

Disclaimer: informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult a qualified lawyer before acting.

Frequently asked questions

What is recorded in each incident?

What happened, when, who was involved as developer or deployer, who was harmed, the sectors and countries affected, and the domain and subdomain the harm falls under. Incidents are mirrored from the AI Incident Database and each links back to its source record.

Does an incident mean wrongdoing was proven?

No. These are reported incidents, not findings of liability. Entities named in a report are named as reported, allegations are marked as alleged, and nothing here is a legal determination.

How current is the incident data?

It syncs directly from the AI Incident Database several times a day, so a new incident usually appears within hours. Each record carries the date it was last synced, and the snapshot date is shown on the page.

Does this page include the full incident reports?

No. The report texts are outside the licence this data is shared under, so only the metadata and the classifications appear here. Every row links to the original incident record, which carries the reports themselves.