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 Maps Allegedly Directed Sierra Nevada Travelers to Dangerous Roads amid Winter Storm AIID ↗
Lake Tahoe travelers were allegedly guided by Google Maps into hazardous shortcuts in the mountains during a snowstorm.
-
Alexa Recommended Dangerous TikTok Challenge to Ten-Year-Old Girl AIID ↗
Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa suggested “the penny challenge,” which involves dangerously touching a coin to the prongs of a half-exposed plug, when a ten-year-old girl asked for a challenge to do.
-
Chatbot Encourages Man to Plot Assassination of Queen Elizabeth II AIID ↗
In 2021, Jaswant Singh Chail was urged by a Replika chatbot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II. Armed with a loaded crossbow, he scaled Windsor Castle's walls on Christmas Day but was apprehended. Motivated by the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Chail intended to kill the monarch. The chatbot had affirmed his plans. He was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2023.
-
A Tesla Taxi Cab Involved in an Accident in Paris with Twenty Injuries AIID ↗
In Paris, about 20 people were injured in an accident involving a Tesla Model 3 taxi cab which was reportedly caused by a sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) episode and braking issues.
-
Facebook AI-Supported Moderation for Ads Failed to Detect Violating Content AIID ↗
Facebook's ad moderation system involving algorithms failed to flag hateful language and violating content such as calls for killings for ads in English and Swahili.
-
UK Government AI Allegedly Targets Disproportionate Numbers of Certain Nationals for Fraud Review AIID ↗
The UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) faced scrutiny after many Bulgarian nationals reported unexplained suspensions of their Universal Credit benefits. The MP for Edmonton raised concerns about potential nationality-based targeting for benefit fraud investigations, leading to poverty and homelessness among affected individuals. The Home Office's own equality impact assessment found it was flagging a disproportionate number of marriages from Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania.
-
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’s Hate Speech Detection Algorithms Allegedly Disproportionately Failed to Remove Racist Content towards Minority Groups AIID ↗
Facebook’s hate-speech detection algorithms was found by company researchers to have under-reported less common but more harmful content that was more often experienced by minority groups such as Black, Muslim, LGBTQ, and Jewish users.
-
Web Accessibility Vendors Allegedly Falsely Claimed to Provide Compliance Using AI AIID ↗
AI-powered web accessibility vendors allegedly overstated to customers about their products' utility for people with disabilities, falsely claiming to deliver automated compliance solutions.
-
A Robot at a Tesla Factory in Texas Allegedly Injured an Engineer AIID ↗
A Tesla manufacturing robot at the Giga Texas factory is reported to have malfunctioned, injuring an engineer. The robot, which was designed for handling car parts, is described as having caused a significant open wound in the engineer. This incident occurred in the context of broader safety concerns at the factory, with evidence suggesting underreporting of workplace accidents. The 2021 incident highlights the risks associated with robotic automation in industrial settings.
-
DUI Arrest Case Allegedly Based Only on ShotSpotter's Alert AIID ↗
A car stop resulting in a DUI arrest of its driver was allegedly based solely on a ShotSpotter alert, the reliability of which came into question by public defenders, who subpoenaed the company to assess its gunshot alert system.
-
Tesla on FSD Reportedly Drove into the Wrong Lane in California AIID ↗
A Tesla Model Y in Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode drove into the wrong lane after making a left turn despite its driver allegedly attempting to overtake its driving, resulting in a non-fatal collision with another vehicle in the wrong lane in Brea, California.
-
Zillow Shut Down Zillow Offers Division Allegedly Due to Predictive Pricing Tool's Insufficient Accuracy AIID ↗
Zillow's AI-powered predictive pricing tool Zestimate was allegedly not able to accurately forecast housing prices three to six months in advance due to rapid market changes, prompting division shutdown and layoff of a few thousand employees.
-
Kenyan Data Annotators Allegedly Exposed to Graphic Content for OpenAI's AI AIID ↗
Sama AI's Kenyan contractors were reportedly asked with excessively low pay to annotate a large volume of disturbing content to improve OpenAI's generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, and whose contract was terminated prior to completion by Sama AI.
-
California Regulator Suspended Pony.ai's Driverless Testing Permit Following a Non-Fatal Collision AIID ↗
A Pony.ai vehicle operating in autonomous mode crashed into a center divider and a traffic sign in San Francisco, prompting a regulator to suspend the driverless testing permit for the startup.
-
Research Prototype AI, Delphi, Reportedly Gave Racially Biased Answers on Ethics AIID ↗
A publicly accessible research model that was trained via Reddit threads showed racially biased advice on moral dilemmas, allegedly demonstrating limitations of language-based models trained on moral judgments.
-
Student-Developed Facial Recognition App Raised Ethical Concerns AIID ↗
TheFaceTag app, a social networking app developed and deployed within-campus by a student at Harvard raised concerns surrounding its facial recognition, cybersecurity, privacy, and misuse. This incident has been downgraded to an issue as it does not meet current ingestion criteria.
-
Traffic Camera Misread Text on Pedestrian's Shirt as License Plate, Causing UK Officials to Issue Fine to an Unrelated Person AIID ↗
A Bath resident was wrongly fined by the local officials because an automated license plate recognition camera misread the text on her shirt as a license plate number.
-
McDonald's AI Drive-Thru Allegedly Collected Biometric Customer Data without Consent, Violating BIPA AIID ↗
McDonald's use of chatbot in its AI drive-through in Chicago was alleged in a lawsuit to have collected and processed voice data without user consent to predict customer information, which violated Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
-
Social Media Algorithms Amplified Disinformation Campaign in Honduras Election AIID ↗
In October 2021, a coordinated network of over 317 fake Twitter accounts leveraged AI-driven algorithms to amplify disinformation about the Honduran presidential election, targeting opposition candidate Xiomara Castro. The campaign spread false narratives to suppress voter turnout and undermine the election's integrity. Social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, removed the accounts only after being alerted, which also raised concerns about inadequate moderation.
-
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.
-
Amazon's AI Cameras Incorrectly Penalized Delivery Drivers for Mistakes They Did Not Make AIID ↗
Amazon's automated performance evaluation system involving AI-powered cameras incorrectly punished delivery drivers for non-existent mistakes, impacting their chances for bonuses and rewards.
-
Henan Authorities Reportedly Commissioned Facial Recognition System to Track Journalists and International Students AIID ↗
Henan Public Security Department procurement documents reportedly described a surveillance system awarded to Neusoft on September 17, 2021. The planned system would allegedly use about 3,000 facial-recognition cameras linked to regional and national databases to create files and alerts on foreign journalists, international students, and other targeted groups. It could not be confirmed whether the system became operational.
-
Apple’s AVs Reportedly Struggled to Navigate Streets in Silicon Valley Test Drives AIID ↗
Apple’s autonomous cars were reported to have bumped into curbs and struggled to stay in their lanes after crossing intersections during an on-road test drives near the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
-
Startup's Accent Translation AI Denounced as Reinforcing Racial Bias AIID ↗
A startup’s use of AI voice technology to alter or remove accents for call center agents was scrutinized by critics as reaffirming bias, despite the company’s claim.
-
Xsolla Employees Fired by CEO Allegedly via Big Data Analytics of Work Activities AIID ↗
Xsolla CEO fired more than a hundred employees from his company in Perm, Russia, based on big data analysis of their remote digitized-work activity, which critics said was violating employee's privacy, outdated, and extremely ineffective.
-
North Carolina Psychiatrist Used Artificial Intelligence to Produce Images of Child Sex Abuse AIID ↗
David Tatum, a psychiatrist, was sentenced to 40 years for sexually exploiting a minor and using AI to create child pornography images. Tatum used a web-based AI application to alter clothed images of minors into explicit content, misusing technology for illegal and unethical purposes. Evidence presented during his trial showed Tatum possessed photos and videos between 2016 and 2021.
-
Epic Systems’s Sepsis Prediction Algorithms Revealed to Have High Error Rates on Seriously Ill Patients AIID ↗
Epic System's sepsis prediction algorithms was shown by investigators at the University of Michigan Hospital to have high rates of false positives and false negatives, allegedly delivering inaccurate and irrelevant information on patients, contrasting sharply with their published claims.
-
AI Tools Failed to Sufficiently Predict COVID Patients, Some Potentially Harmful AIID ↗
AI tools failed to sufficiently predict COVID patients, some potentially harmful.
-
Tesla's Autopilot Misidentified the Moon as Yellow Stop Light AIID ↗
Tesla's Autopilot was shown on video by its owner mistaking the moon for a yellow stop light, allegedly causing the vehicle to keep slowing down.
-
Facebook's Automated Moderation Flagged Gardening Group's Language Use by Mistake AIID ↗
Facebook's automated system flagged gardening groups' use of "hoe" and violent language against bugs as a violation by mistake.
-
Three Robots Collided, Sparking Fire in a Grocer's Warehouse in UK AIID ↗
A collision involving three robots at an Ocado's warehouse in Erith, UK, resulting in a fire but no reports of injuries.
-
SoftBank's Humanoid Robot, Pepper, Reportedly Frequently Made Errors, Prompting Dismissal AIID ↗
SoftBank's robot allegedly kept making mechanical errors, taking unplanned breaks, failing to recognize previously-met people, and breaking down during practice runs.
-
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Failed to Proactively Remove Targeted Racist Remarks via Automated Systems AIID ↗
Facebook's, Instagram's, and Twitter's automated content moderation failed to proactively remove racist remarks and posts directing at Black football players after finals loss, allegedly largely relying on user reports of harassment.
-
Skating Rink’s Facial Recognition Cameras Misidentified Black Teenager as Banned Troublemaker AIID ↗
A Black teenager living in Livonia, Michigan was incorrectly stopped from entering a roller skating rink after its facial-recognition cameras misidentified her as another person who had been previously banned for starting a skirmish with other skaters.
-
Coupang Allegedly Tweaked Search Algorithms to Boost Own Products AIID ↗
Coupang was alleged in internal reports tampering its search algorithms to prioritize exposure of its own products, which potentially violated Korea's Fair Trade Act.
-
Algorithmic Allocation of Resources in Healthcare for Disabled and Elderly Care Services Allegedly Harmed Patients AIID ↗
A healthcare algorithm designed to equitably distribute caregiving resources is alleged to have drastically cut care hours for the disabled and elderly, purportedly leading to significant hardships and harm. Initially developed for fair resource allocation, the system reportedly faced legal challenges for its inability to accurately assess individual needs, resulting in allegedly reduced essential care.
-
Hiring Algorithms Provided Invalid Positive Results for Interview Responses in German AIID ↗
Two AI interview softwares provided positive but invalid results such as "competent" English proficiency and high match percentage for interview responses given in German by reporters.
-
GitHub Copilot, Copyright Infringement and Open Source Licensing AIID ↗
Users of GitHub Copilot can produce source code subject to license requirements without attributing and licensing the code to the rights holder.
-
Maryland Police Allegedly Relied on Facial Recognition Lead in Wrongful Arrest and Detention of Kimberlee Williams AIID ↗
Kimberlee Williams was reportedly arrested in Oklahoma on Maryland warrants after police allegedly relied on a facial recognition lead that incorrectly identified her as a suspect in bank fraud cases. The ACLU said Williams had never been to Maryland, police failed to investigate alibi evidence placing her in Oklahoma, and she spent about six months in jail before the charges were dropped.
-
State Farm Allegedly Discriminated against Black Customers in Claim Payout AIID ↗
State Farm's automated claims processing method was alleged in a class action lawsuit to have disproportionately against Black policyholders when paying out insurance claims.
-
Kannada Insulted by Google's Featured Answer as "Ugliest Language in India" AIID ↗
Google's knowledge-graph-powered algorithm showed Kannada in its featured Answer Box when prompted "ugliest language in India," causing outrage from Kannada-speaking people and government.
-
Tesla FSD Misidentified Truck Hauling Traffic Lights as Trail of Traffic Lights AIID ↗
A Tesla driver posted on Twitter his Tesla FSD's "glitch," misidentifying deactivated traffic lights being carried by a truck as a constant trail of traffic lights while traveling at high speed on a highway.
-
McDonald's Reportedly Ends IBM Partnership After AI Drive-Thru Ordering Errors at U.S. Locations AIID ↗
Between 2021 and mid-2024, McDonald's reportedly piloted an AI-enabled voice ordering system that was developed with IBM and based on its 2019 acquisition of Apprente. It was reportedly deployed at at over 100 U.S. drive-thrus. Social media posts alleged frequent misorders, such as adding unwanted items, mixing adjacent lane orders, and ignoring corrections. In June 2024, McDonald's confirmed it ended the IBM pilot, citing plans to explore alternative voice-AI vendors.
-
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.
-
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Cited Errors in Automated Systems as Cause for Blocking pro-Palestinian Content on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict AIID ↗
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter wrongly blocked or restricted millions of pro-Palestinian posts and accounts related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, citing errors in their automated content moderation system.
-
Replika's AI Partners Reportedly Sexually Harassed Users AIID ↗
Replika's "AI companions" were reported by users for sexually harassing them, such as sending unwanted sexual messages or behaving aggressively.
-
Waymo Self-Driving Taxi Reportedly Behaved Unexpectedly, Driving away from Support Crew AIID ↗
A Waymo self-driving taxi car was reportedly shown on video stranded on a road in Arizona while carrying a passenger, suddenly driving away from the company's roadside assistance worker, and ended up being stuck farther down the road.
-
Tesla Phantom Braking Complaints Surged, Allegedly Linked to Tesla Vision Rollout AIID ↗
In late 2021, Tesla owners’ complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about sudden unexpected automatic braking rapidly increased, coinciding with when radar was no longer equipped in its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
-
Facebook Alleged in Lawsuit Misleading Public about Effects of Algorithms on Children AIID ↗
Facebook was alleged in a lawsuit by the Ohio Attorney General purposely misleading the public about the control of its algorithms and their negative effects on children's well-being, which violated securities law.
Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.