AI incident ·
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Prompted Emergency Investigation of False Fire at South Africa's Orlando West High School
On this page 6 sections
In brief
An AI system built by Synthetic Media Generation Technology Developers and Synthetic Image Generation Technology Developers and deployed by Minors, Information Manipulation Actors In South Africa and 1 other allegedly harmed Orlando West High School, General Public Of South Africa and 5 others.
- Risk domain
- Not classified
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 2 reports
What happened
A purportedly AI-generated image reportedly depicting Orlando West High School of Soweto, South Africa, on fire circulated and was allegedly shared with emergency services. Johannesburg EMS reportedly investigated and visited the school, confirming that no fire had occurred. Officials said the false report caused public alarm and diverted emergency resources.
Laws on record for this risk area
No instrument on record yet covers this risk area where it happened. See the open queue.
Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (2)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Minors, Information Manipulation Actors In South Africa, Information Manipulation Actors
- Alleged developer
- Synthetic Media Generation Technology Developers, Synthetic Image Generation Technology Developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Orlando West High School, General Public Of South Africa, General Public, Epistemic Integrity, Emergency Responders, Educational Communities, City Of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
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- Risk subdomain
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- Causal entity
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- Intent
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- Timing
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- Harm level
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- Sectors
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- Countries
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Source record: incident #1605 on the AI Incident Database · all 2 reports