AI Incidents
Real-world cases where AI systems caused harm, classified by risk domain and entity. Data sourced from 
AIID and classified by 
MIT AI Risk Initiative. CC BY-SA 4.0
55 incidents
McDonald's McHire AI Recruitment Platform Reportedly Exposed Data of 64 Million Applicants via Default Login and API Vulnerability
Researchers Ian Carroll and Sam Curry reported that McDonald's AI-powered hiring tool, McHire (using Paradox.ai's "Olivia" chatbot), could purportedly be accessed via default admin credentials and an insecure direct object reference in an internal API. The flaws allegedly allowed viewing of applicants' personally identifiable information and chat histories. McDonald's and Paradox reportedly patched the issues within a day of disclosure; Paradox stated only five records were accessed.
Serviceaide AI Platform Implicated in Health Data Exposure Affecting 483,000 Catholic Health Patients
An AI-linked platform operated by Serviceaide exposed sensitive health data from Catholic Health, affecting 483,000 patients. The breach stemmed from a misconfigured Elasticsearch database used in Serviceaide’s agentic AI infrastructure. Exposed information included medical records, insurance details, and login credentials. While no misuse has been confirmed, the nature of the data has prompted regulatory scrutiny and legal investigations.
Meta AI App Reportedly Publishes Personal Chats Without Users Fully Realizing
Meta launched a stand-alone AI app with a "Discover" feed allowing users to share conversations with its chatbot. Multiple reports indicate that some users may have inadvertently published highly personal interactions, including audio recordings, medical questions, legal concerns, and intimate relationship disclosures. While Meta states that sharing is opt-in, the feature's design and labeling may have led to user confusion about what would be publicly visible.
Reportedly Unsafe Deployment of Llama.cpp Reveals Interactive AI-Generated CSAM Roleplay Prompts
A study by UpGuard reports that misconfigured llama.cpp servers publicly exposed user prompts, including hundreds of interactive roleplay scenarios. Some prompts explicitly described fictional sexual abuse of children aged 7–12. While no real children were involved, the findings demonstrate how open-source LLMs can be exploited to generate AI-enabled child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
GenNomis AI Database Reportedly Exposes Nearly 100,000 Deepfake and Nudify Images in Public Breach
In March 2025, cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered an unprotected database linked to GenNomis by AI-NOMIS, a South Korean company offering face-swapping and "nudify" AI services. The exposed 47.8GB dataset included nearly 100,000 files. Many depicted explicit deepfake images, some involving minors or celebrities. No personal data was found, but the breach was a serious failure in data security and consent safeguards in AI image-generation platforms.
Alleged ChatGPT Misuse by Contractor Leads to Reported Data Exposure in New South Wales Resilient Homes Program
A former contractor of the New South Wales Reconstruction Authority reportedly uploaded a spreadsheet containing personal and health information of Resilient Homes Program applicants to ChatGPT during a three-day period in March 2025. Up to 3,000 people may have reportedly been affected.
Alleged Inclusion of 12,000 Live API Keys in LLM Training Data Reportedly Poses Security Risks
A dataset used to train large language models allegedly contained 12,000 live API keys and authentication credentials. Some of these were reportedly still active and allowed unauthorized access. Truffle Security found these secrets in a December 2024 Common Crawl archive, which spans 250 billion web pages. The affected credentials could have been exploited for unauthorized data access, service disruptions, financial fraud, and a variety of other malicious uses.
Microsoft Copilot Reportedly Able to Access Cached Data from Since-Private GitHub Repositories
Lasso Security reported that Microsoft Copilot could return content from GitHub repositories that had been public briefly but later set to private or deleted. Lasso attributed this to Bing's caching system, which stored "zombie data" from over 20,000 repositories. The cached content allegedly included sensitive information such as access keys, tokens, and internal packages. Microsoft reportedly classified the issue as low severity and applied only partial mitigations.
Meta AI Bug in Deployed Service Reportedly Allowed Potential Access to Other Users' Prompts and Responses
A security researcher reported a vulnerability in Meta AI's deployed chatbot service that, under certain conditions, could allow an unauthorized user to view another user's prompts and AI-generated responses. The flaw reportedly involved guessable prompt IDs and insufficient server-side authorization checks. Meta reportedly fixed the issue in January 2025 and found no evidence of malicious exploitation, awarding the researcher a bug bounty.
AI-Powered Transcription Services Allegedly Leak Confidential Workplace Discussions
AI-powered meeting assistants, such as Otter.ai's OtterPilot and Zoom's AI Companion, have reportedly shared sensitive and private conversations beyond the intended audience. These tools, which are set to automatically record and distribute meeting transcripts, allegedly sent confidential discussions after participants had left the meeting, the consequences of which led to unintended exposure of proprietary information and privacy breaches.
Chatbot in Workplace Training at Bunbury Prison Reveals Real Names in Sexual Harassment Case
During workplace training at Bunbury Prison in Western Australia, a trainer used Microsoft's Copilot AI chatbot to generate case study scenarios. The chatbot produced a scenario that included the real name of a former employee involved in a sexual harassment case, revealing sensitive information.
Gemini AI Allegedly Reads Google Drive Files Without Explicit User Consent
Kevin Bankston, a privacy activist, claims that Google's Gemini AI scans private Google Drive PDFs without explicit user consent. Bankston reports that after using Gemini on one document, the AI continues to access similar files automatically. Google disputes these claims, stating that Gemini requires proactive user activation and operates within privacy-preserving settings.
NullBulge's AI-Powered Malware Allegedly Compromises Disney Employee and Internal Data
A Disney employee, Matthew Van Andel, reportedly downloaded AI-powered malware allegedly developed by the cybercriminal group NullBulge, resulting in a major cybersecurity breach. Hackers purportedly accessed Disney's Slack system, exposing 44 million internal messages, employee and customer data, and financial records. NullBulge also reportedly leaked Van Andel’s personal financial information, leading to identity theft and his eventual termination.
OpenAI's ChatGPT Mac App Stored User Data in Unencrypted Text Files
OpenAI's ChatGPT macOS app stored user conversations in plain text. If accessed by a malicious actor, these conversations could have been easily read. The critical security flaw was demonstrated by a third party and ultimately resolved after OpenAI released an update to encrypt the stored data.
The New York Times Reportedly Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over Alleged Unauthorized AI Training on Its Content
The New York Times alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft used millions of its articles without permission to train AI models, including ChatGPT. The lawsuit claims the companies scraped and reproduced copyrighted content without compensation, in turn undermining the Times’s business and competing with its journalism. Some AI outputs allegedly regurgitate Times articles verbatim. The lawsuit seeks damages and demands the destruction of AI models trained on its content.