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
112 incidents
Xsolla Employees Fired by CEO Allegedly via Big Data Analytics of Work Activities
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on big data analysis of their remote digitized-work activity, which critics said was violating employee's privacy, outdated, and extremely ineffective.
GitHub Copilot, Copyright Infringement and Open Source Licensing
Users of GitHub Copilot can produce source code subject to license requirements without attributing and licensing the code to the rights holder.
Amazon Allegedly Forced Deployment of AI-Powered Cameras on Delivery Drivers
Amazon delivery drivers were allegedly forced to consent to algorithmic collection and processing of their location, movement, and biometric data through AI-powered cameras, or be dismissed.
XPeng Motors Fined For Illegal Collection of Consumers’ Faces Using Facial Recognition Cameras
The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) firm XPeng Motors was fined by local market regulators for illegally collecting in-store customers’ facial images without their consent for six months.
Meta Allegedly Used Books3, a Dataset of 191,000 Pirated Books, to Train LLaMA AI
Meta and Bloomberg allegedly used Books3, a dataset containing 191,000 pirated books, to train their AI models, including LLaMA and BloombergGPT, without author consent. Lawsuits from authors such as Sarah Silverman and Michael Chabon claim this constitutes copyright infringement. Books3 includes works from major publishers like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. Meta argues its AI outputs are not "substantially similar" to the original books, but legal challenges continue.
Miami Police Deployed Facial Recognition to Arrest George Floyd Protestor Allegedly without Cause
Miami Police's arrest report for a George Floyd protestor did not disclose use of facial recognition, which allegedly did not meet the legal threshold for probable cause for arrest.
Uber Allegedly Violated GDPR by Failing to Provide Sufficient Notice on Automated Profiling for Drivers
Uber was alleged in a lawsuit to have provided incomplete notice about automated decision-making and profiling for drivers such as information about their driving behavior, and use of phone.
iRobot Roomba J7 R&D Images Reportedly Appeared in Private Online Groups After Data Labeling
Images reportedly captured in 2020 by development versions of iRobot's Roomba J7 robot vacuum during an AI training data project were sent to Scale AI for labeling and later appeared in private Facebook, Discord, and other online groups. Reporting described some images as showing sensitive household scenes.
Finnish Police Were Reportedly Reprimanded After National Bureau of Investigation Unit Allegedly Used Clearview AI to Identify Potential Abuse Victims
Finland's Deputy Data Protection Ombudsman reportedly reprimanded the National Police Board after a National Bureau of Investigation child sexual exploitation unit allegedly used Clearview AI in late 2019 or early 2020 to identify potential child sexual abuse victims. Four NBI users reportedly made about 120 searches during a free trial without controller approval or prior assessment of how uploaded biometric data would be handled.
Hive Box Facial-Recognition Locks Hacked by Fourth Graders Using Intended Recipient’s Facial Photo
Facial-recognition locks by Hive Box, an express delivery locker company in China, were easily opened by a group of fourth-graders in a science-club demo using only a printed photo of the intended recipient’s face, leaving contents vulnerable to theft.
South Korean Agencies Reportedly Shared Airport Travelers' Face Images with Companies to Train Immigration Facial Recognition System
Reporting in 2021 alleged that South Korea's Ministry of Justice shared roughly 170 million face images and related biometric data from Korean and foreign airport travelers with the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and private companies for an AI identification and tracking system used in immigration screening. The data was reportedly used for AI training and algorithm testing without travelers' consent.
Buenos Aires Government Reportedly Used Children's Personal Data in Facial Recognition System for Fugitives
Beginning in April 2019, the Buenos Aires city government reportedly used data from Argentina’s CONARC fugitive database, including children’s identities and reference photos, in its live Facial Recognition System for Fugitives (SRFP). Human Rights Watch found at least 166 children had appeared in CONARC between 2017 and 2020 and warned that the system exposed them to privacy violations and elevated risks of false matches.
Ever AI Reportedly Deceived Customers about FRT Use in App
Ever AI, now Paravision AI, allegedly failed to inform customers about the development and use of facial recognition that facilitates the sale of customers’ data to various businesses, a business model that critics said was an egregious violation of privacy.
OpenAI Alleged by Lawsuit Violated Users' Privacy Rights by Training AI on Private Info without Informed Consent
OpenAI's products such as ChatGPT and DALL-E were alleged in a lawsuit using stolen private information from internet users without their informed consent or knowledge.
GPT-2 Reportedly Reproduced Personal Data from Its Training Data
OpenAI's GPT-2 reportedly memorized and reproduced portions of its training data, including personal information such as names, email addresses, social media handles, and phone numbers. Researchers raised concerns that large language models could expose private or sensitive information when trained on web-scale datasets containing personal data.