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
17 incidents
Automated Shuttle Bus Was Reportedly Rear-Ended During U.S. Department of Transportation Demonstration Ride in Washington, D.C.
An automated shuttle bus operated by Beep was reportedly involved in a minor collision during a U.S. Department of Transportation demonstration ride in Washington, D.C. The vehicle, operating autonomously with a human safety driver onboard, was reportedly rear-ended by a Tesla whose driver made an illegal lane change. No injuries were reported, and officials stated the autonomous system functioned appropriately.
Factum in Ko v. Li Allegedly Contains AI-Generated Case Law Citations
In Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 2766, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice identified multiple inaccurate or nonexistent case citations in a factum submitted by counsel for the applicant. Justice FL Myers questioned whether generative AI was used in drafting the document, noting the cited cases were either irrelevant, misrepresented, or did not exist. The court ordered the lawyer to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt, citing duties of accuracy and technological competence.
Sydney Students Allegedly Forced to Retake NAPLAN After AI Predictive Text Error
A predictive text malfunction allegedly compromised the integrity of the NAPLAN writing exam at two Sydney schools, Waverley College and Kambala, in that it allowed students to access AI-driven text suggestions. Caused by a technical oversight, this incident led to affected students being required to retake the test.
MyPillow Defense Lawyers in Coomer v. Lindell Reportedly Sanctioned for Filing Court Document Allegedly Containing AI-Generated Legal Citations
In February 2025, lawyers Christopher I. Kachouroff and Jennifer T. DeMaster, representing Mike Lindell, reportedly used generative AI to draft a court brief that contained nearly 30 defective or fabricated citations. The error-filled filing violated federal court rules requiring factual and legal accuracy. The judge fined both lawyers $3,000 each, citing either the improper use of AI or gross carelessness as the cause of the misleading legal content.
Alleged Misuse of Facial Recognition Technology by Law Enforcement Reportedly Leading to Wrongful Arrests and Violations of Investigative Standards
Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have allegedly been misusing AI-powered facial recognition technology, leading to wrongful arrests and significant harm to at least eight individuals. Officers have reportedly been bypassing investigative standards, relying on uncorroborated AI matches to build cases, allegedly resulting in prolonged detentions, reputational damage, and personal trauma.
GPT-4o's Chinese Tokens Reportedly Compromised by Spam and Pornography Due to Inadequate Filtering
OpenAI's GPT-4o was found to have its Chinese token training data compromised by spam and pornographic phrases due to inadequate data cleaning. Tianle Cai, a Ph.D. student at Princeton University, identified that most of the longest Chinese tokens were irrelevant and inappropriate, primarily originating from spam and pornography websites. The polluted tokens could lead to hallucinations, poor performance, and potential misuse, undermining the chatbot's reliability and safety measures.
Texas A&M-Commerce Professor Reportedly Used ChatGPT to Accuse Students of Cheating and Assign Incomplete Grades
On May 15, 2023, Texas A&M University-Commerce instructor Jared Mumm reportedly emailed animal-science seniors that he had copied their final assignments into ChatGPT and would assign zeros or temporary incompletes when the chatbot claimed the text was AI-generated. Students said the accusations caused panic and put graduation or diplomas at risk; the university later said no students failed or were barred from graduating because of the issue.
Delivery Robot Rolled Through Crime Scene
A Serve Robotics delivery robot was shown on video rolling through a crime scene blocked off by police tape.
BMW Sedan Made a Prohibited Left Turn, Colliding with a Cruise Autonomous Vehicle
A BMW Sedan reportedly made an illegal left turn, causing a minor collision but no injuries with a Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV) operating in autonomous mode.
AI Tools Failed to Sufficiently Predict COVID Patients, Some Potentially Harmful
AI tools failed to sufficiently predict COVID patients, some potentially harmful.
COVID-19 Detection and Prognostication Models Allegedly Flagged for Methodological Flaws and Underlying Biases
Peer-review of papers about COVID-19 detection and prognostication algorithms from 2020, including deployed models, revealed none to be ready for clinical use, due to methodological flaws and underlying biases such as lacking external validation or not specifying data sources and model training details.
Two Cruise Autonomous Vehicles Collided with Each Other in California
In San Francisco, an autonomous Cruise Chevrolet Bolt collided with another Cruise vehicle driven by a Cruise human employee, causing minor scuffs to the cars but no human injuries.
Driverless Train in Delhi Crashes due to Braking Failure
A driverless metro train in Delhi, India crashed during a test run due to faulty brakes.
Las Vegas Self-Driving Bus Involved in Accident
A self-driving public shuttle by Keolis North America and Navya was involved in a collision with a human-driven delivery truck in Las Vegas, Nevada on its first day of service.
Robot at a Chinese Tech Fair Smashed a Glass Booth, Injuring a Visitor
At the 18th China Hi-Tech Fair, a robot suddenly smashed through a glass booth and injured a visitor, after a staff member reportedly mistakenly pressed a button, causing it to reverse and accelerate.