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
961 incidents
Dutch Families Wrongfully Accused of Tax Fraud Due to Discriminatory Algorithm
A childcare benefits system in the Netherlands falsely accused thousands of families of fraud, in part due to an algorithm that treated having a second nationality as a risk factor.
Facebook Allegedly Failed to Police Anti-Rohingya Hate Speech Content That Contributed to Violence in Myanmar
Facebook allegedly did not adequately remove anti-Rohingya hate speech, some of which was extremely violent and dehumanizing, on its platform, contributing to the violence faced by Rohingya communities in Myanmar.
HUD charges Facebook with enabling housing discrimination
In March 2019 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development charged Facebook with violating the Fair Housing Act by allowing real estate sellers to target advertisements in a discriminatory manner.
Amazon Allegedly Tweaked Search Algorithm to Boost Its Own Products
Amazon tweaked product-search algorithm to boost and guide customers towards more profitable in-house products instead of showing mainly most-relevant and best-selling listings, which its internal engineers and lawyers alleged to violate company’s best-for-customer principle.
Amazon's Rekognition Falsely Matched Members of Congress to Mugshots
Rekognition's face comparison feature was shown by the ACLU to have misidentified members of congress, and particularly members of colors, as other people who have been arrested using a mugshot database built on publicly available arrest photos.
Swedish Contraceptive App, Natural Cycles, Allegedly Failed to Correctly Map Menstrual Cycle
Some women using the contraceptive app, Natural Cycles, reported unwanted pregnancies, revealing its algorithm's difficulties in mapping menstrual cycles.
Chinese Tech Firms Allegedly Developed Facial Recognition to Identify People by Race, Targeting Uyghur Muslims
Various Chinese firms were revealed by patent applications to have developed facial recognition capable of detecting people by race, which critics feared would enable persecution and discrimination of Uyghur Muslims.
Uber Allegedly Wrongfully Accused Drivers of Fraud via Automated Systems
Uber was alleged in a lawsuit to have wrongfully accused its drivers in the UK and Portugal of fraudulent activity through automated systems, which resulted in their dismissal without a right to appeal.
Transgender Uber Drivers Mistakenly Kicked off App for Appearance Change during Gender Transitions
Transgender Uber drivers reported being automatically deactivated from the app due to Real-Time ID Check failing to account for difference in appearance of people undergoing gender transitions.
Facebook’s Automated Content Moderation Tool Flagged a Post Containing Parts of the Declaration of Independence as Hate Speech by Mistake
Facebook’s content moderation algorithm was acknowledged by the company to have flagged excerpts of the Declaration of Independence posted by a small newspaper in Texas as hate speech by mistake.
Tesla on Autopilot Crashed into Parked Police Car in California
A Tesla sedan on Autopilot mode collided with a parked Laguna Beach Police Department car, resulting in minor injuries for its driver in Laguna Beach, California.
Tesla Autopilot Allegedly Malfunctioned in a Non-Fatal Collision in Greece
Autopilot was alleged by its Tesla Model 3 driver to have unexpectedly malfunctioned, veering right without warning and crashing into a road divider near Thessaloniki, Greece, which resulted in damages to its wheel and door but no injury to the driver.
Amazon Echo Mistakenly Recorded and Sent Private Conversation to Random Contact
Amazon Echo misinterpreted a background conversation between a husband and wife as instructions for recording a message and sending it to one of the husband's employees.
Facebook’s Automated Removal of Content Featuring Nudity-Containing Artworks Denounced as Censorship
Facebook’s removal of posts featuring renowned artworks by many historical artists and their promotional content due to nudity via both automated and human-moderated means were condemned by critics, such as museums and tourism boards, as cultural censorship and prevention of artwork promotion.
Tesla Model X on Autopilot Missed Parked Vehicles and Pedestrians, Killing Motorcyclist in Japan
A Tesla Model X operated on Autopilot reportedly failed to recognize the parked motorcycles, pedestrians, and van in its path in Kanagawa, Japan, and ran over a motorcyclist who previously stopped when a member of his motorcyclist group was involved in an accident.