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
736 incidents
Houston ISD's EVAAS Teacher-Evaluation System Reportedly Put Teachers' Jobs at Risk Through Unverifiable Scores
From 2011 to 2015, Houston Independent School District used SAS Institute’s Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) to rate teacher effectiveness from student test-score growth. Teachers alleged that proprietary, unverifiable EVAAS scores contributed to terminations and contract nonrenewals. On May 4, 2017, a federal judge allowed due-process claims over the system to proceed.
New York Detective Reportedly Misused Woody Harrelson's Face to Perform Face Recognition Search
When the facial recognition search for a CVS theft suspect's face returned no useful matches due to the surveillance footage being obscured and highly pixelated, a New York City police detective continued the face search using Woody Harrelson's face allegedly due to his resemblance to the suspect's face, eventually leading to the arrest of an unknown victim.
Male College Freshman Allegedly Made Porn Deepfakes Using Female Friend's Face
A female college student's face was superimposed on another woman's body in deepfake pornographic videos and shared on 4chan allegedly by a male student whose friendship with her fell apart during freshman year.
ByteDance Allegedly Trained "For You" Algorithm Using Content Scraped without Consent from Other Social Platforms
ByteDance allegedly scraped short-form videos, usernames, profile pictures, and descriptions of accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, and other sources, and uploaded them without consent on Flipagram, TikTok’s predecessor, in order to improve its “For You” algorithm's performance on American users.
RealPage's YieldStar Allegedly Facilitated Rent Price Coordination Among Canadian Landlords
RealPage’s YieldStar algorithm is alleged to have enabled Canadian landlords to coordinate rental pricing by utilizing sensitive, non-public market data. The software has been accused of contributing to rent increases in non-rent-controlled units through purported collusion and artificial price inflation. Tenants have reported significant rent hikes, which they attribute to landlords' use of the algorithm.
Amazon India Allegedly Rigged Search Results to Promote Own Products
Amazon India allegedly copied products and rigged search algorithm to boost its own brands in search ranking, violating antitrust laws.
NYPD's Deployment of Facial Recognition Cameras Reportedly Reinforced Biased Policing
New York Police Department’s use of facial recognition deployment of surveillance cameras were shown using crowdsourced volunteer data reinforcing discriminatory policing against minority communities.
Government Deployed Extreme Surveillance Technologies to Monitor and Target Muslim Minorities in Xinjiang
A suite of AI-powered digital surveillance systems involving facial recognition and analysis of biometric data were deployed by the Chinese government in Xinjiang to monitor and discriminate local Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims.
RealPage Algorithm Allegedly Inflates Rents and Reduces Competition in Housing Market
RealPage’s YieldStar pricing algorithm is at the center of allegations that it enabled landlords to coordinate rent increases by sharing nonpublic pricing and occupancy data, raising rents artificially and reducing competition. On January 7, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against six major landlords, alleging that they used the algorithm and other direct communication methods to stifle competition, harming renters nationwide.
Facebook Ad-Approval Algorithm Allegedly Missed Fraudulent Ads via Simple URL Checks
Facebook’s advertisement-approval algorithm was reported by a security analyst to have neglected simple checks for domain URLs, leaving its users at risk of fraudulent ads.
Facial Recognition Smart Phone App 'Blue Wolf' Reportedly Monitored Palestinians in the West Bank
A surveillance program involving facial recognition and algorithmic recommendations, Blue Wolf, was reportedly deployed by the Israeli military to monitor Palestinians in the West Bank.
Chinese Insurer Ping An Employed Facial Recognition to Determine Customers’ Untrustworthiness, Which Critics Alleged to Likely Make Errors and Discriminate
Customers’ untrustworthiness and unprofitability were reportedly determined by Ping An, a large insurance company in China, via facial-recognition measurements of micro-expressions and body-mass indices (BMI), which critics argue was likely to make mistakes, discriminate against certain ethnic groups, and undermine its own industry.
Facial Recognition Service Abused to Target Russian Porn Actresses
The facial recognition software FindFace allowing its users to match photos to people’s social media pages on Vkontakte was reportedly abused to de-anonymize and harass Russian women who appeared in pornography and alleged sex workers.
Microsoft's TayBot Allegedly Posts Racist, Sexist, and Anti-Semitic Content to Twitter
Microsoft's Tay, an artificially intelligent chatbot, was released on March 23, 2016 and removed within 24 hours due to multiple racist, sexist, and anti-semitic tweets generated by the bot.
Amazon Flex Drivers Allegedly Fired via Automated Employee Evaluations
Amazon Flex's contract delivery drivers were dismissed using a minimally human-interfered automated employee performance evaluation based on indicators impacted by out-of-driver's-control factors and without having a chance to defend against or appeal the decision.