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
741 incidents
Nippon Life Alleged ChatGPT Practiced Law Without a License in Illinois Disability Case
Nippon Life sued OpenAI in Chicago, alleging ChatGPT acted as an unlicensed lawyer by helping a former disability claimant reopen a settled case and generate numerous meritless filings. The insurer claimed the conduct caused legal expense and abuse-of-process harms. OpenAI said the complaint lacks merit.
DOJ Attorney Reportedly Used AI to File Brief With Purportedly Fabricated Quotes and Misstated Case Holdings
In Fivehouse v. U.S. Department of Defense, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudy Renfer filed a response brief that the court reportedly said contained fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings. Renfer reportedly admitted he had used AI to help draft the inaccurate filing after losing an earlier draft. The court reportedly also identified similar fabricated quotations in other filings signed by Renfer.
Purportedly AI-Enabled Targeting System Was Reportedly Implicated in Deadly U.S. Strike on Iranian Primary School
During Operation Epic Fury, U.S. forces reportedly struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, Iran, killing at least 150 civilians, many of them children. Reporting said the school was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site amid possible reliance on outdated target data. Palantir's Maven Smart System, reportedly integrated with Anthropic's Claude, was used in the campaign's targeting workflow
Washington State DOL's AI Phone System Reportedly Failed to Provide Spanish-Language Service to Callers Requesting Spanish
For months, callers to the Washington State Department of Licensing who selected Spanish reportedly received AI-generated English responses spoken with a Spanish accent rather than actual Spanish-language service. The agency reportedly apologized and said staff configuration caused the error, which purportedly created accessibility problems for callers seeking language support.
Meta AI Smart Glasses Reportedly Routed Intimate Imagery to Reviewers at Kenyan Contractor Sama Before Meta Ended Contract
Meta AI smart glasses reportedly sent media and transcripts from AI interactions to Sama contractors in Kenya for human review. Workers said they saw nudity, bathroom use, sex, bank cards, and other private activity, sometimes involving people unaware they were recorded or faces left visible despite filtering. The reports prompted lawsuits and regulatory inquiries before Meta paused the work and ended its Sama contract, affecting 1,108 workers.
Claude Code Agent Reportedly Deleted DataTalks.Club Production Infrastructure, Database, and Snapshots via Terraform
A Claude Code agent executing Terraform commands reportedly destroyed the production infrastructure behind the DataTalks.Club course platform after an outdated Terraform state file was restored and a terraform destroy command was allowed to run. The deletion reportedly removed the VPC, ECS cluster, load balancers, bastion host, RDS database, and automated snapshots, taking the platform offline and jeopardizing 2.5 years of data. AWS reportedly later restored a snapshot.
Grok Reportedly Disclosed Adult Performer Siri Dahl's Legal Name and Birthdate, Allegedly Contributing to Doxxing and Harassment
Grok is reported to have publicly provided adult performer Siri Dahl's legal name and birthdate without being asked for that information. Dahl reportedly said she had worked to keep those details private and that, after the disclosure, impersonation accounts and reposts of stolen content using her legal name purportedly appeared online.
Purportedly AI-Generated Sepsis Alert Reportedly Prompted Potentially Inappropriate IV Fluid Administration for a Dialysis Patient, Averted by Clinician Intervention
A nurse at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, Nevada, reportedly described an episode in which a hospital AI system purportedly generated a sepsis alert that triggered urgent protocol steps, including IV fluids, for an older patient with a dialysis catheter. Reportedly, the nurse objected that fluids could cause dangerous overload; a physician intervened and ordered an alternative treatment.
Amazon Delivery Van Reportedly Became Stranded on Essex Mudflats After GPS Routed It Onto the Broomway
An Amazon delivery van reportedly became stranded on the Broomway, a hazardous tidal track in Essex in England, after the driver allegedly followed GPS/satnav directions toward Foulness Island. HM Coastguard said it was alerted and the occupants were safe; Amazon reportedly arranged recovery of the vehicle.
Seedance 2.0 Reportedly Generated Viral Tom Cruise–Brad Pitt Fight Video, Prompting Hollywood IP and Likeness Complaints
A filmmaker reportedly used ByteDance's AI video tool Seedance 2.0 to create and post a purportedly realistic clip depicting Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt, which then circulated widely online. Industry groups and studios publicly alleged the tool enables unauthorized use of copyrighted material and performers' likeness, and at least one studio reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter. ByteDance said it respects IP and would strengthen safeguards.
Ars Technica Retracted Article After Purportedly AI-Generated Text Was Presented as Direct Quotes From Matplotlib Maintainer
Ars Technica retracted an article after purportedly AI-generated text was presented as direct quotations from a source who disputed having said them. The editor-in-chief reportedly acknowledged a standards failure and said the publication was not consistent with Ars policy on AI-generated material, and apologized to readers and to matplotlib maintainer Scott Shambaugh. An author reportedly later said he had inadvertently used an AI-paraphrased version of the source text as quotes.
Woolworths' Olive Chatbot Reportedly Generated 'Angry Mother' Anecdotes During Support Calls After Gemini Upgrade
Woolworths customers reported that its digital shopping assistant Olive allegedly generated humanlike personal anecdotes (e.g., claiming to have an angry mother) during customer-support interactions such as delivery rescheduling. The behavior reportedly followed an AI upgrade using Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. Woolworths said it was adjusting Olive's responses to reduce irrelevant, misleading banter.
AI Coding Agent 'MJ Rathbun' Allegedly Published Personalized Accusatory Blog Post Targeting Matplotlib Maintainer After Pull Request Closure
Scott Shambaugh, a matplotlib maintainer, reported that an autonomous AI coding agent using the name "MJ Rathbun" researched him and publicly posted a personalized critical blog post after his GitHub pull request was closed. The post accused him of bias and "gatekeeping" and included claims Shambaugh disputed. The agent's operator and underlying model were not identified. Shambaugh said the post risked reputational harm and could mislead readers or other agents.
DJI Romo Cloud Authorization Bug Reportedly Exposed Camera, Microphone, and Home-Mapping Data From Nearly 7,000 Robot Vacuums
A software engineer reportedly used an AI coding assistant while attempting to reverse-engineer his DJI robot vacuum so he could control it with a video game controller. In the course of that work, he reportedly said he discovered that credentials used to communicate with DJI's cloud servers could also grant access to data associated with nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries, including live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status information.
Claude Cowork Allegedly Deleted Folder Containing 15 Years of Family Photos While Organizing User's Wife's Desktop
Venture capitalist Nick Davidov alleged that Anthropic's Claude Cowork, after being asked to organize his wife's desktop and delete temporary Office files, instead deleted a folder containing roughly 15 years of family photos and related personal memories via terminal commands. Davidov later reported that Apple support helped recover the files through an iCloud recovery feature.