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
Frontline workers protest at Stanford after hospital distributed vaccine to administrators
In 2020, Stanford Medical Center's distribution algorithm only designated 7 of 5,000 vaccines to Medical Residents, who are frontline workers regularly exposed to COVID-19.
Online Trolls Allegedly Abused TikTok’s Automated Content Reporting System to Discriminate against Marginalized Creators
TikTok's automated content reporting system was allegedly abused by online trolls to intentionally misreport content created by users of marginalized groups.
Brand Safety Tech Firms Falsely Claimed Use of AI, Blocking Ads Using Simple Keyword Lists
Brand safety tech firms falsely claimed use of AI, blocking ads using simple keyword lists.
Proctoring Algorithm in Online California Bar Exam Flagged an Unusually High Number of Alleged Cheaters
The proctoring algorithm used in a California bar exam cited a third of thousands of applicants as cheaters, resulting in allegations where exam takers were instructed to prove otherwise without seeing their incriminating video evidence.
Court Rules Deliveroo Used 'Discriminatory' Algorithm
In December 2020, an Italian court ruled that Deliveroo’s employee ‘reliability’ algorithm illegally discriminated against workers with legitimate reasons for cancelling shifts.
Poachers Evaded AI Cameras and Killed Four Rhinos
AI cameras installed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife failed to detect poachers when four dehorned rhino carcasses were found.
Facebook Mistakenly Blocked Small Business Ads
Facebook’s AI mistakenly blocked advertisements by small and struggling businesses, after the company allegedly leaned more on algorithms to monitor ads on the platform with little review from human moderators.
YouTube Recommendation Reportedly Pushed Election Fraud Content to Skeptics Disproportionately
YouTube's recommendation algorithm allegedly pushed 2020's US Presidential Election fraud content to users most skeptical of the election's legitimacy disproportionately compared to least skeptical users.
Autonomous Roborace Car Drove Directly into a Wall
An autonomous Roborace car drove itself into a wall in round one of the Season Beta 1.1 race.
AI mistakes referee’s bald head for football — hilarity ensued
In a Scottish soccer match the AI-enabled ball-tracking camera used to livestream the game repeatedly tracked an official’s bald head as though it were the soccer ball.
AI Spam Filters Allegedly Block Legitimate Emails Based on Biased Keyword Detection
AlgorithmWatch tested spam filtering algorithms across Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, GMX, and LaPoste. Their findings reportedly showed that Microsoft Outlook’s spam filter flagged emails based on specific keywords that led to racial and content-based biases blocking legitimate communications. Emails mentioning Nigeria or containing certain financial and sexual health terms were found to be disproportionately marked as spam.
Tesla Autopilot Mistakes Red Letters on Flag for Red Traffic Lights
A Tesla Model 3 misidentified flags with "COOP" written vertically on them as traffic lights.
Researchers find evidence of racial, gender, and socioeconomic bias in chest X-ray classifiers
A study by the University of Toronto, the Vector Institute, and MIT showed the input databases that trained AI systems used to classify chest X-rays led the systems to show gender, socioeconomic, and racial biases.
#LekkiMassacre: Why Facebook labelled content from October 20 incident ‘false’
Facebook incorrectly labels content relating to an incident between #EndSARS protestors and the Nigerian army as misinformation.
Tiny Changes Let False Claims About COVID-19, Voting Evade Facebook Fact Checks
Avaaz, an international advocacy group, released a review of Facebook's misinformation identifying software showing that the labeling process failed to label 42% of false information posts, most surrounding COVID-19 and the 2020 USA Presidential Election.