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
1,751 incidents
Police Departments Reported ShotSpotter as Unreliable and Wasteful
ShotSpotter algorithmic systems locating gunshots were reported by police departments for containing high false positive rates and wasting police resources, prompting discontinuation.
Chicago Police's Strategic Subject List Reportedly Biased Along Racial Lines
The Chicago Police Department reportedly used person-based predictive policing models, including the Strategic Subject List and Crime and Victimization Risk Model, to assign violence-risk scores to hundreds of thousands of residents. Official and media reports alleged that the program gave police a mathematically fragile basis for treating heavily policed residents as future victims or suspects, with Black Chicago residents especially exposed to the consequences of that scoring.
Police Reportedly Deployed ShotSpotter Sensors Disproportionately in Neighborhoods of Color
Police departments disproportionately placed ShotSpotter sensors in black and brown neighborhoods, which is denounced by communities for allegedly creating dangerous situations, such as one involving in Adam Toledo's death.
New York City Reportedly Released Disputed Value-Added Teacher Ratings for Thousands of Teachers
After a legal dispute over public-records requests, the New York City Department of Education released Teacher Data Reports that used a value-added statistical model to rate thousands of public-school teachers based on estimated student test-score growth. News outlets published the ratings in February 2012, and teachers, unions, and analysts disputed the scores as imprecise and potentially misleading, citing large error margins, limited samples, and apparent roster-linkage errors.
Google Instant's Allegedly 'Anti-Semitic' Results Lead To Lawsuit In France
The organizations SOS Racisme, Union of Jewish Students of France, Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples are suing Google due to its autocomplete software suggesting "jewish" when the names of certain public figures were searched on the platform.
Major Universities Are Reportedly Using Race as a 'High Impact Predictor' of Student Success
Several major universities are reportedly using a tool that uses race as one factor to predict student success.
Image Classification of Battle Tanks
A potentially apocryphal story in which an image classifier was produced to differentiate types of battle tanks, but the resulting model keyed in on environmental attributes rather than tank attributes
Apple Tweaked App Store Ranking Algorithms, Allegedly Resulted in Demotion of Local Apps in China
Following Apple’s changes in ranking algorithm in its iTunes App Store, apps by allegedly reputable companies and local startups in China experienced significant drops in ranking order.
Defamation via AutoComplete
Google's autocomplete feature alongside its image search results resulted in the defamation of people and businesses.
2010 Market Flash Crash
A modified algorithm was able to cause dramatic price volatility and disrupted trading in the US stock exchange.
Algorithmic Teacher Evaluation Program Reportedly Failed to Improve Student Outcomes and Was Alleged to Have Harmed Teachers
Gates Foundation-funded Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Initiative's algorithmic program to assess teacher performance reportedly failed to achieve its goals for student outcomes, particularly for minority students, and was criticized for potentially causing harm against teachers.
Unverified Misreading by Automated Plate Reader Led to Traffic Stop and Restraint of an Innocent Person at Gunpoint in California
In San Francisco, an automated license plate reader (ALPR) camera misread a number as belonging to a stolen vehicle having the wrong make, but its photo was not visually confirmed by the police due to poor quality and allegedly despite multiple chances prior to making a traffic stop, causing an innocent person to be pulled over at gunpoint and restrained in handcuffed.
IRS Audited Black Taxpayers More Frequently Reportedly Due to Algorithm
The IRS was auditing Black taxpayers more frequently than other groups allegedly due to the design of their algorithms, focusing on easier-to-conduct audits which inadvertently correlated with the group's pattern of tax filing errors.
Machine Personal Assistants Failed to Maintain Social Norms
During an experiment of software personal assistants at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California (USC), researchers found that the assistants violated the privacy of their principals and were unable to respect the social norms of the office.
Amazon Censors Gay Books
Amazon's book store "cataloging error" led to books containing gay and lesbian themes to lose their sales ranking, therefore losing visibility on the sales platform.