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
Indian Political App Tek Fog Allegedly Hijacked Trends and Manipulated Public Opinion on Other Social Media Platforms
The Indian political social media app Tek Fog allegedly allowed operatives affiliated with the ruling political party to hijack social media trends and manipulate public opinion on other apps such as Twitter and WhatsApp, which opposition parties denounced as a national security threat.
Walmart's Bagging-Detection False Positives Exposed Workers to Health Risk
Walmart's theft-deterring bagging-detection system allegedly exposed workers to health risks during the coronavirus pandemic when its false positives prompted workers to unnecessarily step in to resolve the issue.
Climate Action Group Posted Deepfake of Belgian Prime Minister Urging Climate Crisis Action
A deepfake video showing the Belgium’s prime minister speaking of an urgent need to tackle the climate crises was released by a climate action group.
Facebook Content Moderators Demand Better Working Conditions Due to Allegedly Inadequate AI Content Moderation
Content moderators and employees at Facebook demand better working conditions, as automated content moderation system allegedly failed to achieve sufficient performance and exposed human reviewers to psychologically hazardous content such as graphic violence and child abuse.
Autonomous Kargu-2 Drone Allegedly Remotely Used to Hunt down Libyan Soldiers
In Libya, a Turkish-made Kargu-2 aerial drone powered by a computer vision model was allegedly used remotely by forces backed by the Tripoli-based government to track down and attack enemies as they were running from rocket attacks.
Personal voice assistants struggle with black voices, new study shows
A study found that voice recognition tools from Apple, Amazon, Google, IBM, and Microsoft disproportionately made errors when transcribing black speakers.
University of Illinois' Proctorio Remote-Proctoring Deployment Reportedly Raised Student Rights Concerns
Beginning in March 2020, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign deployed Proctorio for remote exam proctoring after the COVID-19 shift to online instruction. Students and faculty raised concerns that the software surveilled students' homes and devices, created accessibility barriers, increased testing anxiety, and could flag students when facial-detection tools failed to detect their faces, with particular concern for students of color. UIUC later declined to renew its emergency contract.
Bug in Facebook’s Anti-Spam Filter Allegedly Blocked Legitimate Posts about COVID-19
Facebook was reported by users for blocking posts of legitimate news about the coronavirus pandemic, allegedly due to a bug in an anti-spam system.
Permanent Removal of Social Media Content via Automated Tools Allegedly Prevented Investigative Efforts
Automated permanent removal of violating social media content, such as terrorism, violent extremism, and hate speech, without archival has allegedly hindered the potential use of this content for investigating serious crimes and hampered efforts in criminal accountability.
Canadian Universities' AI Proctoring Tools Reportedly Collected Student Biometric Data Without Adequate Consent
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian universities reportedly used AI-enabled remote-proctoring tools for online exams. A University of Ottawa project supported by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found that tools such as Respondus Monitor, ProctorU, ProctorTrack, Proctorio, ProctorExam, and Examity collected student personal or biometric data under conditions not conducive to meaningful consent.
TikTok's "Suggested Accounts" Algorithm Allegedly Reinforced Racial Bias through Feedback Loops
TikTok's "Suggested Accounts" recommendations allegedly reinforced racial bias despite not basing recommendations on race or creators' profile photo.
EasyMile Self-Driving Shuttle Unexpectedly Stopped Mid-Route, Injuring a Passenger
A self-driving shuttle deployed by Smart Columbus in Linden neighborhood unexpectedly stopped on the street, which caused a woman to fall onto the floor from her seat.
Algorithm Used by the Malaysian Judiciary Reportedly Recommended Unusually High Sentencing to a Drug Possession Case
The AI system used by the Malaysian judiciary which explicitly considered age, employment, and socio-economic data provided sentencing to a drug possession case that was alleged by lawyer to be disproportionately high for the crime committed.
BJP Used Deepfake Videos of Manoj Tiwari to Target Haryanvi Voters in 2020 Delhi Election
In February 2020, India's BJP used purported deepfake videos of party leader Manoj Tiwari to influence voters in the Delhi legislative election. The videos reportedly showed Tiwari delivering scripted campaign messages in Haryanvi and English, which are languages he did not speak, by altering his lip movements and voice. Distributed via thousands of WhatsApp groups, the deepfakes reportedly reached millions of voters without disclosure.
Networking Platform Giggle Employs AI to Determine Users’ Gender, Allegedly Excluding Transgender Women
A social networking platform, Giggle, allegedly collected, shared to third-parties, and used sensitive information and biometric data to verify whether a person is a woman via facial recognition, which critics claimed to be discriminatory against women of color and harmful towards trans women.