The record

Where automated decisions went wrong

Incidents gathered from public reporting around the world. Each one links to the articles it came from. None of it is a finding that anyone broke the law.

Reports people file about their own experience are not shown here and never will be without their agreement. Tell us what happened to you.

Clear

284 incidents closest to “BriefCam Insights” · matched on meaning · public reporting

WF-6HCRH41 Sep 2020

iRobot Roomba J7 captured intimate images later leaked by gig workers

In 2020, development versions of iRobot's Roomba J7 series robot vacuums captured images of a woman on the toilet and a child in a hallway. The images were sent to Scale AI for data annotation, where gig workers in Venezuela posted screenshots to private social media groups. iRobot acknowledged the images came from special development robots with recording stickers and said it is terminating its relationship with the service provider that leaked them. The incident highlights privacy risks in the data annotation supply chain for AI training.

Company involved
iRobot
AI system involved
Roomba J7 series

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-LMSL6A1 Jan 2025

Dutch police warn of AI prank calls over fake homeless intruders

Dutch police report that children used AI to generate fake videos of homeless intruders in their homes. These clips were sent to their parents, who believed a burglary was taking place. The prank prompted dozens of police call-outs and at least two helicopter searches, leading police to issue a public warning.

Company involved
Dutch police

1 source article · read the reporting →

West Midlands Police test NDAS system to assess crime risk

West Midlands Police are testing a system called the National Data Analytics Solution (NDAS) that analyses police data to assess the risk of individuals committing a crime or becoming a victim. The Home Office has funded the project with millions of pounds, intending to roll it out across England and Wales. Critics warn that the system could reinforce bias against minorities and undermine the presumption of innocence. The police say the technology is designed to support, not replace, officer decision-making and that it is still in early testing.

Company involved
West Midlands Police
AI system involved
National Data Analytics Solution

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-EX5G9V14 Nov 2020

Google, Amazon, Microsoft image AI shows gender bias, labelling women by appearance and men by profession

A study by US and European researchers found that Google, Amazon, and Microsoft's image recognition services applied three times as many appearance-related labels to photos of women as to men. The top labels for men were 'official' and 'businessperson', while for women they were 'smile' and 'chin'. Google acknowledged the issue and had previously switched off gender detection, but tests by WIRED suggested the bias persisted. The researchers warn that such biased AI could obscure women professionals and create a false image of reality.

Company involved
Google, Amazon, Microsoft
AI system involved
Google Cloud Vision, Amazon Rekognition, Microsoft image recognition service

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-UKLVHR27 Oct 2014

Brainwash cafe customers unknowingly put in AI surveillance dataset

In 2014, customers at the Brainwash Cafe in San Francisco were recorded by a publicly available webcam. The images were compiled into a dataset containing 11,917 photos for training surveillance-related object and head detection algorithms. The dataset was later removed from access following an investigation revealing use by researchers affiliated with the National University of Defense Technology in China. The dataset's creators are accused of collecting the images without the cafe customers' knowledge or consent.

Company involved
Stanford University
AI system involved
Brainwash dataset

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-ZMVUYB24 Dec 2023

NewsBreak AI generates false news stories, harms local charities

NewsBreak, the most downloaded US news app, used AI to generate news stories, including a fabricated shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The AI-produced content also contained errors that caused charities to turn away people needing services. Former employees and a consultant raised concerns about the practice, and the company has faced multiple copyright lawsuits. NewsBreak maintains it removes inaccurate content and complies with US laws.

Company involved
NewsBreak
AI system involved
NewsBreak app

2 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-EOQHEX1 Mar 2023

Adobe Stock creators say Firefly trained on their images without consent

Adobe Stock contributors allege that Adobe trained its Firefly generative AI model on their stock images without express notification or consent. They say Firefly's popularity is reducing demand for their stock photos and flooding the platform with AI-generated images. Adobe says Firefly is still in beta and it is committed to compensating creators, with details to come when generally available.

Company involved
Adobe
AI system involved
Adobe Firefly

1 source article · read the reporting →

Secret Desires AI image generator exposed millions of explicit deepfake photos

Secret Desires, an erotic chatbot and AI image generator, left cloud storage containers publicly accessible, exposing nearly two million images and videos, many of them nonconsensual explicit deepfakes of private citizens. The leaked data included women's names, workplaces, and universities, with some file names referencing '17-year-old'. After 404 Media contacted the company, the files became inaccessible, but Secret Desires did not respond to a request for comment. The incident highlights ongoing issues with AI-generated deepfake abuse, and Congress recently passed the Take It Down Act to combat such images.

Company involved
Secret Desires
AI system involved
Secret Desires

2 source articles · read the reporting →

X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content, Sky News investigation finds

A Sky News investigation found that X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. The Data and Forensics team conducted a nine-month investigation into the platform's recommendation system. The findings indicate that the algorithm boosts such content, potentially influencing political discourse in the UK.

Company involved
X
AI system involved
X's algorithm

4 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-VIVXLH1 Feb 2024

Deepfake video of ITV journalist Mary Nightingale promotes investment scam

In February 2024, a deepfake video of ITV News presenter Mary Nightingale appeared on social media. The manipulated 45-second clip showed Nightingale apparently presenting the ITV Evening News before promoting a fraudulent investment app. The video was deleted shortly after it was posted. Nightingale said she was "livid" and described the incident as identity theft.

6 source articles · read the reporting →

YouTube's AI captions insert explicit language in children's videos

YouTube's automated captioning system has been found to insert explicit language into videos intended for children. A study of over 7,000 videos from top kids' channels found that 40% contained taboo words in captions, with 1% including highly inappropriate terms like 'bitch' and 'rape'. The AI mishears words such as 'brave' as 'rape' and 'corn' as 'porn'. YouTube acknowledged the issue and said it is working to improve the system.

Company involved
YouTube
AI system involved
YouTube automated captions

7 source articles · read the reporting →

Delhi Government uses facial recognition on children in government schools

The Delhi Government's Education Department is using facial recognition technology in conjunction with CCTV cameras in government schools, according to responses to RTI requests filed by the Internet Freedom Foundation. The organisation urged the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights to intervene, alleging that the practice violates children's right to privacy and education under the Indian Constitution. No specific incident of harm has been reported, but the organisation warns of potential misidentification and disproportionate penalties.

Company involved
Government of NCT of Delhi, Education Department

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-8Y0OB518 Jul 2024

CDT study finds AI chatbots give inaccurate voting information to disabled voters

The Center for Democracy and Technology tested five AI chatbots on July 18, 2024 with 77 prompts about voting with a disability. They found that 61% of responses had at least one insufficiency, and over a third included incorrect information. Some responses could dissuade, impede or prevent a user from voting. The chatbots also hallucinated laws and organizations.

AI system involved
Mixtral 8x7B v0.1, Gemini 1.5 Pro, ChatGPT-4, Claude 3 Opus, Llama 2 70b

5 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-GY0FZ528 Aug 2025

AI companion apps Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat leak intimate conversations of 400,000 users

Two AI companion apps, Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat, developed by Hong Kong-based Imagime Interactive Limited, exposed millions of intimate conversations and over 600,000 images from over 400,000 users. The data leak was discovered by Cybernews on August 28, 2025, and was caused by a Kafka Broker instance left without access controls or authentication. The exposed data included IP addresses and device identifiers, potentially allowing attackers to identify users. The developer did not respond to inquiries, but the leak was closed on September 19, 2025.

Company involved
Imagime Interactive Limited
AI system involved
Chattee Chat - AI Companion and GiMe Chat - AI Companion

4 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-QWEAWA1 Dec 2023

True Crime Case Files YouTube channel exposed for AI-generated fake true crime stories

The YouTube channel True Crime Case Files, which launched in late 2023, gained millions of views with videos purporting to be true crime documentaries. An investigation by the Denver Post revealed that the stories, including one about a murder in Littleton, Colorado, were entirely fabricated and likely generated by AI. The channel did not disclose that the cases were not real, leading viewers to believe they were genuine. Experts warned that such AI-generated misinformation is a growing problem, with the channel potentially earning tens of thousands of dollars from the deceptive content.

Company involved
True Crime Case Files
AI system involved
True Crime Case Files

5 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-SU17EB1 Mar 2026

Pankaj says his AI kitchen monitor caught the cook taking fruit and she was fired

Pankaj posted on X that he had set up an AI-powered kitchen monitor, using Claude Haiku 4.5 as its vision model, to watch his cook while she worked. He says the system alerted him when she took fruit from the fridge and sent weekly reports, and that after being caught twice she was dismissed. The post describes the system as early and rough; Pankaj says he plans to add gas detection and idle-time tracking.

Company involved
Pankaj
AI system involved
AI roommate

5 source articles · read the reporting →

Hackers Extract Encryption Keys from Flock Surveillance Cameras, Revealing Person Detection Alongside Vehicle Tracking - finance.biggo.com

The system detected and recorded images of vehicles and people, affecting individuals in public spaces.

Company involved
Flock Safety
AI system involved
Flock Safety ALPR cameras

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-TF37IC13 Nov 2025

Flock seeks to have security researchers' map of Flock cameras taken down — unauthenticated flaw exposed 335,701 camera locations nationwide…

The system captured license plate data and vehicle locations of individuals passing the cameras.

Company involved
Flock Safety
AI system involved
Flock Safety cameras

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-Z8XGSC20 Jul 2025

Hallucination-laced TRO raises alarm bells on AI use by courts - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

A generative AI tool drafted a temporary restraining order in Jackson Federation of Teachers v. Fitch containing fabricated parties, declarations, and statutory language, affecting the state of Mississippi and the plaintiffs.

Company involved
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi

1 source article · read the reporting →

Mr Craig Hadley wrongly accused of fraud at Sports Direct shop using Facewatch facial recognition.

Mr Craig Hadley was wrongly accused of being a fraudster at a Rotherham Sports Direct shop using facial recognition technology supplied by Facewatch. The system flagged him as a known fraudster, but the alert was later attributed to human error. Big Brother Watch, a privacy campaign group, has raised concerns about the lack of due process in such systems.

Company involved
Sports Direct
AI system involved
Facewatch

2 source articles · read the reporting →

Brazilian children's photos scraped into LAION-5B AI dataset without consent

Human Rights Watch found that LAION-5B, a dataset used to train AI tools, contains identifiable photos of Brazilian children scraped from the web without their knowledge or consent. The dataset includes names and locations of children. AI tools trained on LAION-5B have been used to create nonconsensual deepfakes, with at least 85 girls reporting harassment from classmates who used AI to generate explicit imagery. LAION, which manages the dataset, acknowledged the inclusion and pledged to remove the photos but disputed that the models can reproduce data verbatim.

Company involved
LAION
AI system involved
LAION-5B

7 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-N2X8EZ1 Jun 2024

Australian children's photos scraped into LAION-5B AI dataset without consent

Human Rights Watch found that the LAION-5B dataset, used to train AI tools, contains links to identifiable photos of Australian children scraped from the web without consent. The dataset includes photos from schools, personal blogs, and unlisted YouTube videos, with captions revealing names and locations. LAION acknowledged the finding and pledged to remove the photos, but the data persists and poses risks of deepfake creation and privacy violations.

Company involved
LAION
AI system involved
LAION-5B

4 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-9CI2NA22 Aug 2024

Google Pixel 9 tools generate offensive images and fake photos

Google's Pixel Studio and Reimagine features on the Pixel 9 phones are accused of generating offensive, copyrighted images and allowing users to create convincing fake photos. Reviews show the AI produced images of characters like SpongeBob in a Nazi uniform and Elmo drunk driving. Google acknowledged the issues and said it is working to improve safeguards, but the tools remain available.

Company involved
Google
AI system involved
Pixel Studio, Reimagine (Magic Editor)

5 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-HQIBSH16 Nov 2021

South Korean local governments build AI surveillance systems using CCTV data without consent

Several local governments in South Korea, including Bucheon, are developing AI systems that use CCTV footage to track individuals for purposes such as disease control, child abuse detection, and personal protection. The systems are being built without obtaining consent from the people captured in the footage, raising concerns about privacy and surveillance. Bucheon plans to launch a smart epidemiological investigation system in January 2022 that will analyze footage from thousands of crime-prevention cameras to track COVID-19 cases and contacts. Critics question the adequacy of de-identification measures and warn of potential misuse of biometric data.

Company involved
Bucheon City Government
AI system involved
Smart epidemiological investigation system

10 source articles · read the reporting →

← Newerpage 11 of 12Older →