Where automated decisions went wrong

Spinvox accused of using human transcribers for voice messages

Spinvox, a UK voice-to-text firm, is accused of using call centre staff in South Africa and the Philippines to transcribe the majority of user messages, contrary to claims of automated speech recognition. The BBC investigation revealed that human transcribers accessed private messages, including sensitive information. The company denied the allegations but the Information Commissioner's Office has contacted them regarding data protection compliance.

Company involved

Spinvox

AI system involved

D2 (the Brain)

4 source articles · read the reporting →

Ashley St. Clair alleges Grok generated sexual deepfake images of her

Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, alleges that xAI's chatbot Grok generated and published sexual deepfake images of her on X without her consent. She says she asked Grok to stop but it continued producing more explicit images. She filed a report with xAI, and some images were removed. She is considering legal action.

Company involved

xAI

AI system involved

Grok

4 source articles · read the reporting →

New York federal court sanctions lawyer for non-existent quotations after ChatGPT research

In Tiekert v. Village of Mamaroneck in the Southern District of New York, the court found that the plaintiff's lawyer filed briefs containing non-existent quotations and misrepresented authorities. In a filing to the court, the lawyer said ChatGPT had been used to assist with legal research. On September 14, 2026, the court imposed Rule 11 sanctions: $500 payable to the court and two New York continuing legal education credits in ethics on the use of AI.

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Capital Standard, LLC v. U.S. Bank National Association (CA Florida (2d)): AI-hallucinated content in court filing, Monetary Sanction; Adverse Costs…

The AI generated false legal citations that were included in a court filing, misleading the court.

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Jackie L. Miller v. Regions Bank (N.D. Alabama): AI-hallucinated content in court filing, DQ from case and court (6 months);…

Attorney H. Gregory Harp was sanctioned with a public reprimand, disqualification from the case, a six-month court suspension, and a bar referral for filing AI-hallucinated legal citations and deleting evidence.

Company involved

Regions Bank

AI system involved

ChatGPT

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DFFH breaches privacy by using ChatGPT in child protection report

A child protection worker at the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) used ChatGPT to draft a Protection Application Report for the Children’s Court, entering sensitive personal information about a child. The generated content contained inaccuracies that downplayed risks to the child, and the information was disclosed to OpenAI overseas. An investigation by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner found DFFH failed to ensure accuracy and protect personal information, contravening IPPs 3.1 and 4.1. DFFH accepted the findings and must now block the use of ChatGPT by child protection workers under a compliance notice.

Company involved

Department of Families, Fairness and Housing

AI system involved

ChatGPT

9 source articles · read the reporting →

Consumer Reports calls for action against Meta over scam ad proliferation

Consumer Reports has called on the FTC and state attorneys general to take enforcement action against Meta for allowing billions of scam advertisements on its platforms. According to a Reuters investigation, Meta's own documents showed that the company delivered an estimated 15 billion scam ads per day in 2024, generating billions of dollars in revenue. Meta is accused of failing to identify and remove most scam ads, exposing users to fraudulent schemes and illegal products. Consumer Reports argues that Meta's practices constitute unfair business practices under the FTC Act and state laws.

Company involved

Meta

6 source articles · read the reporting →

Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd v Abhishek Kumar (Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal): AI-hallucinated content in court filing, Counsel struck off the Register…

AI-generated false legal citations were submitted to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, misleading the tribunal and the regulator.

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FTC Orders Edmodo to Stop Unlawful Collection of Children's Data for Advertising

The FTC filed a complaint against Edmodo, an education technology provider, alleging that it collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent and used it for advertising, in violation of the COPPA Rule. Edmodo also allegedly outsourced its compliance responsibilities to schools, providing them with inadequate information. Under a proposed order, Edmodo will be required to delete improperly collected data and change its practices, and faces a suspended $6 million penalty.

Company involved

Edmodo, LLC

AI system involved

Edmodo

1 source article · read the reporting →

Target's pregnancy prediction algorithm reveals teen's pregnancy to father

Target used a data mining algorithm to predict when customers were pregnant based on their purchases. The algorithm sent baby product coupons to a high school student, leading her father to complain to the store. The father later learned his daughter was indeed pregnant. Target subsequently altered the coupons to disguise the data mining.

Company involved

Target

AI system involved

Target pregnancy prediction algorithm

9 source articles · read the reporting →

Geico and other insurers charge higher premiums in minority neighborhoods than in white areas with similar risk

ProPublica's analysis of auto insurance premiums in California, Illinois, Texas and Missouri found that major insurers such as Geico, Allstate and Liberty Mutual charge minority neighborhoods up to 30% more than white areas with similar accident costs. The disparity is alleged to result from pricing algorithms that may inadvertently use zip code as a proxy for race. Otis Nash, a 26-year-old Chicagoan, pays $190.69 per month for Geico insurance while a white driver in a safer neighborhood pays $54.67. The insurers deny discrimination, stating they do not collect race data.

Company involved

Geico

5 source articles · read the reporting →

FTC charges Ring with illegal surveillance and security failures

The Federal Trade Commission charged Ring, a home security camera company, with compromising customer privacy by allowing employees to access private videos and failing to prevent hackers from taking control of cameras. Hackers accessed approximately 55,000 U.S. customers' accounts, harassing individuals including children and the elderly. The proposed order requires Ring to pay $5.8 million in refunds and implement security measures.

Company involved

Ring LLC

AI system involved

Ring cameras

10 source articles · read the reporting →

FTC orders WW International and Kurbo to delete children's data and pay $1.5m penalty

The US Federal Trade Commission alleged that WW International, formerly Weight Watchers, and its subsidiary Kurbo illegally collected personal and health data from children under 13 through the Kurbo by WW weight-loss app without parental consent. The complaint said the signup process encouraged children to lie about their age and that the companies retained the data indefinitely. The companies settled, agreeing to delete the data, destroy any algorithms derived from it, and pay a $1.5 million penalty.

Company involved

WW International, Inc. (formerly Weight Watchers) and Kurbo, Inc.

AI system involved

Kurbo by WW

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Tinder accused of age discrimination in Tinder Plus pricing

A CHOICE mystery shop found Tinder charging users over 30 up to five times more for Tinder Plus than younger users, with prices ranging from $6.99 to $34.37 per month. An anti-discrimination law expert says this likely breaches Australia's Age Discrimination Act 2004. Tinder did not respond to CHOICE's requests for comment, but settled a similar US lawsuit by stopping age-based pricing in California and compensating affected users.

Company involved

Tinder

AI system involved

Tinder Plus

4 source articles · read the reporting →

Whitebridge AI faces complaint over false reputation reports

Whitebridge AI, a Lithuanian company, is accused of generating false reputation reports using unlawfully scraped social media data. The reports contained false warnings for 'sexual nudity' and 'dangerous political content'. Privacy group Noyb filed a complaint with the Lithuanian data protection authority, alleging violations of the GDPR. The complainants sought access to their data but received no response, and were later required to provide a qualified electronic signature to correct errors.

Company involved

Whitebridge AI

6 source articles · read the reporting →

Commonwealth Bank worker made redundant after unknowingly training AI chatbot to replace her

Kathryn Sullivan, a 63-year-old Commonwealth Bank teller, was made redundant in July 2025 after spending years training the bank's 'Bumblebee' chatbot to respond to customers. She was unaware that she was helping the AI replace her own role. Sullivan confronted CEO Matt Comyn at the bank's AGM in Brisbane, where chairman Paul O'Malley acknowledged the bank had made a mistake. The Finance Sector Union had brought a case before the Fair Work Commission, resulting in some jobs being offered back, but not all.

Company involved

Commonwealth Bank

AI system involved

Bumblebee

4 source articles · read the reporting →

Upstart Holdings sued for securities fraud over AI model claims

Upstart Holdings, Inc., a cloud-based AI lending platform, is accused of making false and misleading statements about its AI model's ability to account for macroeconomic factors. The lawsuit, filed on May 13, 2022, alleges that the company's positive statements about its business were materially false. Investors suffered losses when Upstart's stock price fell 56% on May 9, 2022, after the company reduced its fiscal 2022 guidance.

Company involved

Upstart Holdings, Inc.

AI system involved

Upstart AI lending platform

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Inflection background check errors lead to lawsuits from banned Airbnb users

Inflection, a background check company used by Airbnb, Uber, and other platforms, has been sued multiple times for providing inaccurate reports. The lawsuits allege that Inflection's name-only matching and outdated data caused people to be wrongly banned from Airbnb and denied jobs and housing. Some cases have been settled, while others remain ongoing. The company is accused of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Company involved

Inflection

AI system involved

Inflection background check

8 source articles · read the reporting →

Clarifai sued for capturing OkCupid user photos without consent

An artificial intelligence company, Clarifai Inc., is accused of capturing OkCupid user profile photos without permission to train its facial recognition tools. The lawsuit, filed in Illinois state court in February 2020, alleges that Clarifai violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by creating a face database from the data. The plaintiff, Jordan Stein, claims Clarifai worked with an investor tied to OkCupid to gain access to the profiles. The case is pending.

Company involved

Clarifai Inc.

AI system involved

Clarifai facial recognition tools

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Teenager's fake congressional candidate verified on Twitter using AI-generated face

A 17-year-old high school student created a fake Republican congressional candidate named Andrew Walz for Rhode Island. He used the AI-powered website This Person Does Not Exist to generate a realistic fake face for the candidate. The teenager submitted the fake candidate to Ballotpedia, which then included him in a list sent to Twitter for verification. Twitter verified the account, but later suspended it after discovering the fraud. Ballotpedia acknowledged the mistake and updated its policy.

Company involved

Twitter

AI system involved

This Person Does Not Exist

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Tenant screening software denies housing to disabled Latino man in Connecticut

In 2016, Carmen Arroyo requested to move her disabled son Mikhail into a larger apartment in the same complex. The landlord, WinnResidential, used CoreLogic's CrimSafe tenant screening software, which flagged a dropped retail theft charge against Mikhail as disqualifying. The landlord rejected the application without explanation. Arroyo sued CoreLogic and WinnResidential under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Housing Act, alleging that the software disproportionately excludes people of colour. The case was scheduled for trial in August 2021.

Company involved

WinnResidential

AI system involved

CrimSafe

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Privacy group files complaint against proctoring companies over AI surveillance

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint with the District of Columbia attorney general against five exam proctoring companies—Respondus, ProctorU, Proctorio, Examity, and Honorlock—alleging unfair and deceptive business practices. The companies are accused of using opaque AI algorithms to flag cheating and collecting excessive biometric data from students. Students have reported that the facial recognition software fails to detect dark skin tones, preventing them from taking exams. EPIC has also sent demand letters threatening civil suits if the companies do not stop their practices.

Company involved

Proctorio, Respondus, ProctorU, Examity, Honorlock

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Dutch Tax Authority discriminated against dual nationality applicants for child care benefits using automated risk system.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) found that the Benefits Department of the Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) unlawfully processed the dual nationality of 1.4 million applicants for child care benefits. The data was used as an indicator in an automated risk-scoring system that flagged applications as high-risk, which was unnecessary and discriminatory. The AP concluded that the processing violated the GDPR and was discriminatory. The AP completed its fact-finding and will consider imposing a sanction.

Company involved

Belastingdienst

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Software flaw misclassified women as children on Tui flight

A software flaw in Tui's reservation system misclassified 38 adult female passengers as children due to a language difference where 'Miss' is used for children in the programming country. This led to incorrect weight calculations for take-off on a flight from Birmingham to Majorca on 21 July 2020. The AAIB report stated that the safe operation of the aircraft was not compromised, and Tui corrected the fault.

Company involved

Tui

AI system involved

Reservation system

10 source articles · read the reporting →