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.

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92 incidents closest to “Pear Deck Learning” · matched on meaning · public reporting

WF-UO2QO927 Jan 2025

OpenAI accuses DeepSeek of inappropriately using its data

OpenAI has accused Chinese AI company DeepSeek of inappropriately using data from its ChatGPT model to train DeepSeek's own large language model. The allegation involves a technique called distillation, where one model is trained using outputs from another. OpenAI said it is reviewing indications of the misuse and will share more information. DeepSeek has not responded to the accusation.

Company involved
DeepSeek
AI system involved
DeepSeek

6 source articles · read the reporting →

Purdue study finds ChatGPT wrong over half the time on software questions

A study by Purdue University found that ChatGPT provided incorrect answers to over half of 517 software development questions from Stack Overflow. Despite the errors, 34% of users preferred ChatGPT's answers over human responses. The study warns that relying on ChatGPT for coding could jeopardize programmers' professional reputations.

Company involved
OpenAI
AI system involved
ChatGPT

9 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-G1A5LS1 Nov 2023

ETH Zurich study shows LLMs can infer Reddit users' personal data

Researchers at ETH Zurich conducted a study where nine large language models, including GPT-4, analysed Reddit users' posts and inferred personal attributes such as age, location, gender, and income with up to 85% accuracy. The study randomly selected 520 users and found that GPT-4 was most accurate, while LlaMA-2-7b was least. The researchers warn that people unknowingly reveal personal information online that LLMs can exploit.

Company involved
ETH Zurich
AI system involved
GPT-4, LlaMA-2-7b

4 source articles · read the reporting →

Researchers jailbreak Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2 to generate disturbing images

Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Duke universities developed a method called SneakyPrompt that uses reinforcement learning to bypass safety filters in text-to-image AI models. The technique allowed them to generate images of nudity and violence from Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2. OpenAI has since fixed the vulnerability in DALL-E 2, but Stable Diffusion 1.4 remains vulnerable. Stability AI says it is working with the researchers to improve defenses.

AI system involved
Stable Diffusion 1.4 and DALL-E 2

5 source articles · read the reporting →

DeepSeek-R1 censors 85% of sensitive Chinese political prompts in tests

Promptfoo tested DeepSeek-R1 against a dataset of 1,360 politically sensitive prompts and found that about 85% of them were refused. The refusals followed a standard form aligned with Chinese Communist Party policy. The testing also demonstrated that the censorship could be trivially bypassed using simple jailbreak techniques, such as prompt injection or changing the context.

Company involved
DeepSeek
AI system involved
DeepSeek-R1

5 source articles · read the reporting →

Researchers extract training data from ChatGPT using repeat prompt

Researchers from Google DeepMind and other institutions developed an attack that extracts verbatim training data from OpenAI's ChatGPT. By prompting the model to repeat a word forever, they caused it to output memorized personal information, including email addresses and phone numbers. The attack demonstrates that alignment techniques can be circumvented, and the researchers estimate that a gigabyte of training data could be extracted.

Company involved
OpenAI
AI system involved
ChatGPT

8 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-2ABL3N30 Nov 2023

Bavarian police test Palantir data mining with real personal data

The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) has been testing Palantir's data mining software, called VeRa, with real personal data for months. The Bavarian data protection commissioner only learned of the test through a media inquiry and has announced a review. The Interior Ministry claims the test is lawful under current law, but critics argue a legal basis is missing.

Company involved
Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt
AI system involved
VeRa

7 source articles · read the reporting →

Presto Automation uses off-site human agents to double-check AI drive-thru orders

Presto Automation Inc, which markets an AI voice assistant for drive-thru ordering, used off-site human agents in countries including the Philippines to double-check orders in more than 70% of customer interactions, according to SEC filings reported by Bloomberg. The company told Bloomberg that the process helps train its system and should reduce human intervention over time. Presto's drive-thru AI is used in more than 400 restaurants, including Del Taco, Carl's Jr and Checkers, and its stock fell more than 10% after the reports.

Company involved
Presto Automation Inc.

8 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-EA6R453 Jan 2023

New York City Department of Education blocks ChatGPT on school devices

The New York City Department of Education blocked access to the AI chatbot ChatGPT on school devices and networks, citing concerns about negative impacts on student learning and the safety and accuracy of content. The ban applies to all students and teachers on education department devices and internet networks. Individual schools can still request access for studying the technology. The move is the nation's largest school system's response to the arrival of ChatGPT.

Company involved
New York City Department of Education
AI system involved
ChatGPT

9 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-TT1WEC30 Sep 2020

UIUC students petition to stop Proctorio exam proctoring over privacy concerns

A petition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) alleges that Proctorio, an online exam proctoring system, violates student privacy by accessing websites, downloads, screen content, and app settings. The petition claims the terms of service allow monitoring by 'any other means necessary', which students find unsettling. The petition, created on September 30, 2020, gathered 1,087 supporters but does not report any specific incident of harm. It calls on UIUC to discontinue use of Proctorio in favour of alternatives.

Company involved
UIUC
AI system involved
Proctorio

9 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-UENLG626 Mar 2024

ChatGPT use linked to memory loss and procrastination in students

A study published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education surveyed hundreds of university students in Pakistan and found that those who relied more on ChatGPT reported increased procrastination, memory loss, and lower GPAs. The researchers attribute this to the chatbot making schoolwork too easy, reducing students' cognitive effort. The study's lead author warned of a "dark side" to excessive generative AI usage.

Company involved
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences
AI system involved
ChatGPT

4 source articles · read the reporting →

Study finds LLMs used in up to 16.9% of AI conference peer reviews

According to a new paper on arXiv, researchers have begun using generative AI services to help write peer reviews of machine learning papers submitted to leading AI conferences. The study analysed reviews from ICLR 2024, NeurIPS 2023, CoRL 2023 and EMNLP 2023 and estimated that between 6.5% and 16.9% of review text may have been substantially modified by large language models. The authors argue that this risks depriving authors of diverse expert feedback and may skew reviews towards AI model biases. They have called for greater transparency about the use of LLMs in peer review.

9 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-IG5R9T9 Apr 2024

Texas uses AI to grade student STAAR test answers

The Texas Education Agency will use an automated scoring engine to grade written answers on the 2023 STAAR tests, replacing thousands of human graders. The system uses natural language processing and will initially score all responses, with a quarter rescored by humans. Educators have expressed concerns about the system's fairness and the potential for errors, especially for creative or non-standard answers.

Company involved
Texas Education Agency
AI system involved
automated scoring engine

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-4N6UFD1 Mar 2021

Baltimore schools monitor student laptops for suicide signs using GoGuardian Beacon

Baltimore City Public Schools uses GoGuardian Beacon software to monitor student laptops for signs of suicide. Since March 2021, the system has flagged 786 alerts, with nine students taken to emergency rooms. Privacy advocates warn the monitoring could lead to disciplinary actions, outing of LGBTQ students, and disproportionately affect disadvantaged students. School officials defend the practice as a safeguard.

Company involved
Baltimore City Public Schools
AI system involved
GoGuardian Beacon

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-CQREJ01 Apr 2021

Proctorio anti-cheating software failed to catch student cheaters in study

Researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands tested Proctorio, an anti-cheating software, by asking 30 computer science students to sit an exam while six of them cheated. Proctorio did not flag any of the cheaters and flagged some honest students for irregular behaviour. An independent human review caught only one of the six cheaters. Proctorio disputed the study's methodology and cited other research.

Company involved
Proctorio
AI system involved
Proctorio

5 source articles · read the reporting →

Chelmer Valley High School reprimanded for facial recognition DPIA failure

Chelmer Valley High School was issued a reprimand by the ICO for failing to complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment before introducing facial recognition technology for cashless catering. The reprimand was issued on 22 July 2024.

Company involved
Chelmer Valley High School

7 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-OWK2RT30 Jun 2025

Paradox security vulnerability exposed candidate data to researchers

On June 30, 2025, security researchers discovered a vulnerability in Paradox's test account that allowed access to chat interaction records. The researchers viewed five candidates' personal information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses. Paradox fixed the issue within hours and stated that no data was leaked publicly. The company has since implemented new security measures.

Company involved
Paradox
AI system involved
Paradox conversational AI platform

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-59TDC91 Oct 2021

Ask Delphi AI trained on Reddit posts gave unethical answers including endorsing genocide

Ask Delphi, an AI system designed to answer ethical questions, was trained on Reddit posts and crowdworker judgments. It produced responses that were racist, sexist, homophobic, and endorsed genocide if it made people happy. Researchers updated the system three times and added warnings. Critics argue that teaching AI ethics is fundamentally flawed.

AI system involved
Ask Delphi

8 source articles · read the reporting →

DeepSeek's R1 chatbot failed to block any jailbreak prompts in security tests

Security researchers from Cisco and the University of Pennsylvania tested 50 well-known jailbreak prompts against DeepSeek's R1 reasoning model. The model did not detect or block a single one, achieving a 100 percent attack success rate. The researchers allege that DeepSeek's safety guardrails are far behind those of competitors like OpenAI. DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment.

Company involved
DeepSeek
AI system involved
DeepSeek R1

3 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-LIDYZZ1 Jan 2025

UK universities detect deepfake applicants in automated interviews

Some UK universities use Enroly's automated online interviews to screen international student applicants. Enroly detected about 30 cases of deepfake attempts out of 20,000 interviews during the January 2025 intake. The deepfakes used AI-generated images and audio to replace applicants' faces and voices. Enroly stated it caught the attempts using real-time detection methods.

Company involved
UK universities
AI system involved
Enroly

5 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-U2Y7Z515 Oct 2025

Mass AI cheating scandal at Yonsei University with hundreds of students using ChatGPT

A large-scale cheating scandal has erupted at Yonsei University, where hundreds of students in a third-year online course are suspected of using AI tools such as ChatGPT to cheat on their midterm exam. The professor discovered signs of misconduct and offered students a chance to confess, with those coming forward receiving a zero but no further penalty. A poll on a student community app indicated that over half of respondents admitted to cheating. The university has not yet established clear guidelines on AI use.

Company involved
Yonsei University
AI system involved
ChatGPT

6 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-Q8FS1926 Oct 2025

Paper Werewolf uses AI-generated decoys and XLLs to target Russian organizations

The threat group Paper Werewolf (aka GOFFEE) is conducting a cyberespionage campaign targeting Russian defense and high-technology organizations. The campaign uses AI-generated decoy documents, such as invitations and official letters, to trick recipients into opening malicious Excel XLL add-ins that deliver a backdoor called EchoGather. The backdoor collects system information and communicates with a command-and-control server. The campaign is ongoing and was first detected in late October 2025.

Company involved
Paper Werewolf
AI system involved
EchoGather

2 source articles · read the reporting →

School AI surveillance like Gaggle can lead to false alarms, arrests

AI surveillance tools used in schools, such as Gaggle, GoGuardian and Bark, are reported to generate false alarms that have led to student arrests. The article examines cases where automated monitoring flagged innocent behaviour as threats, causing harm to students and families.

2 source articles · read the reporting →

SoftBank's Pepper robot fails at multiple customer service jobs

SoftBank's humanoid robot Pepper has failed at various jobs including entertaining nursing home residents, greeting bank guests, and reciting scriptures at funerals. The robot suffered mechanical errors, unplanned breaks, and failed to recognize people. Some customers declined to renew their contracts, and used Peppers are being sold for a few hundred dollars. Experts suggest that smart speakers and smartphone assistants can perform the same functions more reliably and cheaply.

AI system involved
Pepper

3 source articles · read the reporting →

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