Tencent launches Zero-Point Cruise facial recognition to enforce night-time game curfew
Tencent has introduced a feature called Zero-Point Cruise in its games, which subjects accounts registered as adults that play at night beyond a set time to facial recognition. Anyone who refuses or fails the verification is treated as a minor and logged out. Tencent says this is intended to stop children using adult identities to evade the game curfew, and that adults who mistakenly refuse can wait for the next authentication.
- Company involved
- Tencent
- AI system involved
- 零点巡航 (Zero-Point Cruise)
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Citizens Advice finds ethnicity penalty in car insurance pricing
Citizens Advice conducted exploratory research into car insurance pricing and found that people of colour may be paying £250 more per year than White people. The research suggests that areas with large communities of colour may be identified as more risky by algorithms, even when objective risk factors are controlled. Citizens Advice has called on the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate the issue.
9 source articles · read the reporting →
TransUnion AI tenant screening denied 75-year-old man apartment due to mistaken littering conviction
Chris Robinson, then 75, applied for a senior living apartment in California. The property manager used an AI screening program from TransUnion, which assigned him a low score based on a mistaken conviction for littering that belonged to a different person with the same name in Texas. Robinson lost the apartment and his application fee. A federal class-action lawsuit against TransUnion moved toward a $11.5 million settlement in 2023.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Cruise Self-Driving Car Rear-Ended by Human-Driven Cruise Vehicle in San Francisco
On 11 June 2018, a self-driving Cruise Chevrolet Bolt was rear-ended by another Cruise vehicle driven by a human employee on Bryant Street in San Francisco. The collision caused only minor scuffs and no injuries. Cruise reported the incident to the California DMV as required. The incident highlights the challenges of autonomous vehicles interacting with human drivers.
- Company involved
- Cruise
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Insurer drops California homeowner after aerial photo analysis
Cindy Picos was dropped by her home insurer after the company used aerial photos to assess her roof. The insurer refused to let her see the photos, and she believes her roof is in fine shape. The incident highlights the growing use of drones and aerial imagery by insurers to inspect properties without in-person visits.
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Macy's and Sunglass Hut facial recognition misidentifies man, leading to wrongful jailing
Harvey Eugene Murphy Jr was misidentified by facial recognition software used by Sunglass Hut and Macy's as the perpetrator of an armed robbery. He was arrested and jailed, where he alleges he was beaten and raped. His alibi was later confirmed and charges were dropped. He is suing the companies for $10 million in damages.
- Company involved
- Macy's and EssilorLuxottica
3 source articles · read the reporting →
NHTSA investigation PE24015: Rear-end Collisions Involving Zoox Vehicles
Automated driving system controlled vehicle braking and acceleration, leading to rear-end collisions with other road users
- Company involved
- Zoox
- AI system involved
- Zoox vehicle
1 source article · read the reporting →
Allegheny County child neglect screening algorithm shows racial disparities
The Allegheny Family Screening Tool, an algorithm used to screen child neglect reports, has been found to flag a disproportionate number of Black children for mandatory investigation compared to white children. A technical glitch also presented wrong risk scores for over two years. County officials say social workers can override the algorithm and that the glitch has been fixed, but critics argue the tool hardens racial disparities and lacks transparency.
- Company involved
- Allegheny County Department of Human Services
- AI system involved
- Allegheny Family Screening Tool
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Heathfield man sentenced in county's first AI-generated abusive image case
James Castell, 40, of Heathfield, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 19 December after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children, including AI-generated pseudo-photographs. Sussex Police began investigating in October 2024 and found more than 3,800 images, along with AI image-generation software. He received an 18-month suspended sentence, a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and was ordered to register as a sex offender.
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Registered Trustees of the Assemblies of God Gospel Church International (AGGCI) v Registrar of Societies and Others (High Court): AI-hallucinated…
The AI generated non-existent court case citations that were presented to the High Court, misleading the judge and opposing counsel.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Mother of robodebt suicide victim tells inquiry of government stonewalling
Jennifer Miller, whose son Rhys Cauzzo took his own life in 2017 while facing Centrelink debts of about $17,000, told the robodebt royal commission that the government stonewalled her for years. The commission heard that Cauzzo's debt was unlawfully calculated using income averaging and that no vulnerability indicator was on his file despite his mental health conditions. Miller said she felt vindicated by the commission's findings, while the former human services minister Alan Tudge had claimed the department acted appropriately. The robodebt scheme, which ran from 2015 to 2019, ended in a $1.8bn settlement after a class action.
- Company involved
- Department of Human Services (Services Australia)
- AI system involved
- Robodebt
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chinese porcelain factory worker impaled by robotic arm spikes
A 49-year-old worker at a porcelain factory in Zhuzhou, China, was impaled by 10 steel spikes when a robotic arm collapsed onto him during a night shift. The spikes pierced his arm, shoulder, chest, and forearm. He underwent emergency surgery at Xiangya Hospital in Changsha, where surgeons removed all spikes, and he is reported in stable condition.
7 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 →
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 →
Cruise recalls 300 robotaxis after crashing into San Francisco bus
On March 23, 2023, a Cruise self-driving robotaxi rear-ended an articulated San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority bus in San Francisco. The low-speed crash caused minor damage to the robotaxi's front fender and no injuries. Cruise filed a voluntary recall with NHTSA and issued a software update, stating that the software inaccurately predicted the movement of articulated vehicles.
- Company involved
- Cruise
- AI system involved
- Cruise self-driving robotaxi
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Roblox's AI age verification misidentifies users' ages
Roblox launched an AI-powered age verification system that estimates users' ages from facial scans. The system has misidentified many users, placing children in adult categories and adults in teen categories, and has been tricked with avatars or altered faces. Users report loss of chat access and privacy concerns, and age-verified accounts are being sold online. Roblox acknowledged the issues and said it is working on solutions.
- Company involved
- Roblox
- AI system involved
- AI-powered age verification system
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Civitai dropped by cloud provider OctoML over CSAM image generation
Civitai, an AI image generation platform, was dropped by its cloud computing provider OctoML after an investigation by 404 Media found it was being used to generate images that could be categorized as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The platform also faced scrutiny for nonconsensual deepfakes of celebrities and private citizens, primarily women. Civitai added new moderation filters in response, but OctoML terminated the business relationship.
- Company involved
- Civitai
- AI system involved
- Civitai
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Illinois DCFS ends unreliable predictive analytics program for child abuse risk
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services ended its Rapid Safety Feedback program, which used data mining to predict child abuse risk, after the agency's director called the technology unreliable. The system, developed by Eckerd Connects and Mindshare Technology, assigned risk scores to children but failed to flag several high-profile child deaths. The program was also criticised for overwhelming caseworkers with alerts and for potential bias against poor children of colour. DCFS decided not to renew the contract.
- Company involved
- Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
- AI system involved
- Rapid Safety Feedback
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chester man wrongly accused of theft by Home Bargains face scan
Ian Clayton, 67, was wrongly accused of being a thief at a Home Bargains store in Chester after the store's facial recognition system, operated by Facewatch, flagged him as a shoplifter. The system incorrectly linked him to a theft he had no involvement in. Store staff asked him to leave in front of other customers, causing him emotional distress. Clayton contacted Facewatch, which removed his image and record after a review.
- Company involved
- Home Bargains
- AI system involved
- Facewatch
2 source articles · read the reporting →
