Broward College student flagged by Honorlock and accused of cheating
A 17-year-old Black student at Broward College was flagged by Honorlock, a remote proctoring system, during an online biology exam in February 2022. Her professor reviewed the recording and accused her of academic dishonesty for looking down and away from the screen; the college found her responsible for noncompliance and gave her a zero and a warning. The student says she was only thinking and fidgeting, and the article reports that the video is ambiguous. Honorlock says it does not definitively identify cheaters and the final decision rests with the school.
- Company involved
- Broward College
- AI system involved
- Honorlock
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Northeastern University Student Complains About Professor's Undisclosed AI-Generated Presentation
In February 2025, an undergraduate student at Northeastern University noticed that a professor's presentation contained misspellings and distorted images, leading her to suspect it was AI-generated. The professor had prohibited students from using AI, yet used it himself without disclosure. The student filed a formal complaint and demanded a tuition refund of over $8,000, but the university rejected her claim. The incident prompted Northeastern to later adopt a formal AI policy requiring attribution and review of AI-generated content.
- Company involved
- Northeastern University
2 source articles · read the reporting →
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 →
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 →
Yale student sues after GPTZero AI detection leads to cheating accusation and suspension
Thierry Rignol, a top student in Yale's Executive MBA program, was accused of using AI on a final exam after the detection tool GPTZero flagged his answers. Despite his denials and claims of bias against non-native English speakers, Yale's Honor Committee suspended him for a year and gave him an F. Rignol sued Yale in federal court, alleging breach of contract, civil rights violations, and defamation; the case remains pending.
- Company involved
- Yale University
- AI system involved
- GPTZero
1 source article · 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 →
Minneapolis schools use Gaggle AI to monitor students' online activity
Minneapolis Public Schools deployed Gaggle, an AI-powered surveillance system, to monitor students' school-issued Google and Microsoft accounts during remote learning. The system flagged thousands of incidents, including references to self-harm and pornography, raising privacy concerns. Critics argue the surveillance undermines student trust and may deter them from seeking help. The district defended the tool as a way to identify students in distress.
- Company involved
- Minneapolis Public Schools
- AI system involved
- Gaggle
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam accused of racial discrimination by anti-cheating software
A female student with dark skin at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alleges that the Proctorio anti-cheating software used during online exams in the 2020/21 academic year discriminated against her on the basis of race. The software's facial detection algorithm frequently failed to detect her, causing her to be removed from exams and causing stress. The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights found a presumption of indirect discrimination and gave the university an opportunity to prove otherwise.
- Company involved
- Stichting Vrije Universiteit
- AI system involved
- Proctorio
10 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 →
Runway accused of training Gen-3 on scraped YouTube videos and pirated films
Runway, the AI company behind the Gen-3 video generator, is accused of training its model on thousands of YouTube videos and pirated films without permission, according to a leaked internal spreadsheet obtained by 404 Media. The spreadsheet lists thousands of YouTube channels belonging to major media companies and popular creators. A former employee said the company used proxies to scrape videos from YouTube. After being contacted by 404 Media, Runway stopped generating videos that named specific YouTubers, but did not respond to requests for comment.
- Company involved
- Runway
- AI system involved
- Gen-3
5 source articles · read the reporting →
AI crawler causes $5,000 bandwidth costs for Read the Docs
In May 2024, an AI crawler downloaded 73 TB of zipped HTML files from Read the Docs, a documentation hosting platform, costing over $5,000 in bandwidth charges. The crawler repeatedly downloaded the same files due to a bug and lack of rate limiting. Read the Docs blocked the crawler and the company reimbursed the costs. Another crawler from Facebook downloaded 10 TB in June 2024, but Facebook did not respond.
- Company involved
- Read the Docs
- AI system involved
- AI crawler
10 source articles · read the reporting →
