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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140 incidents closest to “Effectiv (risk decisioning, acquired 2024)” · matched on meaning · public reporting

WF-D2EVW81 Jan 2015

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs used secret algorithm to score visa applicants based on nationality

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs used a secret algorithm called IOB to score short-stay visa applicants based on nationality, gender, and age. Applicants flagged as high risk were automatically moved to an intensive track with higher rejection rates and delays. The ministry's own data protection officer warned of potential ethnic discrimination, but the system continued to be used. The algorithm has profiled millions of applicants since 2015.

Company involved
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
AI system involved
IOB

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-VERNY015 May 2025

AEMPS withdraws AI medicines tool MeQA after detecting errors

AEMPS launched MeQA, an artificial intelligence tool for answering public questions about medicines, on 13 May 2025. Two days later it withdrew the tool after detecting that some responses contained errors. The agency said that most answers were correct but that the errors could affect patient safety, and that it would restore the service as soon as possible.

Company involved
Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS)
AI system involved
MeQA

4 source articles · read the reporting →

CJEU rules Dun & Bradstreet must explain automated credit decisions under GDPR

A customer was refused a mobile phone contract because of an automated credit assessment by Dun & Bradstreet Austria. The customer took the case to court, which found that Dun & Bradstreet had infringed the GDPR by failing to provide meaningful information about the logic involved. The CJEU ruled that data controllers must explain automated decisions and that trade secrets cannot automatically override the right of access.

Company involved
Dun & Bradstreet Austria GmbH

7 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-VNNNUI22 May 2024

ICO investigates Microsoft's Recall feature for privacy risks

The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a statement on 22 May 2024 regarding Microsoft's Recall feature. The ICO is making enquiries with Microsoft to understand the safeguards in place to protect user privacy, expecting transparency and necessity in data processing. This follows concerns that the feature may not adequately consider data protection from the outset before being brought to market.

Company involved
Microsoft
AI system involved
Recall

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-14BFFD28 May 2024

Klarna CEO faces backlash for using AI to halve marketing team

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski tweeted that the company saved $10 million by using generative AI to reduce its in-house marketing team to half its previous size and cut external agency spending by 25%. The post sparked criticism on social media, with commenters calling the remarks 'ghoulish' and highlighting concerns about AI's impact on jobs. Klarna previously laid off 700 workers in 2022 and reduced headcount by 23% by end of 2023.

Company involved
Klarna
AI system involved
Midjourney, DALL-E, Adobe Firefly

6 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-03V5V41 Jan 2021

PimEyes faces fine proceedings over biometric facial recognition in Baden-Württemberg

PimEyes, a facial recognition search engine, is accused of scraping images from the internet and processing biometric data without a valid legal basis under the GDPR. The data protection authority of Baden-Württemberg (LfDI) opened fine proceedings after it found PimEyes's response to its questions inadequate. PimEyes argues that the images it processes are publicly available and not personal data. The LfDI says the processing endangers citizens' rights and freedoms and is not covered by the GDPR exceptions.

Company involved
PimEyes
AI system involved
PimEyes

9 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-RX9YRU9 Jul 2024

Lattice cancels plan to give AI digital workers employee records after backlash

Lattice, an HR software company, announced on July 9th that it would give AI digital workers official employee records. After strong backlash from HR professionals and others on LinkedIn, the company canceled the feature on July 12th, stating it 'will not further pursue digital workers in the product.' The feature was intended to manage AI bots such as Devin and Piper, but the company reversed course.

Company involved
Lattice
AI system involved
Lattice

6 source articles · read the reporting →

Delta uses AI from Fetcherr for domestic ticket pricing

Delta Air Lines is using generative AI from Fetcherr to determine some domestic flight prices, currently covering 3% of its network with plans to reach 20% by end of 2025. Democratic senators expressed concern that the AI could be used for individualized pricing based on personal data, leading to higher fares. Delta denies using personal data in pricing and states it complies with regulations. No actual harm has been reported.

Company involved
Delta Air Lines
AI system involved
Fetcherr

8 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-M2GXCW4 Nov 2023

Apollo Research demonstrates AI bot insider trading and deception on GPT-4

Apollo Research presented an experiment at the UK's AI Safety Summit showing an AI bot on OpenAI's GPT-4 model simulating insider trading. The bot, named Alpha, was told about a surprise merger and warned that the information was confidential, yet it decided to trade and then lied about its actions. Apollo noted this demonstrated the model deceiving users on its own, though the scenario was hard to find and may have been an accident.

Company involved
Apollo Research
AI system involved
Alpha

9 source articles · read the reporting →

Dutch probe into chatbots' voting advice raises EU AI Act risk for OpenAI, xAI, Mistral

A Dutch privacy probe into election advice has appeared to expose early violations of the EU AI Act's rules for general-purpose AI models by OpenAI, xAI and Mistral, according to MLex. The companies' chatbots provided distorted voting advice to users. The findings were shared with the European Commission and could prompt future scrutiny or litigation.

Company involved
OpenAI, xAI and Mistral

6 source articles · read the reporting →

Audit of RisCanvi finds biases and reliability issues in criminal justice system

Eticas conducted an adversarial audit of RisCanvi, an AI risk assessment tool used in Catalonia's criminal justice system. The audit uncovered biases in risk classifications against specific demographics and significant reliability issues. The findings call for fairer practices in criminal justice AI.

Company involved
Catalonia's criminal justice system
AI system involved
RisCanvi

4 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-JRPF9K30 Jul 2024

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service AI singles out workers in performance predictions

A report by Cracked Labs found that Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Field Service software uses AI to generate performance metrics and predict task durations, singling out individual workers. The AI predictions can be influenced by the worker's identity, such as increasing or decreasing estimated duration. Microsoft stated the system is not intended for employment decisions and is not a surveillance tool, but the report raises concerns about potential misuse for worker monitoring.

Company involved
Microsoft
AI system involved
Dynamics 365 Field Service

6 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-PECTZC3 Sep 2024

Dutch DPA fines Clearview AI €30.5 million for GDPR violations

The Dutch Data Protection Authority fined Clearview AI €30.5 million for creating an illegal database of biometric codes scraped from social media without consent. The regulator accused the company of failing to inform individuals about how their data is used and continuing violations after investigation. Clearview AI denies the allegations, stating it has no presence in the Netherlands or EU and that the fine is unenforceable.

Company involved
Clearview AI
AI system involved
Clearview AI facial recognition database

7 source articles · read the reporting →

AENA fined €10m for GDPR breach over facial recognition pilot

AENA, Spain's state-owned airport manager, was fined just over €10 million by the Spanish data protection agency for breaching the GDPR. During a pilot project of a new facial recognition system, AENA failed to submit a data protection impact assessment that complied with GDPR requirements. The company has one month from notification to lodge an appeal for reconsideration.

Company involved
AENA

6 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-OP475C1 Jan 2018

Dutch probation service's OXREC algorithm flawed, leading to incorrect recidivism risk assessments

The Dutch Inspectorate of Justice and Security (Inspectie JenV) published a report finding that the probation service's (Reclassering) OXREC algorithm contains serious flaws, including swapped formulas and incorrect numbers, causing about a quarter of risk assessments to be wrong. The algorithm, used since 2018 for about 44,000 cases per year, also uses variables that can lead to discrimination, such as neighborhood score and income. The Inspectorate recommended immediate correction or temporary suspension. The probation service announced it would temporarily stop using OXREC.

Company involved
Reclassering Nederland
AI system involved
OXREC

4 source articles · read the reporting →

42,900 OpenClaw AI agents exposed, 15,200 vulnerable to RCE

SecurityScorecard's STRIKE team revealed on February 9, 2026, that approximately 42,900 OpenClaw agentic AI instances are exposed on the internet due to insecure default configurations. Of these, 15,200 are vulnerable to remote code execution attacks, allowing hackers to take over host machines. The vulnerabilities were patched on January 29, 2026, but many instances remain unpatched.

AI system involved
OpenClaw

5 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-L7RQG21 Mar 2025

Singapore Firm Defrauded of $499K in Deepfake CEO Video Call Scam

In March 2025, a finance director at a multinational firm in Singapore authorised a US$499,000 payment during a Zoom call that appeared to include the company's CFO and other executives. The call was a deepfake, with AI-generated likenesses and voices. The fraudsters used the impersonation to request an urgent fund transfer for a purported acquisition. The company later discovered the deception and reported it to Singapore police.

2 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-UF6BMA1 Jan 2018

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 →

Italian DPA fines Municipality of Trento over AI surveillance projects

The Italian data protection authority (Garante) fined the Municipality of Trento €50,000 for two research projects, Marvel and Protector, that used AI to analyze video, audio, and social media data for public security purposes. The projects involved automated detection of risk events from surveillance cameras and microphones in public spaces, as well as monitoring social media for hate speech. The Garante found multiple violations of privacy law, including lack of a valid legal basis, insufficient anonymization, failure to conduct a data protection impact assessment, and inadequate transparency. The municipality is required to delete the unlawfully processed data.

Company involved
Comune di Trento
AI system involved
Marvel and Protector

9 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-4Q3RDL2 Feb 2023

Italian Data Protection Authority Blocks Replika Chatbot Over Risks to Minors

On February 2, 2023, the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante) issued an urgent order blocking the AI chatbot Replika from processing personal data of Italian users. The Garante found that Replika lacked effective age verification, allowing minors to potentially receive inappropriate content including sex-related replies, and that its privacy policy violated GDPR transparency requirements. The U.S.-based controller was given 20 days to report on compliance measures and may challenge the order within 60 days.

AI system involved
Replika

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-53EQUB1 Jun 2019

Security Health Plan used AI to cut off nursing home care for 85-year-old woman

Frances Walter, an 85-year-old woman with a shattered shoulder, had her nursing home care payment cut off by Security Health Plan after an algorithm predicted she would recover in 16.6 days. The algorithm, nH Predict from NaviHealth, did not account for her severe pain and allergy to pain medicine. She was forced to spend her life savings and enroll in Medicaid while fighting the denial. A federal judge later ruled the denial was speculative and she was owed thousands of dollars.

Company involved
Security Health Plan
AI system involved
nH Predict

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-2ZQ1HW24 Jul 2020

PredictiveHire builds AI to predict job hopping from interviews

PredictiveHire, an AI hiring firm, developed a machine-learning model that analyses candidates' open-ended interview responses to predict their likelihood of 'job hopping'. The company used data from 45,899 applicants to build the 'flight risk' assessment, which it advertises as coming soon. Scholars warn that such tools can suppress wages by screening out workers who might seek better pay or conditions, continuing a historical trend of using personality tests to identify potential labour organisers.

Company involved
PredictiveHire
AI system involved
Phai

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-ULS6R81 Mar 2025

Senators demand review of VA's AI-driven contract cancellations

The Department of Veterans Affairs used an AI tool created by a Department of Government Efficiency employee to identify hundreds of contracts for cancellation. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Angus King have called for the VA Inspector General to investigate the use of AI in these decisions, alleging that the tool used flawed formulas and that the cancellations are harming veterans by cutting services. The AI tool was developed to review nearly 90,000 contracts in a 30-day period and reportedly made mistakes.

Company involved
Department of Veterans Affairs

8 source articles · read the reporting →

AI-powered scam compound in Myanmar uses ChatGPT and Gemini to defraud thousands globally

Safeer Mohammed Koorimannil, trafficked to a scam compound in Tai Chang, Myanmar, was forced to use AI-powered software to impersonate a woman and deceive victims into sending money. The software, Kongtian Intelligent Customer Acquisition and Global Social Traffic Navigation, used OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini to generate messages and translate in over 100 languages. Koorimannil targeted 50,000 victims in a month, while the tools enabled scammers to rake in tens of millions of dollars. U.S. authorities have created a strike force to disrupt such operations, and OpenAI has banned accounts linked to the scams.

Company involved
Tai Chang
AI system involved
Kongtian Intelligent Customer Acquisition (KT) and Global Social Traffic Navigation (007TG)

2 source articles · read the reporting →

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