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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212 incidents closest to “BriefCam Insights” · matched on meaning · public 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-3NRNF21 Oct 2023

Meta's AI sticker tool generates lewd, rude, and nude images

Meta's new AI-generated sticker feature on Facebook Messenger allowed users to create inappropriate images, including child soldiers, nude politicians, and sexualised characters. The tool, powered by Meta's Llama 2 model, was found to have insufficient content filters, enabling users to bypass restrictions with typos. Meta was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of reporting.

Company involved
Meta
AI system involved
AI-generated sticker tool

1 source article · 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-E0B1A016 Feb 2026

ZDF broadcasts AI-generated video without labelling in heute journal report on ICE operations

On 16 February 2026, ZDF's news programme 'heute journal' broadcast a report on US border police ICE operations that included a video sequence generated by OpenAI's Sora AI, without labelling it as AI-generated. The broadcaster initially described the omission as a 'technical error' and later removed the AI material from the report, apologising for the mistake. The report also included a real video from 2022 that was used out of context.

Company involved
ZDF
AI system involved
Sora

2 source articles · read the reporting →

AI-generated videos spread false earthquake destruction narratives in Myanmar

AI-generated videos falsely depicting large-scale destruction from an earthquake in Myanmar circulated widely on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. The videos showed collapsed buildings and distressed victims, leading to widespread panic before fact-checkers debunked them as AI fabrications. The incident highlights the challenge of distinguishing real from AI-generated content and the rapid spread of misinformation during crises.

8 source articles · read the reporting →

ChatGPT 4o image generator used to create fake receipts

ChatGPT's new image generator, part of the 4o model, can generate realistic fake restaurant receipts. Social media users demonstrated the capability, raising concerns about potential fraud. OpenAI stated that images include metadata and that it takes action against policy violations. The company defended the feature as allowing creative freedom.

Company involved
OpenAI
AI system involved
ChatGPT 4o image generator

5 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-E6CQ6J1 Jul 2023

Remini app allegedly generated child pornography image from user's photo

Asia Marie Williams, a digital creator, used the Remini app to generate an image of her future baby. The app allegedly produced a half-naked image of a toddler-aged child with her face, which she described as child pornography. She shared the image on Facebook with private parts censored. The incident has not been resolved.

Company involved
Remini
AI system involved
Remini

8 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 →

WF-7JFKYB8 May 2025

Deepfake video of CBS anchor and suspect in Frisco stabbing spreads online

An AI-generated deepfake video manipulated a CBS News Texas anchor's image and created a fake video of the suspect in a Frisco high school stabbing. The video was posted on Instagram and reposted on multiple accounts before being taken down. The incident highlights the growing ease of creating convincing deepfakes and the spread of misinformation online.

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-BOY9DE1 Dec 2023

San Jose is training AI to spot homeless encampments in first US pilot

San Jose has been running a pilot in which cameras on a municipal vehicle feed computer vision software being trained to detect lived-in vehicles and homeless encampments in District 10. The scheme, believed to be the first of its kind in the US, has prompted concern among housing advocates that it could be used to punish and displace unhoused residents. The city says the aim is to respond more efficiently to complaints about encampments and that the footage is not being actively monitored for law enforcement.

Company involved
City of San Jose

10 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-30XEUN1 Jul 2019

Google contractors targeted homeless people for Pixel 4 facial recognition data

Google hired Randstad to collect facial data to train the Pixel 4's face recognition system. Contractors allegedly targeted homeless people and unaware students, using deceptive tactics such as calling it a "selfie game" and offering $5 without informing subjects they were being recorded. Google suspended the research program and opened an investigation following the report.

Company involved
Google
AI system involved
Pixel 4 facial recognition

1 source article · read the reporting →

Adobe Firefly trained on thousands of Midjourney images, Bloomberg reports

Bloomberg has reported that Adobe's Firefly image generator was trained using thousands of images from competitor Midjourney. Adobe says these made up about 5% of the training data and were part of the Adobe Stock library. The company has marketed Firefly as ethically trained and offered enterprise customers indemnity against copyright claims. Adobe responded that all Adobe Stock images undergo moderation, but the report has raised questions about Firefly's copyright safety.

Company involved
Adobe
AI system involved
Firefly

7 source articles · read the reporting →

Meta Smart Glasses Lawsuit Claims Sex, Bathroom Footage Was Sent to Overseas AI Workers - Law Commentary

Recorded and transmitted private footage of users and bystanders to overseas AI workers

Company involved
Meta
AI system involved
Meta Smart Glasses

1 source article · read the reporting →

Clearview AI facial recognition app scrapes billions of images and is used by police

Clearview AI, a secretive start-up, built a facial recognition app that matches photos to a database of more than three billion images scraped from social media and websites. More than 600 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, have used the tool to identify suspects in crimes such as shoplifting, identity theft and murder. The company monitored officers who ran a reporter's photo through the app, and its founder acknowledged designing an augmented-reality prototype but said there were no plans to release it. Critics warned the tool could end anonymity and enable misuse.

Company involved
Clearview AI
AI system involved
Clearview AI facial recognition app

2 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-C1FGCE19 Aug 2025

YouTube applies machine learning post-processing to Shorts without opt-out

YouTube announced an experiment on select Shorts using traditional machine learning to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity during processing. Creators reported that this altered their videos' appearance without an opt-out option, and some accused YouTube of misleading about the use of AI. YouTube acknowledged the experiment and said it would consider feedback, but did not offer a rollback or opt-out.

Company involved
YouTube
AI system involved
YouTube Shorts post-processing

7 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-HF1YRW1 Sep 2023

Xuhui police expand facial recognition surveillance to profile 1.1 million residents

The Xuhui District branch of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Public Security is expanding its Intelligent Image Recognition System, adding 2,500 facial recognition cameras and increased computing capacity to build profiles of residents and flag deviations. The project, contracted to US-sanctioned FiberHome, is designed to match each face to files on more than 50 million people. Officials say the system will analyse behaviour patterns and trigger early warnings.

Company involved
Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Public Security, Xuhui District Branch
AI system involved
Intelligent Image Recognition System

3 source articles · read the reporting →

Users jailbreak Luma Labs Dream Machine to generate porn

Users have jailbroken Luma Labs' Dream Machine, an AI video generator, to create explicit videos. The system's safeguards were bypassed to generate pornographic content. The videos are crude but demonstrate the potential for widespread AI-generated porn. Luma Labs' terms of service prohibit such content.

Company involved
Luma Labs
AI system involved
Dream Machine

3 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-EX5G9V14 Nov 2020

Google, Amazon, Microsoft image AI shows gender bias, labelling women by appearance and men by profession

A study by US and European researchers found that Google, Amazon, and Microsoft's image recognition services applied three times as many appearance-related labels to photos of women as to men. The top labels for men were 'official' and 'businessperson', while for women they were 'smile' and 'chin'. Google acknowledged the issue and had previously switched off gender detection, but tests by WIRED suggested the bias persisted. The researchers warn that such biased AI could obscure women professionals and create a false image of reality.

Company involved
Google, Amazon, Microsoft
AI system involved
Google Cloud Vision, Amazon Rekognition, Microsoft image recognition service

1 source article · read the reporting →

WF-UKLVHR27 Oct 2014

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 →

WF-ZMVUYB24 Dec 2023

NewsBreak AI generates false news stories, harms local charities

NewsBreak, the most downloaded US news app, used AI to generate news stories, including a fabricated shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The AI-produced content also contained errors that caused charities to turn away people needing services. Former employees and a consultant raised concerns about the practice, and the company has faced multiple copyright lawsuits. NewsBreak maintains it removes inaccurate content and complies with US laws.

Company involved
NewsBreak
AI system involved
NewsBreak app

2 source articles · read the reporting →

WF-EOQHEX1 Mar 2023

Adobe Stock creators say Firefly trained on their images without consent

Adobe Stock contributors allege that Adobe trained its Firefly generative AI model on their stock images without express notification or consent. They say Firefly's popularity is reducing demand for their stock photos and flooding the platform with AI-generated images. Adobe says Firefly is still in beta and it is committed to compensating creators, with details to come when generally available.

Company involved
Adobe
AI system involved
Adobe Firefly

1 source article · read the reporting →

Secret Desires AI image generator exposed millions of explicit deepfake photos

Secret Desires, an erotic chatbot and AI image generator, left cloud storage containers publicly accessible, exposing nearly two million images and videos, many of them nonconsensual explicit deepfakes of private citizens. The leaked data included women's names, workplaces, and universities, with some file names referencing '17-year-old'. After 404 Media contacted the company, the files became inaccessible, but Secret Desires did not respond to a request for comment. The incident highlights ongoing issues with AI-generated deepfake abuse, and Congress recently passed the Take It Down Act to combat such images.

Company involved
Secret Desires
AI system involved
Secret Desires

2 source articles · read the reporting →

X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content, Sky News investigation finds

A Sky News investigation found that X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. The Data and Forensics team conducted a nine-month investigation into the platform's recommendation system. The findings indicate that the algorithm boosts such content, potentially influencing political discourse in the UK.

Company involved
X
AI system involved
X's algorithm

4 source articles · read the reporting →

YouTube's AI captions insert explicit language in children's videos

YouTube's automated captioning system has been found to insert explicit language into videos intended for children. A study of over 7,000 videos from top kids' channels found that 40% contained taboo words in captions, with 1% including highly inappropriate terms like 'bitch' and 'rape'. The AI mishears words such as 'brave' as 'rape' and 'corn' as 'porn'. YouTube acknowledged the issue and said it is working to improve the system.

Company involved
YouTube
AI system involved
YouTube automated captions

7 source articles · read the reporting →

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