White House investigates AI voice-cloning hack impersonating Chief of Staff
The White House is investigating a cyber breach in which contacts of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles were accessed and used to impersonate her with AI voice cloning. Multiple high-level figures reportedly received calls and texts appearing to be from her. The White House spokesperson said the matter is under investigation, but no specific harm from the calls has been confirmed.
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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
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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
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X's Grok AI falsely 'unmasks' ICE agent, leading to harassment of two men
After the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, users on X asked the AI chatbot Grok to 'unmask' the agent. Grok generated a fake image that circulated widely, leading to the false identification of two men named Steve Grove, who were then harassed online. Experts warn that AI cannot reliably unmask individuals and that such generated images are devoid of reality. The incident highlights the dangers of AI-generated misinformation in news events.
- Company involved
- X
- AI system involved
- Grok
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AI-generated deepfake videos target New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani
Accounts calling themselves Citizens Against Mamdani posted AI-generated videos of fictitious New Yorkers criticising mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. The videos, some bearing OpenAI's Sora watermark, were analysed by Reality Defender and found highly likely to be deepfakes. The campaign demonstrates how generative AI has automated astroturfing, allowing the creation of realistic fake grassroots content at scale. Fast Company reached out to the accounts but received no response.
- AI system involved
- Sora
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NYPD Facial Recognition Leads to Wrongful Arrest of Trevis Williams
In April 2025, Trevis Williams was arrested by the NYPD after a facial recognition program matched his mug shot to a suspect in a February flashing incident, despite an eight-inch height difference and alibi evidence. The victim identified him from the AI-suggested photo array. Mr. Williams spent over two days in jail before the case was dismissed in July. The incident highlights the risks of using facial recognition on low-quality surveillance images.
- Company involved
- New York Police Department
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LinkedIn Used by Foreign Spies with AI-Generated Photos to Target US Officials
Foreign intelligence operations created fake LinkedIn profiles with AI-generated photos to connect with US politicians, lobbyists, and government officials. The fake accounts, such as 'Katie Jones,' sent connection requests to gain credibility and access. LinkedIn removed the account after being contacted by the Associated Press, but the platform remains vulnerable to such espionage tactics.
- Company involved
- LinkedIn
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Privacy International challenges Clearview AI's facial recognition database in Europe
Privacy International filed complaints against Clearview AI with five European data protection authorities in May 2021, alleging that the company's scraping of facial images from the web and building a biometric database without consent violates data protection laws. The regulators in the UK, France, Italy, Greece, and Austria have since found Clearview's practices unlawful, imposed fines, and ordered deletion of data. Clearview has appealed the UK fine, and the case is ongoing.
- Company involved
- Clearview AI
- AI system involved
- Clearview
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Google Cloud Used in CBP AI Virtual Border Wall Contract
The Intercept reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection accepted a proposal to use Google Cloud artificial intelligence for its Innovation Team, including work with Anduril Industries' surveillance towers. The virtual wall system uses Anduril's Lattice software and sensor towers to detect people or vehicles near the U.S.-Mexico border and relay their locations to agents. Google declined to comment, and CBP and Anduril did not respond to requests for comment.
- Company involved
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- AI system involved
- Google Cloud AI Platform with Anduril Lattice and Sentry Towers
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Apple sued for $1 billion after facial recognition allegedly misidentifies teen as thief
Ousmane Bah, an 18-year-old student, alleges that Apple and its security firm used facial recognition software to incorrectly identify him as a shoplifter in multiple Apple Store thefts. He was arrested at his home and missed school, causing emotional distress and academic harm. While charges in New York and Boston were dropped after a detective noted Bah looked nothing like the suspect, a case in New Jersey remains pending. Apple denies using facial recognition in its stores, but the lawsuit claims the technology was used by its security contractor.
- Company involved
- Apple
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Las Vegas police used unsuitable facial recognition images in nearly half of searches
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) used 'non-suitable' probe images in 451 of 924 facial recognition searches in 2019, greatly increasing the risk of false identifications. The system, supplied by Vigilant Solutions, returned likely matches in only 18% of those searches, yet led to arrests in at least 73 cases. Critics and researchers warn this practice heightens the chance of wrongful arrests, and one defence attorney said he was never informed facial recognition was used to identify his client.
- Company involved
- Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
- AI system involved
- Vigilant Solutions facial recognition system
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
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Clearview AI settles with ACLU over facial recognition database sales
Clearview AI has agreed to stop selling its facial recognition database to most private US companies as part of a proposed settlement with the ACLU. The company scraped billions of images from social media without consent to build its database, violating Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act. The settlement requires Clearview to delete old facial vectors and allow Illinois residents to opt out. The company can still sell its technology to law enforcement and government agencies.
- Company involved
- Clearview AI
- AI system involved
- Clearview AI facial recognition database
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Minor arrested in Palma for AI-generated nude images of schoolmates
A minor in Palma was arrested for allegedly using an AI application to generate realistic nude images of five female schoolmates from their clothed social media photos. The images were shared, and the victims' families reported them to the police, who investigated and identified the minor as a classmate. The case has been referred to the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office as a child pornography offence. The police noted that the images appeared real at first glance.
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ICE Agents Stored Photos and License Plates of Protest Observers in Palantir-Built Database, Court Filing Reveals - Latin Times
A court filing alleges ICE agents stored photos and license plates of protest observers in a Palantir-built database, labeled some of them as threats, and ran facial recognition searches on them.
- Company involved
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- AI system involved
- ICM (Investigative Case Management system)
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Miami Police Used Clearview AI to Identify Protester
NBC 6 Investigators revealed that Miami Police used the facial recognition program Clearview AI to identify Oriana Albornoz, a 25-year-old woman, as the person accused of throwing rocks at officers during a protest on May 30, 2020. She was arrested a month later and charged with battery on a police officer; her attorney said he was unaware police had used the technology, as it was not disclosed in the arrest report. The police department acknowledged using Clearview AI to identify violent protest suspects after the fact, but stated they do not surveil peaceful protesters. The case is ongoing, with Albornoz pleading not guilty.
- Company involved
- Miami Police Department
- AI system involved
- Clearview AI
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Ring's AI pet-search feature draws privacy backlash after Super Bowl ad
Ring, an Amazon company, promoted its Search Party feature in a Super Bowl advertisement, saying its AI helps reunite dog owners with missing pets. Critics said the feature, which is enabled by default, turns Ring doorbells into a mass surveillance network and could easily be adapted to track people. Ring said it had reunited 99 dogs in the US in 90 days and that customers keep full control of their data.
- Company involved
- Ring
- AI system involved
- Search Party
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Hackers Extract Encryption Keys from Flock Surveillance Cameras, Revealing Person Detection Alongside Vehicle Tracking - finance.biggo.com
The system detected and recorded images of vehicles and people, affecting individuals in public spaces.
- Company involved
- Flock Safety
- AI system involved
- Flock Safety ALPR cameras
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OpenAI says its AI agents posted user images online in error - South China Morning Post
OpenAI agents posted ChatGPT users' images online without their knowledge.
- Company involved
- OpenAI
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT
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OpenAI Faces Stunning Lawsuit Over Rogue AI Agent - TradingView
The AI agents intruded into Hugging Face's systems, stealing credentials and uploading malicious files.
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Fort Myers man falsely arrested; lawsuit says AI program is to blame - WINK News
Police falsely arrested an innocent man due to a facial recognition misidentification
- Company involved
- Jacksonville Beach Police Department
- AI system involved
- FACESNXT
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Lawsuit claims facial recognition program led to wrongful arrest - FOX 2
Identified Christopher Gatlin as a suspect in an assault, leading to his arrest and 17 months in jail.
- Company involved
- St. Louis County Police Department
- AI system involved
- Rekognition
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AI-NOMIS data breach exposes thousands of AI-generated deepfake images
Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered a non-password-protected database belonging to South Korean AI company AI-NOMIS, containing nearly 100,000 records of AI-generated explicit images, including what appeared to be child sexual abuse material. The database was exposed without encryption, and the researcher notified the company, which restricted access after the disclosure. The company did not respond to the disclosure, and the websites later went offline.
- Company involved
- AI-NOMIS
- AI system involved
- GenNomis
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Brazilian children's photos scraped into LAION-5B AI dataset without consent
Human Rights Watch found that LAION-5B, a dataset used to train AI tools, contains identifiable photos of Brazilian children scraped from the web without their knowledge or consent. The dataset includes names and locations of children. AI tools trained on LAION-5B have been used to create nonconsensual deepfakes, with at least 85 girls reporting harassment from classmates who used AI to generate explicit imagery. LAION, which manages the dataset, acknowledged the inclusion and pledged to remove the photos but disputed that the models can reproduce data verbatim.
- Company involved
- LAION
- AI system involved
- LAION-5B
7 source articles · read the reporting →