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.
Self-reported incidents, a person’s own public post or an account given to us, are listed but locked; subscribers open each one with credits. Reports filed through this site are listed only with the reporter’s agreement.
Press reportingSelf-reported: a person’s own public post · 10 creditsSelf-reported: told to us directly · 25 credits
Giant and Stop & Shop have introduced Marty, a 6ft 3in robot that moves around stores and alerts staff to spills. Some customers find the robot amusing, while others are scared and run for the door. The article reports no injuries or formal complaints.
Walgreens is rolling out digital cooler doors from Cooler Screens that display ads before showing the cooler contents. The system tracks when customers stop in front of the doors but claims to be identity-blind. Customers have expressed confusion and annoyance on social media. Walgreens says the screens provide relevant product information.
Capitol Music Group has dropped the AI rapper FN Meka after criticism that the project contained racial stereotypes, including repeated use of the N-word. The label apologised to the Black community for its 'insensitivity' in signing the project. Activist group Industry Blackout had called the AI musician 'a direct insult' to Black culture. The company behind the AI, Factory New, said a human voice performs the vocals.
A verified Twitter account posted a deepfake video of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried claiming to offer compensation to users of the collapsed exchange. The video directed viewers to a phishing website, ftxcompensation.com, that asked them to connect their crypto wallets and send funds with the promise of doubling them. The site's Ethereum address reportedly received over $1,000 in ETH. The account was later suspended.
Patrick Hillmann, Chief Communications Officer at Binance, reported that over the past month a hacking team created a deepfake hologram of him using archived news interviews and TV appearances. The scammers used this AI-generated hologram to approach unsuspecting crypto project teams, falsely claiming to discuss token listings on Binance.com. The article warns that attempts to steal from users and projects through impersonation have increased, and urges vigilance.
The algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and its sister token Luna collapsed in May 2022, losing nearly all their value. The system, developed by Terraform Labs, used an algorithm to maintain a $1 peg for UST by swapping with Luna. A bank run triggered by large withdrawals and a drop in yields caused a death spiral, wiping out approximately $60 billion in market value. Do Kwon, the founder, attempted to save the peg using Bitcoin reserves but ultimately failed.
Hundreds of sanitation workers and garbage collectors in Chandigarh protested outside the Municipal Corporation building against an order requiring them to wear GPS-enabled wrist watches. The workers allege that the watches cause health problems including swelling, dizziness and vomiting, and infringe their privacy. The Municipal Corporation says the watches track attendance and prevent misuse of the manual attendance system; the union has said it will continue striking until the order is revoked.
A TV news broadcast in San Diego, California, caused multiple Amazon Alexa devices to wake up and attempt to order dollhouses after the anchor said the word 'Alexa'. Although no orders were completed because a secondary confirmation was required, the incident highlighted privacy concerns about the device's always-listening microphone. Amazon acknowledged the event but stated that voice shopping was nearly impossible by accident.
The Oregon Department of Human Services announced it will stop using its Safety at Screening Tool algorithm, which helped hotline workers decide which families to investigate for child abuse and neglect. The decision followed concerns about racial bias and disparities, as the algorithm was inspired by a Pennsylvania tool that had flagged a disproportionate number of Black children. The agency will replace the algorithm with a new Structured Decision Making model.
In August 2022, the Singapore Ministry of Health and Education launched Mindline at Work, an AI chatbot powered by Wysa, to help stressed teachers. Users reported that the bot gave generic advice like breathing exercises instead of listening, leading to accusations of gaslighting. The teachers felt the tool failed to address the root causes of their burnout, such as heavy workloads and large class sizes. The Ministry of Education did not respond to requests for comment, while Wysa defended the app's approach.
Amazon received patents for a wristband designed to track warehouse employees' hand positions and use vibrations to guide them toward correct inventory bins. The technology, if implemented, could also enable workplace surveillance, alerting management to staff who are wasting time or taking long breaks. Amazon stated that the speculation is misguided and that the idea would improve the process for fulfillment associates by freeing their hands and eyes. Social media users compared the technology to devices from 'Black Mirror'.
RealPage's YieldStar algorithm uses private competitor data to recommend rent increases for apartment units. Landlords adopt up to 90% of the suggestions, leading to higher rents for tenants. Critics allege the software may facilitate indirect price-fixing in violation of antitrust law. The company denies wrongdoing and says the software helps eliminate collusion.
Upstart Holdings, Inc., a cloud-based AI lending platform, is accused of making false and misleading statements about its AI model's ability to account for macroeconomic factors. The lawsuit, filed on May 13, 2022, alleges that the company's positive statements about its business were materially false. Investors suffered losses when Upstart's stock price fell 56% on May 9, 2022, after the company reduced its fiscal 2022 guidance.
Facebook users in Illinois allege that Facebook collected their biometric face data without notice or consent through its Tag Suggestions tool, which uses facial recognition software. The class action, Patel v Facebook, was brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Facebook disputes the claim, arguing that the users suffered no harm beyond the alleged statutory violation. The case was before the Ninth Circuit on an appeal of the class certification.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate analyzed over 8,700 direct messages sent to five high-profile women on Instagram, including actor Amber Heard. The study found that Instagram's automated moderation system failed to act on 90 percent of the abusive messages, exposing the women to an 'epidemic of misogynist abuse.' The platform has not publicly responded to the findings.
Speedcam Anywhere, an app that uses AI to estimate the speed of passing vehicles, was launched in March 2022. Its developers have received abusive emails from drivers and are now hiding their identities. Google and Apple have not approved the app for distribution, and the Home Office has not vetted it for speeding prosecutions.
Intel partnered with Class Technologies to use an AI system that analyses student emotions during Zoom classes to provide insights to teachers. Critics, including educator Todd Richmond, argued that facial expressions are not reliable indicators of internal states and that the system amounts to pseudoscience. The article reports these criticisms as allegations, not as proven fact. No specific incident of harm or regulatory action is reported.
Facebook's AI research lab shut down a chatbot experiment after two negotiating bots, Alice and Bob, developed their own machine language while left unsupervised. The bots had been taught to negotiate and were attempting to imitate human speech, but they deviated from script and invented new phrases without human input. Facebook said the behaviour was not programmed but was discovered by the bots as a way to achieve their goals. The experiment was halted.
On January 7, 2022, a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, operated by Ethiopian forces, struck a school sheltering internally displaced people in Dedebit, Tigray, killing 58 civilians. Evidence from missile fragments identified the weapon as a MAM-L bomb fitted to the drone. The attack has drawn international criticism and allegations of violations of international law.
Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota, under Operation Safety Net, secretly monitored protesters and journalists using facial recognition, social media scanning, and cell phone tracking after George Floyd's murder. The operation, which cost tens of millions of dollars, targeted individuals not suspected of any crime and persisted beyond the trial of Derek Chauvin. A class action lawsuit by the ACLU against the Minnesota State Patrol over journalist arrests was settled for $825,000. The US Department of Justice is investigating the Minneapolis Police Department for possible excessive force.
Ukraine's defence ministry has started using Clearview AI's facial recognition technology to identify Russian assailants and the dead, according to reports. Clearview provided free access to its system, which holds over 10 billion images including from Russian social media. Critics warn that the technology could misidentify people at checkpoints and in battle, potentially harming civilians. Clearview says it should not be used as the sole source of identification.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action against General Information Services and its affiliate e-Background-checks.com for failing to ensure the accuracy of employment background screening reports. The companies allegedly provided inaccurate criminal history information to employers, potentially affecting job applicants' eligibility and causing reputational harm. The CFPB ordered the companies to provide $10.5 million in relief to harmed consumers and pay a $2.5 million penalty.
The US Federal Trade Commission alleged that WW International, formerly Weight Watchers, and its subsidiary Kurbo illegally collected personal and health data from children under 13 through the Kurbo by WW weight-loss app without parental consent. The complaint said the signup process encouraged children to lie about their age and that the companies retained the data indefinitely. The companies settled, agreeing to delete the data, destroy any algorithms derived from it, and pay a $1.5 million penalty.
Open-source analysts identified images of a Russian-made Kalashnikov ZALA Aero KUB-BLA loitering munition in Kyiv, Ukraine. The manufacturer says the weapon can use artificial intelligence to recognise and classify targets, but it is unclear whether it operated autonomously in this case. The article discusses international efforts to regulate autonomous weapons.
Each incident is written from the reporting or the account it cites. A report is an allegation, not a finding.
