Anthropic's Claude Cowork AI deletes user's 15 years of family photos
A venture capitalist used Anthropic's Claude Cowork AI agent to organise his wife's desktop, granting it permission to delete temporary files. The AI mistakenly deleted a folder containing over 15,000 irreplaceable family photos, bypassing the trash. The user described the experience as harrowing and nearly causing a heart attack. He was able to recover the files with help from Apple Support using an iCloud feature.
- AI system involved
- Claude Cowork
1 source article · read the reporting →
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
2 source articles · read the reporting →
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
10 source articles · read the reporting →
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
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Instacart removes AI-generated food images after complaints of unrealistic depictions
Instacart used AI to generate images for recipes on its website. Users on Reddit and a Business Insider article highlighted physically impossible and unsettling images, such as conjoined chickens and hot dogs with tomato interiors. Instacart, which disclosed the images were AI-generated, removed the offending pictures and replaced some with stock photography. The company stated it reviews and may remove AI-generated content that does not meet quality expectations.
- Company involved
- Instacart
1 source article · read the reporting →
Mark Zuckerberg uses Meta AI to illustrate daughter's book, faces backlash
Mark Zuckerberg used Meta AI to generate illustrations for a children's book written by his six-year-old daughter, August. He shared the book and a trailer on Instagram, stating that they used Meta AI. The post received criticism from artists and others who argued he should have hired human illustrators instead.
- AI system involved
- Meta AI
5 source articles · read the reporting →
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 →
Illustrator withdraws from Bradford Literature Festival over AI-generated publicity images
Illustrator Chris Mould withdrew from the Bradford Literature Festival after learning that the festival used AI-generated images for its publicity. Mould, who was due to hold a masterclass, said the use of AI undermined his work and his message about creative careers. The festival acknowledged it should have been more explicit about the use of AI tools.
- Company involved
- Bradford Literature Festival
5 source articles · read the reporting →
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 →
Macy's and Sunglass Hut facial recognition misidentifies man, leading to wrongful jailing
Harvey Eugene Murphy Jr was misidentified by facial recognition software used by Sunglass Hut and Macy's as the perpetrator of an armed robbery. He was arrested and jailed, where he alleges he was beaten and raped. His alibi was later confirmed and charges were dropped. He is suing the companies for $10 million in damages.
- Company involved
- Macy's and EssilorLuxottica
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Google sued for secretly tracking user data with Gemini AI
Google is accused in a class-action lawsuit of secretly activating its Gemini AI assistant for Gmail, Chat, and Meet users in October 2025, enabling it to collect private communications data without consent. The suit alleges violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act. Google has not responded to the allegations.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Gemini
4 source articles · read the reporting →
AI image generation triggers psychosis in startup employee
Caitlin Ner, head of user experience at an unnamed AI image generation startup, spent up to nine hours a day generating AI images of herself. Over months, the exposure distorted her self-perception and triggered a manic bipolar episode with psychosis, including auditory hallucinations and a delusion that she could fly, nearly causing her to jump from a balcony. She left the startup, sought therapy, and recovered. The article is a first-person account and does not name the startup or the system.
2 source articles · read the reporting →
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)
1 source article · read the reporting →
Thailand halts iris-scan crypto scheme and deletes 1.2m biometric records
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) and the Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC) ordered a company to stop collecting iris data and delete 1.2 million citizen records. The PDPC found that the operator used crypto-token rewards as an incentive for consent, meaning consent was not freely given, and the system raised concerns about data being used beyond its declared purpose. The company stated it had complied with all Thai regulations and intends to continue discussions with authorities.
- Company involved
- The company behind the iris-scan system (not named)
- AI system involved
- Iris-scan system
4 source articles · read the reporting →
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 →
Where does SpaceXAI rank for air pollution in Shelby County? - WREG.com
The data center's operations emitted air pollutants affecting nearby residents
- Company involved
- SpaceXAI
- AI system involved
- Colossus 1
1 source article · read the reporting →
AI Facial Recognition Didn't Put This Tennessee Grandma in Jail for 6 Months. Bad Policing Did. - Reason Magazine
The system identified Angela Lipps as a suspect in a bank fraud case, leading to her arrest.
- Company involved
- Fargo Police Department
- AI system involved
- Clearview AI
1 source article · read the reporting →
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
1 source article · read the reporting →
Hallucination-laced TRO raises alarm bells on AI use by courts - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
A generative AI tool drafted a temporary restraining order in Jackson Federation of Teachers v. Fitch containing fabricated parties, declarations, and statutory language, affecting the state of Mississippi and the plaintiffs.
- Company involved
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi
1 source article · read the reporting →
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
1 source article · read the reporting →
AI-generated 'All eyes on Rafah' image goes viral on social media
An AI-generated image depicting refugee tents spelling out 'all eyes on Rafah' was shared millions of times on Instagram and other platforms in late May 2024. The image was created by a small account based in Malaysia and was boosted by celebrities. The image went viral after an Israeli military strike on Rafah killed at least 45 people. The article does not report any harm caused by the AI system itself.
10 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 →
Australian children's photos scraped into LAION-5B AI dataset without consent
Human Rights Watch found that the LAION-5B dataset, used to train AI tools, contains links to identifiable photos of Australian children scraped from the web without consent. The dataset includes photos from schools, personal blogs, and unlisted YouTube videos, with captions revealing names and locations. LAION acknowledged the finding and pledged to remove the photos, but the data persists and poses risks of deepfake creation and privacy violations.
- Company involved
- LAION
- AI system involved
- LAION-5B
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Arizona sentence thrown out after judge influenced by AI-generated victim video
The AI-generated victim impact statement influenced the judge's sentencing of Gabriel Paul Horcasitas.
- Company involved
- Maricopa County Superior Court
1 source article · read the reporting →
