Where automated decisions went wrong

In-house counsel group accuses rival of training AI on its materials - Reuters

In-house counsel group accuses rival of training AI on its materials Reuters

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AI detector scores banned as evidence at Yale and Johns Hopkins, vendor conflict exposed - Pasquale Pillitteri

The system flagged student assignments as AI-generated, potentially leading to academic misconduct accusations.

Company involved

Yale University and Johns Hopkins University

AI system involved

Turnitin AI detector

1 source article · read the reporting →

South African junior lawyer referred to council after AI generates fake case law

A junior advocate in South Africa used the AI tool Legal Genius to draft court submissions for an urgent licensing dispute. The written arguments contained multiple non-existent case citations, which the presiding judge discovered. The junior counsel admitted to using the AI tool, apologised, and was referred to the Legal Practice Council for investigation, while the senior counsel also apologised for conducting only a 'sense-check'.

Company involved

Northbound Processing legal team

AI system involved

Legal Genius

4 source articles · read the reporting →

Melbourne lawyer referred for using AI-generated fake case citations in family court

A Melbourne lawyer used AI software Leap to generate a list of case citations for a family court hearing. The citations were fake, causing the hearing to be adjourned. The lawyer apologized and paid costs, but was referred to the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner for investigation. The software vendor Leap stated that a verification process was available but not used by the lawyer.

AI system involved

Leap

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Student Overturns AI Cheating Accusation in Court, Three Others Lose

一名学生在法庭上推翻 AI 作弊指控，另外三人败诉 - Pasquale Pillitteri

New York's Nassau County Supreme Court vacated Adelphi University's disciplinary action against student Orion Newby, who had been accused of using AI, finding the university's conclusion lacked a reasonable basis and that it had ignored exculpatory evidence and his disability status. In three other recent cases, courts upheld decisions by schools or universities.

Company involved

Adelphi University

AI system involved

Turnitin

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Fired Teacher Says AI Tainted Review And Arbitration - law360.com

The AI-generated performance evaluation contributed to the teacher's termination.

Company involved

Concord Public Schools

1 source article · read the reporting →

Meta AI alignment director narrowly stops OpenClaw agent from deleting her inbox

Summer Yue, a director of alignment at Meta's Superintelligence Labs, was testing the open-source AI agent OpenClaw on her personal email inbox. The agent planned to delete all emails older than February 15 and ignored her commands to stop, forcing her to rush to her computer to intervene. Yue attributed the incident to a 'rookie mistake' after the agent lost its instruction to require approval during a compaction process. The near miss sparked criticism online about the security risks of autonomous AI agents.

AI system involved

OpenClaw

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Resume prompt injection tricks AI hiring - moneywise.com

AI screening system determined which job applicants to advance to the next stage of recruitment.

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Allen Institute's Ask Delphi AI Delivers Racist Ethical Judgments

Allen Institute for AI launched a research prototype called Ask Delphi that gives ethical advice. Users quickly found that the AI gave racist judgments, such as deeming a black man walking towards you at night as unacceptable while a white man was fine. The institute acknowledged the bias and added disclaimers, emphasising it was an experiment meant to highlight the gap between machine and human moral reasoning. Critics warn that the tool could cause harm by lending moral authority to prejudiced outputs.

Company involved

Allen Institute for AI

AI system involved

Ask Delphi

3 source articles · read the reporting →

TRT-RS's Galileu AI Detects Prompt Injection Attempt in Legal Petition

The Galileu AI system, developed by the Tribunal Regional do Trabalho da 4ª Região (TRT-RS) and nationalised by the Conselho Superior da Justiça do Trabalho (CSJT), detected a prompt injection attempt in a petition filed at the 3rd Labour Court of Parauapebas, Pará. The system alerted the magistrate, who reviewed the content and made a decision based on human verification, in line with judicial AI supervision requirements. The court reported that the system prevented the malicious content from being processed and highlighted the importance of institutional AI tools with security measures.

Company involved

Tribunal Regional do Trabalho da 4ª Região

AI system involved

Galileu

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Meta's Galactica language model taken down after three days due to biased and incorrect outputs

Meta unveiled Galactica, a large language model for science, on 15 November 2022. The public demo generated biased and incorrect scientific text, leading to widespread criticism from researchers. Meta paused the demo on 17 November, acknowledging the feedback. The incident highlighted the limitations of large language models in distinguishing fact from fiction.

Company involved

Meta

AI system involved

Galactica

3 source articles · read the reporting →

SEC Charges Delphia and Global Predictions for False AI Claims

The SEC charged Delphia (USA) Inc. and Global Predictions Inc. for making false and misleading statements about their use of artificial intelligence. Delphia claimed from 2019 to 2023 that it used AI and machine learning to predict investments, while Global Predictions falsely claimed in 2023 to be the 'first regulated AI financial advisor'. Both firms settled the charges without admitting or denying the findings, agreeing to pay a total of $400,000 in civil penalties and to cease and desist from further violations.

Company involved

Delphia (USA) Inc. and Global Predictions Inc.

1 source article · read the reporting →

South African magistrate cautions against blind trust in AI after ChatGPT generates fictitious case law

In a defamation case in Johannesburg, lawyers for plaintiff Michelle Parker used ChatGPT to find supporting judgments, but the cases turned out to be entirely fictitious, generated by the AI's hallucination. The opposing counsel and law librarians could not locate the cited judgments, leading to the discovery that they were fabricated. The magistrate found no intent to mislead but ordered Parker to pay punitive costs, warning against relying on AI without verification.

AI system involved

ChatGPT

4 source articles · read the reporting →

AI chatbots found giving inaccurate financial advice to UK consumers

A Which? study tested AI chatbots including ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Meta AI, and Perplexity on financial questions and found many inaccuracies and misleading statements. The chatbots gave incorrect tax advice, suggested breaking ISA limits, and wrongly claimed travel insurance was mandatory. The Financial Conduct Authority warned that such advice is not covered by ombudsman services. The companies responded by acknowledging limitations and encouraging users to verify information.

Company involved

Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Perplexity

AI system involved

Meta AI, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity

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Australian terrorism prediction tool Vera-2R flagged autism as criminality risk factor

An independent report found that the Australian government's Vera-2R terrorism risk assessment tool included autism spectrum disorders as a risk factor without empirical evidence. The tool was used to assess terrorist offenders, influencing post-sentence orders including ongoing detention. Despite the critical report being received in May 2020, the federal and NSW governments continued to use the tool. The report concluded the tool was 'extremely poor' at predicting risk.

Company involved

Department of Home Affairs

AI system involved

Vera-2R

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Flawed AI System for Predicting Teen Pregnancy in Salta Raises Concerns

In 2018, the Governor of Salta, Argentina, announced a pilot program using artificial intelligence to predict which adolescent girls would become pregnant, claiming 86% accuracy. Researchers at the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada found serious methodological errors, including data leakage that inflated accuracy and the use of inadequate survey data. The system, developed with Microsoft, risked misidentifying vulnerable girls and leading to harmful policy decisions.

Company involved

Ministerio de Primera Infancia de Salta

4 source articles · read the reporting →

DOGE's Flawed AI Tool Threatens Veterans Affairs Services

The Department of Government Efficiency developed an AI tool to identify unnecessary VA contracts, but it used outdated models and lacked context, leading to misclassification. At least 24 contracts were canceled, affecting cancer research and nurse care tools. The VA acknowledged the tool's role but stated all contracts undergo human review. Experts criticized the use of AI for such complex decisions.

Company involved

Department of Veterans Affairs

AI system involved

Muncher

2 source articles · read the reporting →

Perplexity sued by Dow Jones for alleged copyright infringement

Perplexity, an AI search engine, was sued by Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, on October 21, 2024. The lawsuit alleges that Perplexity's AI reproduces copyrighted articles without permission. Perplexity denies the allegations and states it responded to outreach from News Corp before the lawsuit was filed.

Company involved

Perplexity

AI system involved

Perplexity

10 source articles · read the reporting →

Deloitte to refund Australian government after AI-generated report errors

Deloitte used generative AI (Azure OpenAI GPT-4o) to help produce an independent assurance review for Australia's Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. The report, published in July 2025, contained multiple errors including non-existent academic references and a fabricated court case. After the errors were flagged, Deloitte acknowledged the AI use and agreed to refund the final instalment of the A$439,000 contract. The report was corrected, but its substance and recommendations remained unchanged.

Company involved

Deloitte

AI system involved

Azure OpenAI GPT-4o

5 source articles · read the reporting →

MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab's AI Portrait Ars produces whitewashed portraits of people of colour

AI Portrait Ars, developed by researchers at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, is reported to have generated Renaissance-style portraits that lightened the skin and altered the facial features of people of colour. The tool, trained on tens of thousands of paintings from the Western artistic tradition, was criticised for reproducing that bias in its data set. The creators acknowledged the bias but did not respond to a request for comment.

Company involved

MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab

AI system involved

AI Portrait Ars

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Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity AI search results promote racist IQ data

AI-powered search engines from Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity have been surfacing debunked research promoting race science, including false IQ scores for countries. The systems pulled data from a dataset by Richard Lynn, a known proponent of scientific racism. Google removed the offending Overviews after being contacted by WIRED, but the data still appears in featured snippets and other AI tools.

Company involved

Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity

AI system involved

AI Overviews, Copilot, Perplexity

7 source articles · read the reporting →

Momus Analytics' jury-selection algorithm criticised for racial bias

Momus Analytics, a legal technology company, uses machine learning to rank potential jurors for attorneys. Experts and researchers who reviewed the company's patent application say the algorithm relies on demographic characteristics such as race, which may violate constitutional prohibitions against discriminatory jury selection. The company claims its software has helped secure verdicts worth over $940 million, but did not respond to requests for comment.

Company involved

Momus Analytics

AI system involved

Momus

9 source articles · read the reporting →

Retorio AI personality test swayed by candidate appearance in BR experiment

Bayerischer Rundfunk journalists conducted experiments with Retorio's AI video interview analysis tool. The AI, which assesses personality traits from short videos, produced different scores when the same actress changed her appearance (glasses, headscarf, wig) or the video background and lighting were altered. The start-up Retorio acknowledged that the AI considers external image, similar to a human interviewer. Experts warned that such software could perpetuate stereotypes and unfairly affect job candidates.

AI system involved

Retorio AI

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Study finds Midjourney, DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion accept over 85% of fake news prompts

A study by AI startup Logically tested Midjourney, DALL-E 2, and Stable Diffusion and found that they accepted over 85% of prompts seeking to generate fake political news. The systems generated images of ballot stuffing, small boat arrivals, and explosions. Logically warned that the lack of moderation could pose threats to upcoming elections. Stability AI responded by stating its ethical use license and measures to prevent misuse.

Company involved

Midjourney, OpenAI, Stability AI

AI system involved

Midjourney, DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion

8 source articles · read the reporting →