Values Statement: We believe AI should cause no harm, but enhance the quality of human life, by proactively adopting our AI Governance framework.

Evidence-based Transparent For governance

AI Incidents

TAIM catalog Map Data source & citation Failure Files™

Three Robots Collided, Sparking Fire in a Grocer's Warehouse in UK

Jul 16, 2021

A startling incident occurred at an Ocado's warehouse in Erith, UK, where a collision between three robots triggered a fire. Thankfully, the...

SoftBank's Humanoid Robot, Pepper, Reportedly Frequently Made Errors, Prompting Dismissal

Jul 13, 2021

SoftBank's humanoid robot, Pepper, has reportedly encountered various mechanical issues such as frequent errors, unexpected downtime, inabil...

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Failed to Proactively Remove Targeted Racist Remarks via Automated Systems

Jul 11, 2021

Major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, failed proactively to eradicate targeted racist remarks following...

Skating Rink’s Facial Recognition Cameras Misidentified Black Teenager as Banned Troublemaker

Jul 10, 2021

A teenager was wrongly barred from a roller skating rink in Livonia, Michigan due to misidentification by the venue's facial recognition cam...

Coupang Allegedly Tweaked Search Algorithms to Boost Own Products

Jul 4, 2021

Coupang, a leading Korean e-commerce platform, has faced allegations of tampering its search algorithms to prioritize exposure of its own pr...

Algorithmic Allocation of Resources in Healthcare for Disabled and Elderly Care Services Allegedly Harmed Patients

Jul 2, 2021

A controversial healthcare algorithm, intended to fairly distribute caregiving resources, inadvertently reduced care hours significantly for...

Hiring Algorithms Provided Invalid Positive Results for Interview Responses in German

Jul 1, 2021

Two AI-powered interview software packages issued misleading positive evaluations for responses given in German, erroneously indicating prof...

GitHub Copilot, Copyright Infringement and Open Source Licensing

Jun 29, 2021

GitHub Copilot is implicated in potential copyright infringements due to users failing to attribute and license source code correctly. This...

Maryland Police Allegedly Relied on Facial Recognition Lead in Wrongful Arrest and Detention of Kimberlee Williams

Jun 23, 2021

Kimberlee Williams, residing in Oklahoma, was allegedly arrested on Maryland warrants due to a misleading facial recognition identification....

State Farm Allegedly Discriminated against Black Customers in Claim Payout

Jun 12, 2021

State Farm's automated insurance claim processing system is accused in a class action lawsuit of exhibiting bias towards Black policyholders...

Kannada Insulted by Google's Featured Answer as "Ugliest Language in India"

Jun 3, 2021

Google's knowledge-graph-powered algorithm, a key component of its featured Answer Box, has sparked outrage for displaying the label 'uglies...

McDonald's Reportedly Ends IBM Partnership After AI Drive-Thru Ordering Errors at U.S. Locations

Jun 2, 2021

Between 2021 and mid-2024, McDonald’s piloted an AI-powered voice ordering system developed with IBM, based on its 2019 acquisition of Appre...

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.