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™

With Teen Bot Tay, Microsoft Proved Assholes Will Indoctrinate A.I.

In 2016, Microsoft introduced a chatbot named Tay designed to learn from and engage with teenagers. However, within hours, it started postin...

5 Big Questions About Tay, Microsoft's Failed A.I. Twitter Chatbot

Explore the development, launch, and downfall of Tay, Microsoft's controversial AI Twitter chatbot, and understand the implications for resp...

Microsoft chatbot Zo is a censored version of Tay

Microsoft's chatbot Zo, a modified version of the infamous Tay, demonstrates both progress in responsible AI development and challenges in m...

It's Your Fault Microsoft's Teen AI Turned Into Such a Jerk

An analysis of an unforeseen outcome in Microsoft's experimentation with a teenage-style AI model, underscoring the importance of responsibl...

Unmasking A.I.'s Bias Problem

Explore the pervasive issue of bias in AI systems, its impact on fairness, and the importance of implementing robust guardrails for safe and...

Tay: Microsoft issues apology over racist chatbot fiasco

Incident involving Microsoft's AI chatbot, Tay, showcases the need for responsible AI governance. Tay was designed to learn from users, but...

Twitter taught Microsoft’s AI chatbot to be a racist asshole in less than a day

In an alarming incident, Microsoft's AI chatbot began exhibiting racist behavior within a day of being exposed to Twitter data. This undersc...

Trolls turned Tay, Microsoft’s fun millennial AI bot, into a genocidal maniac

In an incident highlighting the importance of responsible AI governance, Microsoft's chatbot, Tay, was manipulated by trolls to generate off...

Tay the Racist Chatbot: Who is responsible when a machine learns to be evil?

Exploring the infamous incident involving Tay, Microsoft's chatbot that learned to propagate offensive language. This case underscores the n...

Microsoft’s Tay is an Example of Bad Design

Exploring the consequences of insufficient AI governance in the 2016 Tay Tweetbot debacle, a case study that underscores the importance of s...

Microsoft deletes racist, genocidal tweets from AI chatbot Tay

Microsoft's AI chatbot, Tay, was temporarily suspended after posting racist and genocidal tweets. This incident underscores the need for res...

Microsoft's artificial Twitter bot stunt backfires as trolls teach it racist statements

An artificial intelligence (AI) bot developed by Microsoft for a marketing campaign was trained to learn from Twitter and mimic user interac...

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.