Facebook’s On-This-Day Feature Mistakenly Showed Painful Memories to Users

March 24, 2015

Facebook's 'On This Day' algorithm, intended to revisit cherished moments, inadvertently resurfaced distressing personal memories for some users. Highlighting the need for trustworthy AI, this incident underscores the importance of guardrails and governance in AI systems. By mapping such instances to HISPI Project Cerebellum TAIM (Measure function), we can foster a safer and more secure digital environment. For those interested in shaping responsible AI practices, JOIN US. Together, let's ensure that our AI is not just intelligent, but also trustworthy.

Matched TAIM controls

Suggested mapping from embedding similarity (not a formal assessment). Browse all TAIM controls

MEASURE 2.6 — similarity 0.706, rank 1. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MEASURE 2.7 — similarity 0.672, rank 2. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MEASURE 4.2 — similarity 0.672, rank 3. TAIM detail and related incidents →

Alleged deployer: facebook
Alleged developer: facebook
Alleged harmed parties: facebook-users-having-posts-about-painful-events, facebook-users

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/327

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.