AI failures

What the cases show

16%

of verified failures name the organization’s own review or monitoring among those who found the error. In the rest, only outsiders are recorded: a court, a client, a journalist, a researcher or the people affected.

The control that was missing

Counted across the cases with a reviewed lesson. A case can lack more than one control. Choose one to see its cases.

1. Checking AI output against its sources37%
2. Testing before use35%
3. Monitoring and escalation19%
4. Controls over input data17%
5. A review that can actually catch the error17%
6. A named owner and disclosure of AI use13%
7. Oversight of suppliers' AI use13%
8. Limits on what the system may decide or commit to11%
9. Evidence behind claims about AI7%
10. A way for affected people to challenge the decision6%
11. Least access and separation from production4%
12. Confirming requests through a separate channel2%

Fabricated contentHarmful outputIncorrect automated decisionOtherMisrepresented AI capabilityModel failureUnauthorized commitmentAutonomous destructive actionData exposureIdentity deception

What the cases teach

• Findings reportMost Documented AI Failures Were Found by Someone ElseOf the 50+ AI and automation failures in the Eminence Scan record documented well enough to verify, as of October 2026, only 16% name the organization's own people among those who found the problem, and in all but one of those the output had already been acted on. Journalists, courts and the people affected found most of the rest.
• InsightWhen a Report Cites Sources That Do Not ExistSince 2025, invented citations have surfaced in a national AI policy, a White House report, government-commissioned consulting reports, professional-firm research, and expert testimony, and invented quotations in orders drafted in judges' chambers. Many had passed through review. Almost every time, someone outside found the problem.
• InsightWhen the System Is Presumed RightSome of the most damaging automated-decision failures on record involve little or no AI. Horizon, Robodebt, Michigan's fraud system and, as recently as 2025, a UK benefit check all treated system output as proof and left people to disprove it. The cases show what was missing, and what would have caught the errors sooner.
• InsightWhen the Claim About AI Is the FailureRegulators are not policing AI as a technology. They are policing what companies say it does. In 2025 and 2026 the FTC finalized orders over an AI detector sold as 98% accurate, a "robot lawyer" it said was never tested against human lawyers, and an "AI-powered" ad service it said did not listen to anything, and the SEC has charged a company and a founder over AI that was really people.

Where

WorldUnited States

Records12–45–910 or moreNone

International or several countries

SearchWhereEverywhereInternational or several countriesAustraliaCanadaDenmarkHong KongIndiaNew ZealandSaudi ArabiaUnited KingdomUnited States (all)CaliforniaFloridaIdahoMarylandMichiganMinnesotaMissouriNew YorkTexasWyomingType of failureAllFabricated contentHarmful outputIncorrect automated decisionOtherMisrepresented AI capabilityModel failureUnauthorized commitmentAutonomous destructive actionData exposureIdentity deceptionMissing controlAllChecking AI output against its sourcesTesting before useMonitoring and escalationControls over input dataA review that can actually catch the errorA named owner and disclosure of AI useOversight of suppliers' AI useLimits on what the system may decide or commit toEvidence behind claims about AIA way for affected people to challenge the decisionLeast access and separation from productionConfirming requests through a separate channelShow

Records that match

1. CanadaFabricated contentMay 14, 2026

   EY Canada — Loyalty-Fraud Report Withdrawn After GPTZero Finds Most References Hallucinated

   EY Canada's 44-page report 'Points of Attack: Uncovering Cyber Threats and Fraud in Loyalty Systems' (late 2025), credited to two partners and a senior manager, was examined by AI-detection company GPTZero, which found that most of its 27…

2. CanadaFabricated contentNovember 22, 2025

   Deloitte Canada — Fabricated Citations in C$1.6M Newfoundland and Labrador Health Workforce Plan

   Newfoundland and Labrador's Health Human Resources Plan, prepared by Deloitte and released by the province in May 2025 with workforce projections for 21 health occupations over ten years, cost the province about C$1.6 million.

3. CanadaFabricated contentOctober 1, 2025

   Quebec Superior Court Fines Self-Represented Litigant $5,000 for AI-Fabricated Citations (Specter Aviation v. Laprade)

   Jean Laprade, representing himself in opposing the Quebec homologation of a 2021 Paris arbitration award over an aircraft, filed a contestation that cited case law and expert quotations that do not exist and that he had produced with AI.

4. CanadaFabricated contentSeptember 26, 2025

   Reddy v Saroya: Alberta Court of Appeal holds lead counsel responsible for contractor's AI-fabricated citations

   In a civil-contempt appeal, the appellant's factum, drafted by a third-party contractor, cited cases that did not exist.

5. CanadaUnauthorized commitmentFebruary 14, 2024

   Air Canada Chatbot Misstates Bereavement Refund Policy — Tribunal Holds Airline Liable

   In November 2022, after a death in the family, Jake Moffatt used the chatbot on Air Canada's website while booking flights.

Using our research: you may read and quote Eminence Scan with credit to “Eminence Scan, Eminence Growth Solutions” and a link; all other rights reserved. Terms: Using our research.