Our World
in Data
Oxford Martin School logoUniversity of Oxford logoGlobal Change Data Lab logo

Global annual number of reported artificial intelligence incidents and controversies

Notable incidents include a “deepfake” video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surrendering, and U.S. prisons using AI to monitor their inmates’calls.

2012202420132014201520162017201820192020202120222023050100150200250
Data

Global annual number of reported artificial intelligence incidents and controversies

See all data and research on:
Artificial Intelligence

What you should know about this indicator

  • The AI Incident Database (AIID) tracks cases of ethical misuse of AI, such as fatal accidents or wrongful arrests caused by AI systems.
  • It relies on public media reports, so the actual number of incidents is likely underreported.
  • In 2024, there was active discussion around how to define and track “serious” incidents, but no agreed standard has emerged.
  • These conversations highlight the need for better reporting to more accurately document AI-related risks and their consequences.
  • The number of AI incidents is continuously updated, including for past years, so the numbers reported here may differ from the latest figures on the AI Incident Database.
Global annual number of reported artificial intelligence incidents and controversies
Notable incidents include a “deepfake” video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surrendering, and U.S. prisons using AI to monitor their inmates’ calls.
Source
AI Incident Database via AI Index (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
April 8, 2025
Next expected update
April 2026
Date range
2012–2024
Unit
incidents

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The AI Index Report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data related to artificial intelligence (AI). The mission is to provide unbiased, rigorously vetted, broadly sourced data to enable policymakers, researchers, executives, journalists, and the general public to develop a more thorough and nuanced understanding of the complex field of AI.

Retrieved on
April 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://hai-production.s3.amazonaws.com/files/hai_ai_index_report_2025.pdf
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Nestor Maslej, Loredana Fattorini, Raymond Perrault, Yolanda Gil, Vanessa Parli, Njenga Kariuki, Emily Capstick, Anka Reuel, Erik
Brynjolfsson, John Etchemendy, Katrina Ligett, Terah Lyons, James Manyika, Juan Carlos Niebles, Yoav Shoham, Russell Wald,
Tobi Walsh, Armin Hamrah, Lapo Santarlasci, Julia Betts Lotufo, Alexandra Rome, Andrew Shi, Sukrut Oak. “The AI Index 2025
Annual Report,” AI Index Steering Committee, Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, April 2025

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Global annual number of reported artificial intelligence incidents and controversies”, part of the following publication: Charlie Giattino, Edouard Mathieu, Veronika Samborska, and Max Roser (2023) - “Artificial Intelligence”. Data adapted from AI Incident Database via AI Index. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-reported-ai-incidents-controversies [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

AI Incident Database via AI Index (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

AI Incident Database via AI Index (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Global annual number of reported artificial intelligence incidents and controversies” [dataset]. AI Incident Database via AI Index, “AI Index Report” [original data]. Retrieved April 27, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-reported-ai-incidents-controversies

We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

By agreeing, you consent to our use of cookies and other analytics tools according to our privacy policy.