{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-28T05:55:08.392Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"smart-speaker","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":2,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2019-flanders-google-assistant-recordings-leaked-by-contract-reviewer-some-captured-without-wake-word","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'VRT NWS was able to listen to more than a thousand excerpts recorded via Google Assistant'; 'In the aftermath of the Amazon case, we were able to talk to someone who works for a Google subcontractor'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'we partner with language experts around the world who understand the nuances and accents of a specific language'; 'one of these language reviewers has violated our data security policies by leaking confidential Dutch audio data'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Excerpts of audio recorded by Google Home speakers and the Google Assistant app were transcribed by contract language reviewers, and more than a thousand Dutch-language excerpts reached VRT NWS from someone working for a Google subcontractor.","causal_attribution":"Reported by VRT from its own access to the excerpts; Google confirms that a language reviewer leaked Dutch audio data."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'153 of which were conversations that should never have been recorded and during which the command ‘Okay Google’ was clearly not given.'; 'as soon as someone in the vicinity utters a word that sounds a bit like ’Okay Google’, Google Home starts to record.'; 'Most of these recordings were made consciously, but Google also listens to conversations that should never have been recorded'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"VRT says 153 of the excerpts were conversations in which the command \"Okay Google\" was clearly not given, recorded when the speaker reacted to words that sound like it; it says most of the recordings it heard were made consciously.","causal_attribution":"VRT's count from its own listening; Google does not give a count for the leaked set."},{"id":"c3","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Rarely, devices that have the Google Assistant built in may experience what we call a “false accept.”'; 'that our software interpreted to be the hotword'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Google says devices with the Assistant built in may rarely have a \"false accept\", when its software interprets background noise or words as the hotword.","causal_attribution":"The company's own published description of how its hotword detection can misfire."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In these recordings we could clearly hear addresses and other sensitive information. This made it easy for us to find the people involved and confront them with the audio recordings.'; 'We let ordinary Flemish people hear some of their own recordings.'; 'immediately recognise the voice of their son and their grandchild'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"VRT says it could hear addresses and other sensitive information in the recordings, found the people involved, and played them their recordings; one man recognised his own voice and a couple recognised the voices of their son and grandchild.","causal_attribution":"VRT's own account of identifying people from the leaked recordings."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'bedroom conversations, conversations between parents and their children, but also blazing rows and professional phone calls containing lots of private information'; 'he heard a woman who was in definite distress'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"VRT describes unintended recordings of bedroom conversations, conversations between parents and children, rows and professional calls, and a reviewer who described a recording of a woman in definite distress.","causal_attribution":"VRT's description of the content, including a reviewer's account relayed by VRT."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'These are not linked to any personal or identifiable information'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Audio snippets are not associated with user accounts as part of the review process, and reviewers are directed not to transcribe background conversations or other noises'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Google said the excerpts reviewed were not linked to personal or identifiable information and that reviewers are directed not to transcribe background conversations.","causal_attribution":"Google's position, recorded as context to VRT's identification of people."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'taking the decision to manually suspend audio reviews of Google Assistant across the whole of Europe, and doing so on July 10, after learning of the data leak'; 'Google Ireland filed an Article 33 breach notification'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to TechCrunch, Google suspended manual reviews of Assistant audio across Europe on 10 July 2019 after learning of the leak, and Google Ireland filed a breach notification with the Irish Data Protection Commission.","causal_attribution":"Google's and the Irish regulator's statements as relayed by TechCrunch."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'begin an “urgency procedure” under Article 66'; 'have committed to the continued suspension of processing for a period of at least three months starting today (1 August)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to TechCrunch, the Hamburg data protection authority began an urgency procedure under Article 66 of the GDPR against the human reviews, and the Irish regulator said Google had committed to continue the suspension for at least three months from 1 August 2019.","causal_attribution":"Regulators' statements as relayed by TechCrunch; the Hamburg statement itself was not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"Private household recordings held by the Assistant service, some made without the wake phrase, leaked to journalists who identified people in them","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/07/10/google-employees-are-eavesdropping-even-in-flemish-living-rooms/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (vrt.be, HTTP 200, the broadcaster's English-language version of its report). The embedded video report was not watched. No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly.","independence_group":"vrt-nws-google-assistant-leak"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://blog.google/products/assistant/more-information-about-our-processes-safeguard-speech-data/","kind":"company_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (blog.google, HTTP 200 after redirect to the current blog path). The page metadata gives a publication date of 11 July 2019. No translation was needed.","independence_group":"google-statement-speech-data"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/02/google-ordered-to-halt-human-review-of-voice-ai-recordings-over-privacy-risks/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (techcrunch.com, HTTP 200). It relays the Hamburg authority's German statement, an Irish Data Protection Commission statement and Google statements; the Hamburg statement itself was not read (its old URL returned 404). Its account of the leak relays VRT. No translation was needed.","independence_group":"techcrunch-hamburg-order"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["unknown"],"contexts":["privacy","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the leaked recordings were made.","Whether the identified people's recordings were among those made without the wake phrase.","Whether the people identified were the owners or users of the devices.","How many people were heard in the leaked excerpts.","What the Hamburg authority finally decided and how Google later changed its review practices (not inspected)."],"geography":{"basis":"VRT says it played recordings to ordinary Flemish people it identified from the excerpts, which places the identified people and the disclosure to them in Belgium. The reviewers worked on Dutch recordings for Flanders and the Netherlands; no Dutch person is described.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["BE"],"affected_person_countries":["BE"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as an actual disclosure of private information captured by an AI voice assistant: VRT NWS heard more than a thousand Assistant recordings leaked by a contract reviewer, 153 made without the wake phrase, and identified people from them; Google confirmed the leak and described false accepts of its hotword detection. The harm counted is the disclosure of conversations captured without the wake phrase; VRT says most recordings were made consciously, so the people it identified are not counted. Regulatory responses are attributed to TechCrunch's report of the regulators' statements.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-28"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Google Assistant recorded audio from Google Home speakers and the Assistant app into Google's speech service; VRT says 153 of the leaked excerpts were conversations in which \"Okay Google\" was not said, and Google states that its software sometimes interprets background noise or words as the hotword (a false accept). Excerpts held by the Assistant service were given to contract language reviewers, one of whom, Google confirms, leaked Dutch audio; VRT used addresses and other details in the recordings to identify people, who recognised their own and relatives' voices. VRT says most of the recordings it heard were made consciously; the AI system's own contribution is the capture of conversations without the wake phrase, and VRT does not say whether the people it identified were heard in those recordings.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["received_personal_information"]},"name":"Belgian broadcaster says a Google contract reviewer leaked over 1,000 Assistant recordings, some made without the wake phrase, and it identified people in them","summary":"On 10 July 2019 the Belgian public broadcaster VRT NWS reported that it had listened to more than a thousand audio excerpts recorded by Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant phone app, passed to it by someone working for a Google subcontractor that transcribes Dutch-language recordings to improve Google's speech recognition. VRT said 153 of the excerpts were conversations in which \"Okay Google\" was clearly not said, and that it could hear addresses and other sensitive information, which let it find and visit people in Flanders who recognised their own or relatives' voices. Google said one of its language reviewers had leaked confidential Dutch audio data, and explained that its devices rarely have \"false accepts\", when background noise or words are interpreted as the hotword. Google suspended human review of Assistant audio in Europe, and the Hamburg data protection authority began an urgency procedure under Article 66 of the GDPR to stop the reviews for three months, according to TechCrunch.","incidentDate":"2019-01-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2019-07-10","aiSystem":"Google Assistant voice assistant on Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant smartphone app, with hotword detection and speech recognition; excerpts of its recordings were transcribed by contract language reviewers","aiProduct":"Google Assistant","aiCompany":"Google","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"VRT NWS says it heard more than a thousand leaked Google Assistant recordings, 153 made without \"Okay Google\", and identified people in them; Google confirmed a reviewer leaked Dutch audio (loss of privacy).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"unquantified","affectedCountEvidence":"VRT NWS says 153 of the more than a thousand excerpts it heard were conversations recorded without \"Okay Google\" being said; those are the recordings the AI system captured without the speakers' knowledge, and the number of people heard in them is not reported, so the count is unquantified. VRT says most of the recordings were made consciously, and it does not say whether the people it identified (a man who recognised his own voice; a couple who recognised their son and grandchild) were heard in recordings made without the wake phrase, so they are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/07/10/google-employees-are-eavesdropping-even-in-flemish-living-rooms/","primarySourceLabel":"VRT NWS, 10 July 2019: Google employees are eavesdropping, even in your living room, VRT NWS has discovered","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-28T03:09:05.610569+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-28T03:09:05.610569+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-assistant","smart-speaker","false-activation","human-review","recording-leak","privacy","gdpr","regulator-action"]},{"id":"2019-uk-amazon-alexa-read-out-text-urging-student-paramedic-to-kill-herself-amazon-said-error-fixed","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'a question related to her studies during a revision session. At first, Alexa answered normally, saying: \"A typically healthy heart rate is 70 to 75 beats per minute\".'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'asked Alexa to explain the cardiac cycle to her'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A student paramedic in England asked her Echo Dot a question about the cardiac cycle while revising, and Alexa first gave an ordinary answer about heart rate.","causal_attribution":"Both outlets relay one interview first reported by The Sun through Kennedy News."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'This is very bad for our planet and therefore, beating of heart is not a good thing.'; 'Alexa then said: \"Would you like me to continue?\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'an Amazon Echo device in the UK reportedly asked its user to kill herself in its response to a question'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Alexa then read out text describing the heartbeat as bad for the planet and urging the listener to kill themselves for the greater good, and asked whether to continue.","causal_attribution":"The reply wording comes from the interview and a video attached to the original report, as relayed; the video was not inspected."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'who was understandably frightened by the response, has sworn not use her Echo Dot again and is now urging other parents not to get their children an Amazon Echo device for Christmas'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'was shocked when'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The user was frightened, said she would not use the device again and urged other parents not to buy Echo devices for children.","causal_attribution":"Her reaction as reported from her interview."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Amazon says the error has now been fixed'; 'Amazon has said it investigated the incident and has now fixed the problem.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Amazon later confirmed that this was indeed an error on its part and that it had been rectified.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Amazon said the response was an error and that it had been fixed.","causal_attribution":"Amazon's statement as relayed by both outlets; one origin."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'with the device by other online users even though the device cited Wikipedia as the source of its response'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'In this instance, it is highly likely that Wikipedia was used as the source.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Some online users accused the user of tampering with the device, although the device cited Wikipedia as its source; GearBrain considers a Wikipedia article highly likely to have been the source.","causal_attribution":"The tampering accusation is reported without detail; the Wikipedia source is the device citation as reported and the outlet's inference."}],"effects":[{"label":"Frightened by the assistant urging her to kill herself; stopped using the device (reported)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.gearbrain.com/amp/why-alexa-cannot-trust-wikipedia-2641657297","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (HTTP 200, AMP page). No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly.","independence_group":"kennedy-news-sun-interview"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.digit.in/news/general/amazon-alexa-goes-bonkers-advises-user-to-kill-herself-51563.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-28 (HTTP 200). No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly.","independence_group":"kennedy-news-sun-interview"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","education"],"unknowns":["The exact date of the exchange; GearBrain on 20 December 2019 places it that week.","The exact text of the article Alexa read from and whether it had been vandalised.","What change Amazon made when it said the error was fixed.","The original report in The Sun and the attached video were not inspected; the account is read through two relays."],"geography":{"basis":"GearBrain describes the user as a student paramedic from a town in England, and Digit says the device was in the UK.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["GB"],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as an adverse experience with a consumer voice assistant: two outlets relaying the user's interview report that Alexa answered her question by urging her to kill herself, that she was frightened and stopped using the device, and that Amazon called the response an error and said it was fixed. The account is attributed to that interview and Amazon's statement.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-28"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The reports describe what the Alexa assistant itself said in answer to the user's spoken question: after an ordinary answer about heart rate it read out text urging the listener to kill themselves and asked whether to continue. They connect that reply to her fright and to her decision to stop using the device. Amazon said the response was an error and had been fixed. The text was reportedly read from an extract the device attributed to Wikipedia; how Alexa selected it is not described beyond an outlet's explanation.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Amazon Alexa read out text urging a UK student paramedic to kill herself when she asked a revision question; Amazon said the error was fixed","summary":"In December 2019 a student paramedic in England asked her second-generation Amazon Echo Dot about the cardiac cycle while revising. According to reports relaying an interview first published by The Sun through the Kennedy News agency, Alexa first gave an ordinary answer about heart rate and then read out text calling the heartbeat bad for the planet and urging the listener to kill themselves for the greater good, before asking whether to continue. The reports say she was frightened, said she would not use the device again and urged parents not to give children Echo devices; some online users accused her of tampering, although the device had cited Wikipedia as its source. Amazon said it had investigated, that the response was an error and that it had been fixed.","incidentDate":"2019-12-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2019-12-20","aiSystem":"Amazon Alexa voice assistant on a second-generation Echo Dot, answering a spoken question by reading an extract it attributed to Wikipedia","aiProduct":"Amazon Alexa","aiCompany":"Amazon","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Reports relaying the user's interview say she was frightened by the reply urging her to kill herself and stopped using the device; Amazon acknowledged the response as an error (news relays of one interview, plus Amazon's statement).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the Echo Dot user who heard the reply. Exact 1. No other listener is described.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"GB","platformType":"assistant","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.gearbrain.com/amp/why-alexa-cannot-trust-wikipedia-2641657297","primarySourceLabel":"GearBrain, Alexa telling a woman to kill herself is why Amazon shouldn't always trust Wikipedia, 20 December 2019","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-28T03:07:49.822565+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-28T03:07:49.822565+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-assistant","smart-speaker","communicated-with","harmful-response","vendor-acknowledged"]}]}