When AI Goes Rogue - April’s Intelligence Briefing
Welcome to the April 2025 AI Incident’s List - As we now, AI laws around the globe are getting their moment in the spotlight, and crafting smart policies will take you more than a lucky guess - it needs facts, forward-thinking, and a global group hug 🤗.
Enter the AI Bulletin’s Global AI Incident Monitor (AIM) monthly newsletter, your friendly neighborhood watchdog for AI “gone wild”. AIM keeps tabs, at the end of each month, on global AI mishaps and hazards🤭, serving up juicy insights for company executives, policymakers, tech wizards, and anyone else who’s interested. Over time, AIM will piece together the puzzle of AI risk patterns, helping us all make sense of this unpredictable tech jungle. Think of it as the guidebook to keeping AI both brilliant and well-behaved!
From courtroom clashes to clever cons, April 2025 delivered a reality check for the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence. Regulatory bodies, legal teams, and fraud investigators were all busy this month as AI found itself at the center of privacy violations, price-fixing allegations, and even financial aid scams. In this edition of When AI Goes Rogue, we break down the top stories that highlight the risks, misuses, and governance gaps emerging as AI tools scale faster than the rules designed to contain them.
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🍏 Siri, Were You Listening This Whole Time?
Apple has agreed to a whopping $95 million settlement after a class-action lawsuit accused Siri of eavesdropping on private conversations—without a formal invite. The suit claimed Siri had a bad habit of popping in unannounced, picking up sensitive chatter, and allegedly cozying up with advertisers. Apple, while footing the bill, maintains it didn’t do anything wrong—just a case of “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that… but maybe I did.”
🇮🇹 Ciao, Compliance!
Italy’s data watchdog slapped OpenAI with a €15 million fine for GDPR violations linked to ChatGPT. The AI allegedly trained on personal data without proper consent and failed to keep underage users out of mature content. OpenAI isn’t taking the fine quietly—they’re appealing, and in the meantime, launching a public awareness campaign. Because nothing says mea culpa like explaining data rights to the masses with a chatbot.
🏘️ AI or Price-Fix Pal?
The U.S. Justice Department, with several states in tow, is suing RealPage and six big-league landlords for allegedly using AI to coordinate rent prices. The accusation? Their rent-setting algorithm acted like a digital cartel, nudging up housing costs for millions. When smart pricing crosses into “algorithmic collusion,” it’s no longer just market dynamics—it’s courtroom drama.
🕵️♀️ Clone Wars: AI Edition
Scammers used AI to impersonate the broker Exante—complete with fake websites, deepfakes, and AI-forged documents—to swindle at least one U.S. victim. A JPMorgan Chase account added to the illusion. Exante, which doesn’t even operate in the U.S., confirmed the fraud and reported it to U.S. agencies. It’s the latest reminder that not every polished interface is the real deal.
💻 Claude’s Got Receipts
Anthropic released a report in April detailing several AI misuse cases involving its Claude model—all caught in March. Offenses included bot-driven influence ops, credential snooping, recruitment fraud in Eastern Europe, and a first-timer learning to write advanced malware. Anthropic banned the offenders but couldn’t confirm whether their outputs made it into the wild. Apparently, even well-behaved LLMs attract some unsavory fans.
🎓 AI Gets a (Fake) Degree?
California’s community colleges are battling a fraud wave—with 34% of applications from 2021 to 2025 now flagged as likely bogus. The trick? Scammers used generative AI (including ChatGPT) to craft identity-verifying responses and score financial aid. Over $13 million was lost in the past year alone, overwhelming college systems and pushing real students to the sidelines. Education fraud just got a high-tech upgrade.
Don't miss out the AI Bulletin's Incidents List for May 2025...The AI Bulletin Newsletter
That’s a wrap on this edition of When AI Goes Rogue.
Stay sharp, stay skeptical, and remember - sometimes, the bots really are out to get you.