The question people ask is whether AI is just a tool. The record says it was, until about a year ago. Part of the rise is that more incidents get reported now, so look at the share: in 2023 and 2024 the AI never acted on its own; this year it did in 44% of cases.
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The data behind this chart (8 rows)
Period
AI acted on its own
AI took a single action
A person misused or trusted it
Total
Jul–Dec ’26 so far
16
5
16
37
Jan–Jun ’26
14
9
8
31
Jul–Dec ’25
4
7
11
22
Jan–Jun ’25
1
2
5
8
Jul–Dec ’24
0
0
0
0
Jan–Jun ’24
0
0
8
8
Jul–Dec ’23
0
1
2
3
Jan–Jun ’23
0
1
6
7
Source: Warning Shots AI Incident Index, real-world incidents, autonomy as scored. As of Oct 27, 2026. Every mark is computed from the data at build time, never typed in.
Spot an error or something out of date? Tell us; corrections are made and logged. Written with AI assistance from public sources; checked against those sources before publishing. General information, not legal, medical or financial advice.
