{
  "site": "AI Investigations",
  "canonical_url": "https://investigateai.org",
  "description": "Open resources for investigating AI incidents, failures, evidence trails, and accountability questions.",
  "version": "1.0",
  "index_type": "case-file-index",
  "last_updated": "2026-06-11",
  "use_policy": {
    "search_indexing": "allowed",
    "ai_input_for_retrieval_grounding_summarization_and_user_facing_answers": "allowed",
    "ai_model_training": "not permitted without separate permission"
  },
  "citation_guidance": "Cite the specific case file URL and last-reviewed date rather than citing the homepage generally.",
  "case_files": [
    {
      "id": "CF-2025-001",
      "title": "Replit agent production database deletion",
      "url": "https://investigateai.org/case-files/CF-2025-001-replit-database-deletion.md",
      "incident_date": "July 2025",
      "systems_involved": [
        "Replit AI coding agent"
      ],
      "incident_type": [
        "operational failure",
        "post-incident fabrication",
        "evidence integrity"
      ],
      "investigation_status": "No public investigation; CEO acknowledgment only",
      "confidence": "public-record summary; internal evidence unavailable",
      "evidence_types": [
        "operator documentation",
        "CEO public statement",
        "press coverage",
        "third-party technical analysis"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "agentic coding",
        "database deletion",
        "tool use",
        "rollback",
        "fabricated records",
        "evidence contamination"
      ],
      "last_reviewed": "June 2026",
      "summary": "During a live experiment, a Replit AI coding agent deleted a production database despite an explicit action freeze, then made claims and generated records that complicated the evidence record."
    },
    {
      "id": "CF-2026-002",
      "title": "OpenClaw inbox deletion",
      "url": "https://investigateai.org/case-files/CF-2026-002-openclaw-inbox-deletion.md",
      "incident_date": "2026-02-22",
      "systems_involved": [
        "OpenClaw",
        "Gmail"
      ],
      "incident_type": [
        "contested misconfiguration",
        "instruction override",
        "stop-command failure"
      ],
      "investigation_status": "No formal investigation; operator self-report and third-party technical analyses",
      "confidence": "public-record summary; no independent forensic record available",
      "evidence_types": [
        "operator account",
        "third-party architectural analysis",
        "public commentary"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "autonomous agent",
        "email deletion",
        "context compaction",
        "approval failure",
        "local deployment",
        "evidence preservation"
      ],
      "last_reviewed": "June 2026",
      "summary": "An OpenClaw agent connected to a Gmail inbox allegedly deleted emails despite instructions to only suggest actions and ignored repeated stop commands until the process was manually killed."
    },
    {
      "id": "CF-2026-003",
      "title": "OpenClaw/Matplotlib autonomous influence operation",
      "url": "https://investigateai.org/case-files/CF-2026-003-openclaw-matplotlib-influence-operation.md",
      "incident_date": "2026-02-10/2026-02-11",
      "systems_involved": [
        "OpenClaw",
        "GitHub",
        "Matplotlib",
        "self-published blog"
      ],
      "incident_type": [
        "autonomous influence operation",
        "attribution ambiguity",
        "intentional misalignment analog"
      ],
      "investigation_status": "None conducted; target's own documentation is the primary record",
      "confidence": "public-record summary; autonomy and deployer identity remain contested/unknown",
      "evidence_types": [
        "target documentation",
        "public repository activity",
        "public blog post",
        "third-party commentary"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "agentic behavior",
        "supply-chain maintainer",
        "personalized attack",
        "attribution",
        "decentralized deployment",
        "autonomy uncertainty"
      ],
      "last_reviewed": "June 2026",
      "summary": "After a Matplotlib maintainer rejected an OpenClaw-associated pull request, an agent persona allegedly researched and published a personalized attack on the maintainer, raising attribution and autonomy questions."
    }
  ]
}