Description: A Guardian journalist was able to verify their identity and gain access to their own Centrelink self-service account using AI-generated audio of their own voice along with their customer reference number, shortly after voiceprint was deployed for ID verification.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Centrelink developed an AI system deployed by Australian Taxation Office and Services Australia, which harmed Centrelink account holders.
Incident Stats
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
2.2. AI system security vulnerabilities and attacks
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- Privacy & Security
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
AI
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Unintentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline

A voice identification system used by the Australian government for millions of people has a serious security flaw, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.
Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) both give people the optio…
Variants
A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.