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Incident 536: NJ Transit's Use of Modeling Software Miscalculated Storm Surge Threat Level

Description: New Jersey Transit's use of a federal government storm modeling software underestimated the threat of storm surges to the Meadows Maintenance Complex, leaving millions of dollars worth of equipment in the rail yard before Hurricane Sandy struck.

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Alleged: National Weather Service developed an AI system deployed by New Jersey Transit, which harmed New Jersey Transit and New Jersey Transit passengers.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
536
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2012-12-10
Editors
Khoa Lam
Applied Taxonomies
MIT

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
 

7.3. Lack of capability or robustness

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.
 
  1. AI system safety, failures, and limitations

Entity

Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
 

Human

Timing

The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
 

Pre-deployment

Intent

Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
 

Unintentional

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

Incident OccurrenceExclusive: Readying for Sandy, NJ Transit erred in modeling stormHow New Jersey Transit Failed Sandy's Test
Exclusive: Readying for Sandy, NJ Transit erred in modeling storm

Exclusive: Readying for Sandy, NJ Transit erred in modeling storm

reuters.com

How New Jersey Transit Failed Sandy's Test

How New Jersey Transit Failed Sandy's Test

wnyc.org

Exclusive: Readying for Sandy, NJ Transit erred in modeling storm
reuters.com · 2013

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Transit incorrectly used federal government software that otherwise could have warned officials against a disastrous decision to leave hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment in a low-lying rail ya…

How New Jersey Transit Failed Sandy's Test
wnyc.org · 2013

On the weekend before Sandy thundered into New Jersey, transit officials studied a map showing bright green and orange blocks. On the map, the area where most New Jersey Transit trains were being stored showed up as orange – or dry. So keep…

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.
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