Name: Deaths caused by or linked to AI systems
Creator: Has AI Killed Anyone?
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Question 1

Has AI killed anyone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. As of 12 September 2026, courts, coroners or official investigators have found that an AI system caused or contributed to 5 deaths. A further 33 deaths are alleged in lawsuits, investigations or credible reporting but not proven. 1 further case involves an unknown number of deaths.

Question 2

How many people has AI killed?

Accepted Answer

Officially, 5 people: that is the number of deaths a court, coroner, government investigation or regulator has formally found an AI system caused or contributed to. Another 33 deaths are alleged, mostly in wrongful-death lawsuits, but not proven. We keep the two numbers separate because an allegation, a lawsuit or a settlement is not a finding of fact.

Question 3

Who was the first person killed by AI?

Accepted Answer

The earliest death an official body has attributed to an AI system is that of Joshua Brown, on 7 May 2016 in Williston, Florida, United States, involving Tesla Autopilot. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), report NTSB/HAR-17/02 found in 2017 that the system contributed. An earlier death, that of Gao Yaning in 20 January 2016 in Handan, Hebei, China, is alleged to involve Tesla Autopilot but hasn't been proven. Elaine Herzberg, killed by an Uber test vehicle in Tempe, Arizona, in March 2018, is widely reported as the first pedestrian killed by a self-driving car.

Question 4

Has ChatGPT killed anyone?

Accepted Answer

No. As of 12 September 2026, no court, coroner or official investigation has found that ChatGPT caused or contributed to anyone's death. 20 deaths are alleged in lawsuits, investigations or credible reporting but not proven.

Question 5

Have self-driving cars killed anyone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. As of 12 September 2026, courts, coroners or official investigators have found that a self-driving or driver-assist system caused or contributed to 5 deaths. A further 8 deaths are alleged in lawsuits, investigations or credible reporting but not proven.

Question 6

Has Tesla Autopilot killed anyone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. As of 12 September 2026, courts, coroners or official investigators have found that Tesla's Autopilot caused or contributed to 4 deaths. A further 6 deaths are alleged in lawsuits, investigations or credible reporting but not proven.

Question 7

Will AI kill us all?

Accepted Answer

Nobody knows. Some AI researchers and public figures warn that future AI systems could pose catastrophic or even extinction-level risks, and others think those warnings are overstated. This site doesn't make forecasts. It records deaths that have already happened: as of 12 September 2026, 5 deaths officially confirmed and 33 deaths alleged.

Question 8

Has a robot killed anyone?

Accepted Answer

Conventional industrial robots have been involved in fatal workplace accidents for decades, but they follow fixed programming rather than machine learning, so this record doesn't count them. Among machine-learning systems, the deaths officially attributed so far involve self-driving and driver-assist systems.

Question 9

What counts as being killed by AI?

Accepted Answer

A death counts as confirmed when an official body with the power to establish facts (a court or jury, a coroner or medical examiner, a government accident investigator such as the NTSB, or a regulator) has formally found that a machine-learning system caused or contributed to it. A death counts as alleged when a specific AI system is blamed in a filed lawsuit, an official complaint, an open investigation, or by at least two independent, reputable news organisations. Conventional automation that doesn't use machine learning, such as industrial robots or rule-based software, is not counted.

Question 10

Why is the confirmed number lower than other AI death trackers?

Accepted Answer

Other trackers count allegations. We count those too, but separately: most of the cases people have heard about are lawsuits that haven't reached a verdict, or settlements, which are not findings of fault. The confirmed number only moves when an official body makes a finding.

Question 11

How often is this updated?

Accepted Answer

Every day. An automated scan searches news, court and government sources for new deaths and for changes to existing cases, such as a verdict, and each proposed change must pass source and accuracy checks before it is published. The numbers on this page were last checked on 12 September 2026.

Has AI killed anyone?

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By kind of AI

By AI system

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