Description: On December 4, 2025, the USGS's automated ShakeAlert earthquake detection system erroneously issued a report claiming a magnitude 5.9 earthquake had struck near Dayton, Nevada. The reported false alert triggered emergency warnings on cell phones in parts of California, instructing residents to take protective action. USGS officials said no earthquake occurred and are investigating whether sensor noise or other anomalies caused the system failure.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Berkeley Seismological Laboratory developed an AI system deployed by United States Geological Survey (USGS), which harmed General public , General public of Nevada , General public of California and Epistemic integrity.
Alleged implicated AI system: ShakeAlert
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1303
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2025-12-04
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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The United States Geological Survey said on Thursday its automatic earthquake detection system had erroneously sent out a report earlier in the day that a 5.9 magnitude temblor had struck in Nevada, saying it was likely the first time the U…
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California lawmakers are demanding more information on an early earthquake warning system managed by the U.S. Geological Survey after it issued a false alert last week that a magnitude-5.9 earthquake had struck near the California-Nevada bo…
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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