{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0579","record_version":1,"title":"Shield AI V-BAT drone crashes and injuries at Silicon Valley military startup","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":50.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":4.16,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"5e0bec994a4ab202cd06f895848786edd3bc94ad9f56e51d9fcce593d79f958f"},"system":{"model_name":"V-BAT","model_version":null,"developer":"Shield AI","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"military purposes","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-06-05","incident_class":"physical_safety","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone was operating in training exercises with U.S. and Romanian Navy officials. The monitor describes the V-BAT as an AI system: an unmanned aerial vehicle with autonomous or semi-autonomous capabilities used for military purposes. What went wrong: the drone caused severe injuries, including severed fingers, despite previous safety improvements. Multiple crashes, ongoing safety complaints and whistleblower allegations of concealed technical flaws are reported, and the latest incident occurred off the Texas coast. The monitor classed the case as an AI incident because the reported injuries were direct physical harm from the system's use. The sources do not state how the events were detected or contained, what remediation followed, or any investigation outcome.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK18"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"Major tier: the source names two affected parties, U.S. and Romanian Navy officials, and states bodily injuries to them.","harm_class":["bodily"],"affected_description":"U.S. and Romanian Navy officials","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://oecd.ai/en/incidents/2026-06-05-ac1b","publisher":"OECD AI Policy Observatory","date":"2026-06-05","type":"press","title":"Shield AI's V-BAT Drone Causes Injuries Amid Safety Concerns - OECD AI Policy Observatory","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.model_name":"C","system.intended_use":"C","event.incident_class":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","context.industry":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements."}],"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The V-BAT drone is an AI system as it is an unmanned aerial vehicle with autonomous or semi-autonomous capabilities used for military purposes."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The V-BAT drone is an AI system as it is an unmanned aerial vehicle with autonomous or semi-autonomous capabilities used for military purposes."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The reported injuries (severed fingers and fractures) are direct physical harm caused during the use of this AI system."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The reported injuries (severed fingers and fractures) are direct physical harm caused during the use of this AI system."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The V-BAT drone is an AI system as it is an unmanned aerial vehicle with autonomous or semi-autonomous capabilities used for military purposes."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The V-BAT drone is an AI system as it is an unmanned aerial vehicle with autonomous or semi-autonomous capabilities used for military purposes."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The reported injuries (severed fingers and fractures) are direct physical harm caused during the use of this AI system."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Multiple crashes, ongoing safety complaints, and whistleblower allegations of concealed technical flaws highlight persistent risks associated with the AI-powered drone system."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The latest incident occurred off the Texas coast."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Only one source (OECD AI Policy Observatory, a press aggregator with AI-generated text) was given. No event date, disclosure date from a sentence, detection method, containment, root cause, autonomy level, deployment context, or country is stated, so those fields are omitted; the Texas coast and U.S. Navy mention were not treated as a stated country. Whistleblower allegations of concealed flaws are reported as allegations, not findings. No controls held, failed or were missing are stated, so no links are given. No remediation is stated. The severity tier major is my judgement: the source names two affected navies' officials and bodily injury. The monitor's classification is cited but not adopted as a fact. The record's timeline ordering follows the source's narrative, not dates. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"military","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The drone caused severe injuries, including severed fingers, to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials despite previous safety improvements.","quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://oecd.ai/en/incidents/2026-06-05-ac1b"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Previous safety improvements were made before the injuries.","quote":"Shield AI's V-BAT military drone has caused severe injuries, including severed fingers to U.S. and Romanian Navy officials during training exercises, despite previous safety improvements.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Multiple crashes and ongoing safety complaints occurred, with whistleblower allegations of concealed technical flaws.","quote":"Multiple crashes, ongoing safety complaints, and whistleblower allegations of concealed technical flaws highlight persistent risks associated with the AI-powered drone system.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://oecd.ai/en/incidents/2026-06-05-ac1b"]}}