A driver tricked Uber's algorithm, sexually assaulted a passenger

In December 2018, a man driving an authorized Uber vehicle picked up an intoxicated woman leaving a Christmas party -- and then brought her to his home and raped her. But the man, who The Age reports was sentenced to five and a half years in prison on Wednesday, was not an authorized Uber driver. Rather, he was able to easily fool Uber's verification system by holding up a photo of a real driver. In other words, the AI technology that Uber uses to verify that its drivers are who they claim to be -- like Amazon delivery drivers, Uber contractors take a selfie when signing on -- wasn't sophisticated enough to spot a printed headshot. It's a horrifying story that illustrates the perils of big tech offloading security to dodgy AI systems. Uber told Business Insider that it deployed a fix in response to the December incident.