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Sprint projectSep 14, 2026Cape Town

OpenAI/Hugging Face AI incident is a cybercrime

Karabo Mokoena

Submitted to AI Incident Response Sprint. Sprint projects are early-stage work by participants, not Apart Research publications.

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Report: OpenAI/Hugging Face AI incident is a cybercrime

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I apply existing laws to the AI incident to show how regulators and wuthoritites can regulate AI and thus deter rickly unsafe behaviour from AI companies

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How much would this matter for AI safety if it worked? How innovative is it? For scores of 4-5: is this actually new to the field, or replicating recent work?

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  1. 1Negligible. No clear problem addressed, or no meaningful novelty.
  2. 2Limited. Addresses a real problem but with a generic or well-trodden approach. Incremental at best.
  3. 3Moderate. Clear problem with a reasonable approach; some novelty in framing or method beyond routine application of existing tools.
  4. 4Significant. Important problem with an original approach, or identifies a neglected problem area. A valuable contribution others could build on.
  5. 5Exceptional. Tackles a critical AI safety problem with a genuinely novel approach, or opens a new research direction. Clear theory of change. You'd be excited to share this with researchers in the area.

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  2. 2Weak. Approach has significant gaps: missing validation, flawed experimental design, or incomplete implementation.
  3. 3Competent. Technically solid given the short duration. Methodology makes sense, results are interpretable, limitations acknowledged, work builds toward clear conclusions.
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  5. 5Exceptional. Ambitious scope executed rigorously. Surprising findings, novel methods, or unusually robust validation.

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  4. 4Well presented. Easy to follow, well-structured, appropriate level of detail. Target audience would get it quickly.
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  1. This research eloquantly points out a common false belief that current laws do not apply to AI systems. It evaluates what happened during the OpenAI/Huggingface incident under South African law and outlines precedent cases outside of cyber as well that these events are crimes under these laws. It fails to address that the US has similar laws like the CFAA and precedent cases in the realm of cyber.

Cite this project

@misc{mokoena2026openaihugging,
  title = {{OpenAI/Hugging Face AI incident is a cybercrime}},
  author = {Karabo Mokoena},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  note = {Submitted to AI Incident Response Sprint, an Apart Research Sprint},
  howpublished = {\url{https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/openaihugging-face-ai-incident-is-a-cybercrime-hjgh}},
  url = {https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/openaihugging-face-ai-incident-is-a-cybercrime-hjgh}
}

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