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Medium reported severity Involving minors Internal Action

Ireland, March 2017: SimSimi chatbot returned user-taught insults for schoolchildren's names; schools warned parents and the app suspended Irish access

In late March 2017 the SimSimi chatbot app, which answers typed text with replies other users have taught it, topped Irish download charts while schools in the Republic of Ireland sent letters and text messages warning parents that pupils' names were being linked to insulting replies (The Irish Times, 26 March 2017). A parent told TheJournal.ie that she and other parents had searched their children's names and found vile comments on each, and that the company said her request would take 15 days to handle. A Dublin secondary teacher told the BBC that primary pupils who typed in their names received personal insults, and that a friend of her 15-year-old son found something mean every time he looked up his name, which hurt him a lot and left him very down. Police in County Down posted a warning on Facebook. From 29 March 2017 the app answered users in Ireland with "I do not talk in Ireland for a while", while remaining available in Northern Ireland. The South Korean developer did not respond to the outlets' requests for comment, and no inspected source says whether access was later restored.

AI system
SimSimi
ISMaker
Occurred
Mar 2017
Reported
26 March 2017
Event location
Ireland
What the AI did
Communicated with the person · Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Psychological DistressExploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use · Their own AI use
Setting
Education · Relationships · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 7 sources, 4 underlying accounts
8 claims: 3 corroborated, 5 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 2 people

AI system as recorded: SimSimi, an anonymous chatbot app developed in South Korea that answers typed text, including people's names, with replies other users have taught it

What Happened

SimSimi is a chatbot app developed in South Korea that replies to typed text with responses it has been taught by other users. The Irish Times (26 and 30 March 2017) described it as scanning its database for related conversations and returning a response, and as allowing users to view anonymous, often insulting, messages left about them by typing in their name. TheJournal.ie (2 April 2017) explained that a small group could associate a person's name with abusive content without that person being able to stop it. IBTimes UK (3 April 2017) tested the app and received abusive replies to ordinary first names.

In the last week of March 2017 the app was the most downloaded app in Ireland on Apple's chart and second on Google Play (The Irish Times, 26 March 2017). Several schools sent letters or text messages asking parents to discuss the app with their children; one Dublin secondary school told parents it allowed individuals to be targeted easily. A teachers' union spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that pupils in primary schools were using the app despite its age rating. Students criticised the app on social media; one wrote that "autism" comes up when their name is said on SimSimi.

A parent told TheJournal.ie that she and other parents searched their children's names and found vile comments on each. She said she checked her daughter's phone and found the app had not been downloaded, that the company told her it would take 15 days to act on her complaint while offering ways to delete words associated with vile language, and that it was a really stressful situation. A Dublin secondary teacher told the BBC that pupils in primary school were getting messages when they put in their name and were insulted about being too fat or too ugly and about personal things; her 15-year-old son said that for one friend, within a couple of days, every time he looked up his name something mean was being said, which hurt him a lot and left him very down. The director of Dublin City University's anti-bullying research centre told the BBC the app was being downloaded in huge numbers across Ireland and the centre had issued warnings. A CyberSafe Ireland representative told Newstalk Breakfast, as reported by TheJournal.ie, that she could see the app being used for bullying already.

From Wednesday 29 March 2017 the app answered users in Ireland with "I do not talk in Ireland for a while". The BBC reported on 31 March that it remained available in Northern Ireland, where a school asked parents to remove it and another urged pupils to remove it and the PSNI's County Down page warned of abusive and explicit replies. Campaigners in the UK called for the service to be suspended for young people. The developer did not respond to the outlets' requests for comment.

Reported harm

Children whose names were typed into the app received insulting replies that other users had taught it. A parent told TheJournal.ie she found vile comments attached to her daughter's name, and a Dublin teacher told the BBC that a friend of her 15-year-old son was hurt and became very down after finding something mean every time he looked up his name. No clinical or physical outcome is reported.

How Harm Occurred

SimSimi's user-trainable design allowed bullies to weaponize the chatbot by teaching it to associate victims' names with abusive content. Victims received personalized harassment when they interacted with the app, amplifying the psychological impact of the bullying.

Outcome

Resolved

From Wednesday 29 March 2017 the app answered every message from users in Ireland with "I do not talk in Ireland for a while" (TheJournal.ie, 30 March and 2 April 2017; The Irish Times, 30 March 2017; IBTimes UK, 3 April 2017). The BBC reported on 31 March 2017 that the app remained available in Northern Ireland, where a school asked parents to remove it and another urged pupils to remove it and the PSNI's County Down page posted a warning describing abusive and explicit replies and saying it had reported the app to the App Store. BBC Newsbeat reported calls by anti-bullying campaigners for the service to be suspended for young people in the UK, and a campaigner in Ireland said a petition had gathered 5,000 signatures. The developer, named by the BBC and IBTimes UK as ISMaker, did not respond to requests for comment from The Irish Times, the BBC or IBTimes UK. No inspected source says whether or when access in Ireland was restored, and no formal police action beyond the Facebook warning is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Whether or when SimSimi restored access for users in Ireland, and whether it changed its moderation; the stored claim that the app was later restored with content moderation was not supported by any inspected source and has been removed.
  • Who taught the app the insults, and how many children were targeted; CyberSafe Ireland and the teachers' union describe use for bullying without a count.
  • Whether the student quoted by The Irish Times is the same person as either counted child.
  • Whether the pupil described to the BBC attended school in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland; the teacher interviewed teaches in Dublin.
  • Whether any formal police action followed the PSNI Down Facebook warning; the stored wording 'formal warnings' is not supported.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The app's own output is the abuse. The Irish Times (26 and 30 March 2017) describes SimSimi as responding to a typed message by scanning related conversations in its database and returning a response, and as returning anonymous, often insulting, messages when a user types in a name. IBTimes UK's reporter typed ordinary first names and received abusive replies, and the PSNI's County Down page described the replies it received as abusive and explicit (BBC). A Dublin teacher told the BBC that primary pupils were getting insulting messages when they put in their names and that a pupil found something mean every time he looked up his name, which hurt him and left him very down; a parent told TheJournal.ie the app returned vile comments for her daughter's name. The insults were authored by other users who taught the app, and no source says the app composed novel abuse; the app's matching of a child's name to that taught content and its delivery to whoever typed the name is the described AI action connected to the harm.

8 claims: 3 corroborated, 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Corroborated In late March 2017 schools in the Republic of Ireland sent letters or text messages asking parents to discuss the SimSimi app with their children, while the app topped Apple's download chart in Ireland.

Causal attribution. School messages quoted by The Irish Times, a teachers' union statement to TheJournal.ie and a DCU anti-bullying centre director's BBC interview.

  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Several schools have sent letters or text messages to parents in recent days asking them to discuss use of the SimSimi app with their children.'; 'SimSimi is the most downloaded app in Ireland on Apple's iTunes charts and the second most-downloaded app on the Google Play store.'; 'One Dublin secondary school told parents this weekend that the app allowed individuals to be targeted easily.'
  • thejournal.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Where schools were aware of this use by some pupils, they alerted parents of potential dangers. General alerts were also issued by many teachers and schools through social media.'
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'said it was being downloaded "in huge numbers" across Ireland last week.'; 'we began to put out warnings through the media to parents and to schools'
Corroborated The app answers typed text, including a person's name, with replies other users have taught it, so that a name can return insulting messages; journalists and police who tested it received abusive replies.

Causal attribution. The Irish Times's description of the mechanism, IBTimes UK's own test and the PSNI Down Facebook post quoted by the BBC.

  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'allows users to view anonymous, and often insulting, messages left about them by typing in their name.'; 'When a user sends a message on their phone, the app responds by scanning for related conversations in its database and responds by spitting out a relevant response.'
  • thejournal.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'In practice, a small group could make a range of comments about a person and, without that person able to stop it, their name could be associated with negative and abusive content.'
  • ibtimes.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'IBTimes UK downloaded and tested the application. The exchange quickly turned weird.'; 'Time for another name. Typing Suzanne was met with: "is gay" and the name Emily brought up: "Slut, who needs to improve her grades big time!!"'
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'It appears to be a computer generated chat room where you talk to a very abusive computer!'; 'The app is rated as 17+ but I am twice that age and was really shocked at some of the stuff that came back!'
Reported A parent told TheJournal.ie that she and other parents searched their children's names on the app and found vile comments on each, that her daughter did not know of the comments; she said her daughter had not downloaded the app, that the company said it would take 15 days to deal with her request while offering ways to delete words, and that it was a really stressful situation.

Causal attribution. The parent's own account to TheJournal.ie, carried in two articles; the company's reply is as she described it.

  • thejournal.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'One parent who said that she had seen "vile comments" about her daughter on the app told TheJournal.ie that the company had said it would take 15 days to deal with her request but offered three alternative methods whereby words could be deleted from the system if they had become associated with vile language.'
  • thejournal.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'We did some searches for our kids names and there were some vile, vile comments on the names for each of our respective children'; 'went into her phone to see if she’d ever downloaded the app on the app store and luckily she hadn’t. It was a really stressful situation.'; 'The mother was told she’d have to wait 15 days for action to be taken when she complained about this to SimSimi.'
Reported A Dublin secondary teacher told the BBC that primary pupils typing in their names received messages insulting them about being too fat or too ugly and about personal things, and her 15-year-old son said that for one friend, within a couple of days, every time he looked up his name something mean was being said, which hurt him a lot and left him very down.

Causal attribution. The teacher's and her son's accounts to the BBC; the son describes a friend's experience.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'In primary school, students were getting messages when they put in their name and they couldn’t understand where that had come from'; 'students were being insulted about being too fat or too ugly and very personal things, things they might only know about each other.'; 'For one friend, at the beginning it was all fine and inside jokes, but within a couple of days every time he looked up his name, something mean was being said. It hurt him a lot and he became very down.'
Reported A student wrote on social media that "autism" comes up when their name is said on SimSimi.

Causal attribution. A student's social media post quoted by The Irish Times.

  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'When you say my name on SimSimi, ‘autism’ comes up . . . people are so unfunny and cruel when hiding behind a phone screen'
Corroborated From Wednesday 29 March 2017 the app answered users in Ireland with "I do not talk in Ireland for a while", while it remained available in Northern Ireland.

Causal attribution. TheJournal.ie's and The Irish Times's own observations of the app's reply, the BBC's report of the suspension, and IBTimes UK's report of the date; the date rests on TheJournal.ie's 'from Wednesday onwards' (29 March 2017), a Webwise tweet of 29 March embedded by TheJournal.ie and IBTimes UK's 'Wednesday 29 March'.

  • thejournal.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'any message sent to it is now responded to with the message: “I do not talk in Ireland for a while”.'
  • thejournal.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'No matter what you asked it from Wednesday onwards, however, you got the same response: “I do not talk in Ireland for a while”.'
  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'This afternoon, users were greeted with a message stating: "I do not talk in Ireland for a while."'
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'has been suspended in the Republic of Ireland, but children in Northern Ireland can still download it.'
  • ibtimes.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was restricted in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) last week (Wednesday 29 March)'
Reported The PSNI's County Down Facebook page posted that the app gave it cause for concern, describing abusive and explicit replies, and said it had reported the app to the App Store; a school in Northern Ireland asked parents to remove the app from their children's phones and another urged pupils to remove it.

Causal attribution. A police Facebook post quoted by the BBC and IBTimes UK; no formal police action is reported.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'On its Facebook page, PSNI Down said it was unusual for police to highlight apps, but the SimSimi app gave them "cause for concern".'; 'We have reported it to the App Store and will include it in our Internet Safety talks'; 'It has asked parents to remove the app from their children'
  • ibtimes.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'On the PSNI Down Facebook page, a warning said the app was a "cause for concern".'
Reported Anti-bullying campaigners called for the service to be suspended for young people; a campaigner in Ireland said a petition had gathered 5,000 signatures; the developer, named as ISMaker, did not respond to requests for comment.

Causal attribution. Campaigners' statements to BBC Newsbeat; the non-response is each outlet's own report.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    '"I think they have a duty of care of suspend the service for all young people," says Liam Hackett of anti-bullying campaign Ditch the Label.'; 'We got 5,000 signatures on a petition'; 'ISMaker, the South Korean company behind the app, have not responded to requests for comment.'
  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The South Korean company that developed SimSimi did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.'

Sources

7 sources inspected, from 4 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated Thu 30 March 2017, by the paper's education editor. Applies to s1.

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated Sun 26 March 2017; quotes school messages to parents and students' social media posts. Applies to s2.

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 30 March 2017; includes a parent's account to TheJournal.ie and a CyberSafe Ireland interview given to Newstalk Breakfast. Applies to s3.

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 2 April 2017; expands the same parent's account and quotes a teachers' union spokesperson. Applies to s4.

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 31 March 2017; BBC News Northern Ireland, with interviews of a Dublin teacher and her son, a DCU centre director and a Northern Ireland principal, and the PSNI Down Facebook post. Applies to s5.

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 31 March 2017; BBC Newsbeat, with campaigners' statements. Applies to s6.

Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200), dated 3 April 2017; the reporter's own test of the app plus relays of the BBC and TheJournal.ie. Applies to s7.

Event countries: Ireland. Affected-person countries: Ireland. Court countries: Unknown.

The Irish Times places the school warnings in the Republic of Ireland and quotes a Dublin school; the BBC's teacher interviewee teaches in Dublin and the parent spoke to an Irish outlet about Irish schools. The BBC also reports warnings by schools and police in Northern Ireland (GB), but no harmed person is described there, so GB is not recorded as an event or affected country. No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-07: Published as a core case (communicated_with and made_claim_about). The Irish Times, TheJournal.ie, the BBC and IBTimes UK describe the SimSimi app returning insulting, user-taught replies when children's names were typed in, in Irish schools in March 2017; a parent's account and a teacher's account describe two children harmed, and the developer suspended Irish access on 29 March 2017. The insults themselves were taught by other users, which the record states. No child, parent, teacher or campaigner is named here.

People described

Schoolchildren in Ireland whose names returned insulting replies on the app; the individually described targets are a parent's teenage daughter and a friend of a 15-year-old pupil

People reported harmed in this case

At least 2 people

1 AI participant · 1 other person harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

Participant user 1: a friend of a Dublin teacher's 15-year-old son, who looked up his own name on the app and found something mean each time, which the son said hurt him a lot and left him very down (BBC News, 31 March 2017). Other person 1: a parent's teenage daughter whose name returned vile comments; the parent said the daughter had not downloaded the app and did not know of the comments, so she is counted for the abuse attached to her name, not for distress (TheJournal.ie, 30 March and 2 April 2017). The two are distinct (a boy and a girl). A student who wrote that "autism" comes up when their name is said on the app (The Irish Times, 26 March 2017) may overlap with either and is not counted separately. Primary pupils who received insults (BBC) and the children the teachers' union and CyberSafe Ireland described are not counted. Partial: counted people plus further targeted children without a count.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#simsimi#cyberbullying#ireland#schools#harassment#trainable-ai

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Ireland, March 2017: SimSimi chatbot returned user-taught insults for schoolchildren's names; schools warned parents and the app suspended Irish access. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2017-simsimi-ireland-cyberbullying

BibTeX

@misc{2017_simsimi_ireland_cyberbullying,
  title = {Ireland, March 2017: SimSimi chatbot returned user-taught insults for schoolchildren's names; schools warned parents and the app suspended Irish access},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2017-simsimi-ireland-cyberbullying}
}

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