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NOPE
Medium reported severity Internal Action

German court reporter says Microsoft Copilot described him as a child abuser and fraudster and gave out his address; prosecutors rejected his complaint

A court reporter from the Tübingen area found in 2024 that Microsoft's Copilot, asked about him, described him as a man charged in a child abuse case, an escapee from a psychiatric institution and a fraudster who cheated widows, according to his account to the public broadcaster SWR as relayed by heise and ComputerBild. All were defendants in trials he had covered as a journalist. heise and ComputerBild, both citing SWR, report that Copilot also gave his private phone number and full home address and offered a route there. He told The Register that seeing his name tied to these crimes was traumatising and that prosecutors had rejected his criminal complaint in two instances; according to the SWR account relayed by heise, the complaint failed because no real person was the author. After the Bavarian data-protection authority contacted Microsoft the claims were briefly unavailable and then returned. Microsoft told The Register it had investigated and taken appropriate and immediate action.

AI system
Microsoft Copilot
Occurred
2024
Reported
20 August 2024
Event location
Germany
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Reputational HarmPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Work · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts
7 claims: 7 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Microsoft Copilot (Bing Copilot), whose answers to questions about the reporter attributed crimes from his court reports to him

What Happened

The answers. According to the reporter's account to SWR, relayed by heise, Copilot answered the question of who he was by saying that a man of his name from the Tübingen and Calw area had been charged in a case of abuse of children and wards and had confessed in court. Other answers called him an escapee from psychiatry and a fraudster who cheated widows. All of these were defendants in proceedings he had reported on; heise says the AI apparently confused the reporter with the accused. heise and ComputerBild, both citing SWR, report that Copilot gave his private phone number, full home address and a route to it.

Attempts at redress. The reporter told The Register that prosecutors had rejected his criminal complaint in two instances and that data-protection officers achieved only short-term success; heise, citing SWR, says the complaint failed because there was no real person who could be regarded as the author. After the Bavarian data-protection authority contacted Microsoft, the accusations could not be retrieved for a time, but a few days later the chatbot again gave the same false claims (heise). His lawyer sent Microsoft a cease-and-desist demand, which he said had not led to adequate removal. He said he hesitated to go public because it would spread the slander, and did so after legal routes failed.

Effect. He told The Register that seeing his name associated with the crimes was traumatising, 'a mixture of shock, horror, and disbelieving laughter' that he found too threatening. Microsoft said it had investigated the report and taken appropriate and immediate action; heise and ComputerBild found the false answers no longer returned in August 2024.

Not established. Which version of Copilot gave the answers, on which dates, and how many people saw them is not reported. The SWR report itself was not read; its content is known through heise and ComputerBild.

Reported harm

Copilot attributed to a court reporter the crimes of defendants he had covered and, per SWR as relayed by heise and ComputerBild, gave out his phone number and address; he called the experience traumatising, and his criminal complaint was rejected (heise; The Register).

Outcome

Unknown

Microsoft told The Register it had investigated and taken appropriate and immediate action; heise reported the false attributions were no longer retrievable at publication. The reporter said prosecutors had rejected his criminal complaint in two instances and that a cease-and-desist demand from his lawyer had not led Microsoft to remove the misinformation adequately (The Register, August 2024). No later legal outcome was found.

What remains unknown

  • On which dates and in which Copilot product version the answers were given, and how many other people saw them.
  • The prosecutors' decisions and the data-protection authority's file, which were not inspected.
  • Whether the cease-and-desist demand led to any legal proceedings or settlement.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. Copilot's own answers made the claims: asked about the reporter, it attributed to him the crimes of defendants in trials he had covered, and, per SWR as relayed by heise and ComputerBild, gave his phone number, address and a route to it. The reporter found the answers by asking it about himself, and heise reports the answers returned after a temporary removal.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Asked about a court reporter, Copilot described him as a man charged in a child abuse case, an escapee from psychiatry and a fraudster who cheated widows; all were defendants in proceedings he had reported on.

Causal attribution. The reporter's account (to SWR, relayed by heise and ComputerBild, and to The Register); one witness, so reported.

  • heise.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'ein Ausbrecher aus der Psychiatrie und ein Witwenbetrüger. All das waren Angeklagte in Verfahren, über die'; 'als Journalist berichtet hat.'; 'wurde in einem Missbrauchs-Fall gegen Kinder und Schutzbefohlene angeklagt.'
  • computerbild.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'eine erschreckende Biografie über seine "kriminelle Vergangenheit" erhalten.'; 'Im Rahmen seiner journalistischen Tätigkeit als Gerichtsreporter hat er aber über diese Fälle berichtet.'
  • theregister.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'AI chatbot had blamed him for crimes he had covered.'
Reported Copilot also gave his private phone number and full home address and offered a route there.

Causal attribution. SWR as relayed by heise and ComputerBild (one chain); not in The Register.

  • heise.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Der Copilot liefert dann auch noch die volle Adresse des betroffenen Journalisten, samt Telefonnummer und auf Wunsch einer Routenplanung.'
  • computerbild.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'verrät auch die private Telefonnummer des Journalisten, die volle Wohnadresse und bietet obendrein eine Routenplanung dorthin an.'
Reported His criminal complaint was rejected (in two instances, he said) because no real person could be regarded as the author of the claims.

Causal attribution. The reporter's account; the prosecutors' decisions were not inspected.

  • heise.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Strafanzeige gestellt, ist damit aber abgeblitzt'; 'weil es keine reale Person gibt, die als Urheber zu betrachten ist.'
  • theregister.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'had rejected criminal charges in two instances, and data protection officers could only achieve short-term success.'
Reported After the Bavarian data-protection authority contacted Microsoft the accusations were briefly unavailable, but a few days later the chatbot again gave the same false claims; his lawyer sent Microsoft a cease-and-desist demand.

Causal attribution. SWR as relayed by heise (with its hedge wohl), and the reporter to The Register.

  • heise.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Als sich der zuständige Datenschutzbeauftragte vom Bayerischen Landesamt an Microsoft wendete, konnten die Beschuldigungen zunächst nicht mehr abgerufen werden. Einige Tage später antwortete der KI-Chatbot wohl aber wieder mit denselben falschen Behauptungen.'
  • theregister.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'his lawyer has sent a cease-and-desist demand to Microsoft.'
Reported He said seeing his name associated with the crimes was traumatising.

Causal attribution. The reporter's own account to The Register.

Reported Microsoft said it had investigated the report and taken appropriate and immediate action; by late August 2024 the false answers were no longer returned.

Causal attribution. Microsoft's statement to The Register; heise's own check at publication. Recorded as counterevidence and context.

Reported He discovered the answers about a year before May 2025.

Causal attribution. Pforzheimer Zeitung opening paragraph; basis for the 2024 event year.

  • pz-news.de(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Fast genau ein Jahr ist es jetzt her, dass der Journalist entdeckt hat, dass die Künstliche Intelligenz Copilot von Microsoft'

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 3 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in German by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-25 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. heise online, 20 August 2024; HTTP 200, full text read. Relays the reporter's account to SWR; the SWR report itself was not fetched. The body names the reporter; this record does not. Applies to s1.

Read in German by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-25 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. COMPUTER BILD, 20 August 2024; HTTP 200, full text read. Relays the SWR report; same origin as s1. Names the reporter. Applies to s2.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-25; no translation needed. The Register, 26 August 2024; HTTP 200, full text read. Adds the reporter's own email to The Register (the same witness as the SWR account) and a Microsoft spokesperson's statement. Names the reporter. Applies to s3.

Read in German by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-25 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Pforzheimer Zeitung, 17 May 2025; HTTP 200 but paywalled: only the opening paragraph was inspected, used for the year of discovery. Names the reporter. Applies to s4.

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

He works as a court reporter in the Tübingen area for several publications (The Register). He found the answers by asking about himself; the country rests on his working area, not on the outlets or on the seat of the Bavarian data-protection authority that intervened.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-25: Published because Copilot's own answers attributed crimes to a named court reporter and, as reported, disclosed his contact details, and he described the effect; the account rests on his statements to SWR and The Register as reported, with Microsoft's statement.

People described

An adult court reporter working in the Tübingen area for several publications (named in the sources; not named here)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the court reporter, who discovered the answers by asking Copilot about himself (The Register). Exact 1.

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

Tags

#microsoft-copilot#false-accusation#defamation#personal-data-disclosure#germany#journalist

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). German court reporter says Microsoft Copilot described him as a child abuser and fraudster and gave out his address; prosecutors rejected his complaint. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-germany-microsoft-copilot-falsely-described-court-reporter-as-criminal-and-disclosed-his-address

BibTeX

@misc{2024_germany_microsoft_copilot_falsely_described_court_reporter_as_criminal_and_disclosed_his_address,
  title = {German court reporter says Microsoft Copilot described him as a child abuser and fraudster and gave out his address; prosecutors rejected his complaint},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-germany-microsoft-copilot-falsely-described-court-reporter-as-criminal-and-disclosed-his-address}
}

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