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NOPE
Low reported severity

Couple reportedly stranded on Mount Misen after the ropeway had closed despite a 17:30 last-descent time given by ChatGPT

BBC Travel reported on 29 September 2025 that a travel blogger and her husband used ChatGPT to plan a sunset hike up Mount Misen on Itsukushima (Miyajima) in Japan earlier that year. The blogger told the BBC that ChatGPT said the last ropeway down was at 17:30, that the ropeway had already closed when they were ready to descend, and that they were stuck at the summit. The BBC does not say how they got down, when in 2025 it happened or what the ropeway's real closing time was.

AI system
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Occurred
2025
Reported
29 September 2025
Event location
Japan
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Other Material Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
2 claims: 2 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

Reported harm

According to the blogger quoted by the BBC, the couple were stuck at the mountain summit after the ropeway they planned to descend by had closed. No injury is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Month and day of the hike are not stated. 2025 rests on 'earlier this year' in the 29 September 2025 article.
  • How the couple got down, how long they were stranded and any cost or injury are not reported (watson.de says the report does not say).
  • The ChatGPT prompt and reply were not shown, and the ropeway's actual closing time on that day is not stated.
  • The BBC article is a trend feature. Only the blogger's account of this event is given, from a single witness.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The blogger's first-person account to the BBC names ChatGPT as the source of the itinerary and the 17:30 last-descent time. The chat was not seen.

2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A travel blogger and her husband used ChatGPT to plan a hike up Mount Misen in Japan. ChatGPT said the last ropeway down was at 17:30. The ropeway had already closed when they were ready to descend and they were stuck at the summit.

Causal attribution. The blogger attributes the stranding to ChatGPT's stated ropeway time. The BBC reports her account without independent verification of the chat or of the ropeway's actual hours.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The couple used ChatGPT to plan a romantic hike to the top of Mount Misen on the Japanese island of Itsukushima earlier this year.
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    ChatGPT said the last ropeway down was at 17:30, but in reality, the ropeway had already closed. So, we were stuck at the mountain top.
  • watson.de(opens in new tab) context · German
    Wie das Paar mit der Situation umging, geht aus dem Bericht nicht hervor.
Reported The couple set off at 15:00 to reach the summit by sunset, as ChatGPT had instructed.

Causal attribution. Account of the blogger as relayed by the BBC. The plan followed was ChatGPT's according to the account.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    they set off at 15:00 to hike to the montain's summit in time for sunset, exactly as ChatGPT had instructed them.

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

English original, no translation. Applies to s1.

German article that relays the BBC account and cites the BBC as its source. Read by an AI model without human translation review. Not independent of s1. Applies to s2.

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

BBC places the hike on Mount Misen on the Japanese island of Itsukushima. The couple's home country is not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: A first-person account by the affected traveller to the BBC, relayed by a German outlet that cites the BBC. One source chain. Unverified and the outcome after the stranding is unknown.

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

2 AI participants · 0 other people harmed

The BBC says the couple used ChatGPT and the blogger says "we were stuck at the mountain top", so both people are counted once.

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

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Couple reportedly stranded on Mount Misen after the ropeway had closed despite a 17:30 last-descent time given by ChatGPT. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-japan-miyajima-couple-reportedly-stuck-mount-misen-after-chatgpt-ropeway-closing-time

BibTeX

@misc{2025_japan_miyajima_couple_reportedly_stuck_mount_misen_after_chatgpt_ropeway_closing_time,
  title = {Couple reportedly stranded on Mount Misen after the ropeway had closed despite a 17:30 last-descent time given by ChatGPT},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-japan-miyajima-couple-reportedly-stuck-mount-misen-after-chatgpt-ropeway-closing-time}
}

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