{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-02T17:26:18.064Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"addiction","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-character-ai-addiction-failed-subjects-relapse-during-depression-recovery-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'coming out of a Character Ai addiction that ruined my entire 2025, causing me to fail important subjects and several other things'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they are coming out of a Character.AI addiction that ruined their entire 2025 and caused them to fail important subjects and several other things.","causal_attribution":"Poster's attribution of the failed subjects to the addiction; not independently established."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'This year, I’ve started to get back on track little by little; there have been some relapses, but I’m making progress'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that during 2026 they have started to get back on track little by little, with some relapses.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I recently came out of a really bad depressive episode'; 'and create a new C.AI account'; 'I spent two and a half hours on it today'; 'for someone in recovery like me, it is) before finally deleting the account'; 'saying that I never want to do anything and that I spend all my time in bed'; 'that immediately made me want to stay in bed'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that after a recent bad depressive episode, a parent's remark made them want to create a new Character.AI account, and that they spent two and a half hours on it that day before deleting the account.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the depressive episode is not attributed to Character.AI."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'My therapist is going to talk to my parents about my depressive episode on Saturday'; 'exercising, studying for exams and retakes'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they are exercising and studying for exams and retakes, and that their therapist will talk to their parents about the depressive episode on Saturday.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."}],"effects":[{"label":"failed important subjects in 2025, which the poster attributes to a Character.AI addiction","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"relapse of two and a half hours on a new Character.AI account during recovery from a depressive episode","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/1wvd74l/parents_reigniting_depression_who_would_have/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-02: full self-text retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID; the thread had no comments at retrieval. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-cai-addiction-depression-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["education","health","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the poster's Character.AI use began and what they used the characters for.","Which subjects were failed and at what level of education.","The poster's age and country.","The local date of the relapse: the post says 'today' and was published at 22:26 UTC on 1 October 2026, which is 1 or 2 October depending on the poster's time zone."],"geography":{"basis":"The post does not say where the poster lives. Language and subreddit are not used to infer a country. Unknown after review.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter's public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of an ongoing adverse experience: a self-described Character.AI addiction with failed subjects and a relapse during recovery, described with attribution and without corroboration. No handle is recorded and no identifying detail is used.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-02"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster names Character.AI (\"Character Ai\", \"C.AI\") as the app they were addicted to and the app on which they created a new account and spent two and a half hours. No screenshots or conversation content were published, and the characters used are not described.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a person recovering from what they call a Character.AI addiction says it ruined their 2025 and caused them to fail important subjects, and describes relapsing for two and a half hours on a new account after a depressive episode","summary":"In a public post to r/depression at 22:26 UTC on 1 October 2026, a person says they are coming out of a Character.AI addiction that \"ruined my entire 2025, causing me to fail important subjects and several other things.\" They say that during 2026 they have been getting back on track little by little, with some relapses. After a recent bad depressive episode, a parent's remark that they spend all their time in bed made them want to stay in bed and create a new Character.AI account. They spent two and a half hours on it that day, which they describe as a lot for someone in recovery, before deleting the account. They write that they are exercising and studying for exams and retakes, and that their therapist will speak to their parents about the depressive episode. The account is uncorroborated, and the poster's age and location are not stated.","incidentDate":"2025-01-01","incidentEndDate":"2026-10-02","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-01","aiSystem":"Character.AI (character chatbot app), which the poster calls \"Character Ai\" and \"C.AI\"; the characters used are not named","aiProduct":"Character.AI","aiCompany":"Character Technologies, Inc.","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["educational_harm","functional_impairment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says a Character.AI addiction ruined their 2025 and caused them to fail important subjects, and that during recovery from a depressive episode they relapsed for two and a half hours on a new account before deleting it (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who reports failing subjects and the relapse. The parents and the therapist report no harm of their own. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/1wvd74l/parents_reigniting_depression_who_would_have/","primarySourceLabel":"r/depression, 1 October 2026: \"Parents reigniting depression? Who would have thought…\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-02T03:17:27.360789+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-02T03:17:27.360789+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","character-ai","dependency","addiction","relapse","education","depression","communicated-with"]}]}