{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T06:32:23.664Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"adult","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2026","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":16,"coverage":{"cases":16,"countries":7,"languages":10,"unknownLocation":3,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":9,"contextualRelations":3,"mixedRelations":1,"unknownRelations":5,"relationPending":5,"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-china-older-relative-bought-several-high-priced-orders-from-ai-xiaohai-persona-shop-window","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'这些由AI批量生成的少年，统一是清秀乖巧、缺少母爱的大学生人设，靠一声声“姨姨妈妈”把中老年女性引向高价橱窗，部分商品佣金高达55%。'; '他们用的，正是造出“小海”的那套AI工具'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'这些由AI批量生成的“假晚辈”，利用老人们渴望陪伴的心理，盯上了老年人的钱包。'; '记者在短视频平台搜索发现，让这位老人深信不疑的，正是近期在网络上批量出现的“数字人小海”。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The 'Xiaohai' persona videos on Chinese short-video platforms are generated in batches with AI and aimed at older viewers' money through sales.","causal_attribution":"Two separate reporting efforts: the Beijing News investigation and a China National Radio reporter's own platform search."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'朋友家的一位长辈也刷到了小海，一天把手机递过去说：“闺女，你给我看一下这个视频，他怎么那么惨？”朋友凑过去一看才发现，老人已经在小海的橱窗里，高价买了好几单商品。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to a university student interviewed by the Beijing News, a friend's older relative who had been watching 'Xiaohai' videos asked the friend why the boy was so badly off, and the friend found that the relative had already bought several orders of goods at high prices through the persona's shop window.","causal_attribution":"The student's second-hand account of the friend's discovery; the relative was not interviewed and no amount is given."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'他们用的，正是造出“小海”的那套AI工具'; '9月28日，这条视频发布后，收获了几十个点赞。'; '视频做好后，朋友拿这条视频给那位长辈看。'; '长辈说，“哎呀，怎么是这样的呀，我以后不买他（小海）的东西了。”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The student made a counter-video with the same AI tools, posted on 28 September, and after the friend showed it to the relative, the relative said they would not buy the persona's goods again.","causal_attribution":"The student's account as reported by the paper."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'报道刊发后，新京报记者发现文中涉及的多个“AI小海”账号，已无法在短视频平台上搜索到。'; '那些仍保留卖惨视频的账号，评论区也已变了风向——曾经一边倒的“心疼”声里，涌入大量质疑这是AI合成、提醒家人别上当的留言。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After the paper's 16 October investigation, several 'Xiaohai' accounts it named could no longer be found on the platform, and comments under remaining videos increasingly questioned whether they were AI-made.","causal_attribution":"The paper's own observation of the platform after publication."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'记者注意到，不少涉事账号确实在视频角落打上了“AI生成”水印。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"China National Radio's reporter noticed that many of the 'Xiaohai' accounts carry an 'AI-generated' watermark in the corner of their videos.","causal_attribution":"Counterevidence on disclosure from one reporter's observation; whether the videos the relative watched carried it is not stated."}],"effects":[{"label":"bought several high-priced orders from an AI-generated persona's shop window, as reported","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1792284998168989.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Beijing News follow-up by reporter Qi Shaoqian, dated 2026-10-18 08:56 (bodies/fx-bjnews-xiaohai-1018.html/.txt). Read in Chinese on 2026-10-19 (live page, HTTP 200) and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator or reviewer.","independence_group":"bjnews-xiaohai-follow-up-2026-10-18"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2026/10-18/10716530.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Chinanews publication of a China National Radio (Voice of China) report, dated 2026-10-18 (bodies/fx-chinanews-xiaohai.html/.txt). Read in Chinese on 2026-10-19 (live page, HTTP 200) and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator or reviewer.","independence_group":"cnr-voice-of-china-xiaohai-2026-10-18"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","finance"],"unknowns":["When the purchases were made: before the student's counter-video of 28 September 2026, otherwise undated.","How much was spent, what was bought, and whether any refund was sought.","Which account, platform and AI tool were involved, and whether the videos the relative watched carried an AI label."],"geography":{"basis":"Both reports describe the persona accounts on Chinese short-video platforms and their older Chinese viewers, which places the event in China. Neither says where the relative lives, so no affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with through an AI-generated persona): two independent reports establish that the 'Xiaohai' persona videos are AI-generated sales personas, and a student's account in the Beijing News describes a friend's older relative buying several high-priced orders after pitying the persona. The purchase rests on that single second-hand account and is reported.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-19"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Beijing News (from its own investigation) and a China National Radio reporter (from a platform search) both report that the 'Xiaohai' persona videos are AI-generated in batches by account operators and steer older viewers to shop windows; China National Radio notes that many accounts carry an 'AI-generated' watermark. The student's account connects the persona's hardship videos to the relative's pity and purchases. The persona is the AI-generated speaker the relative watched; which account, tool or platform was involved, and whether that video carried a label, is not stated.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Beijing News: a student says a friend's older relative bought several high-priced orders from an AI-generated 'Xiaohai' persona's shop window","summary":"The Beijing News reported on 18 October 2026, in a follow-up to its investigation of 'Xiaohai' accounts on Chinese short-video platforms, that the accounts show AI-generated teenage boys who address older women as 'aunties and mothers' and steer them to high-priced shop windows. A university student told the paper that an older relative of a friend had been watching 'Xiaohai' videos and asked the friend why the boy was so badly off; the friend then found that the relative had already bought several orders of goods at high prices through the persona's shop window. The student made a counter-video with the same AI tools, posted on 28 September, in which the persona admits to deceiving viewers; after the friend showed it to the relative, the relative said they would not buy the persona's goods again. The amount spent and the goods bought are not reported. China National Radio's report the same day also describes the 'Xiaohai' videos as AI-generated and notes that many carry an 'AI-generated' watermark.","incidentDate":"2026-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-18","aiSystem":"AI-generated 'Xiaohai' digital-human persona videos with linked shop windows on Chinese short-video platforms, made by account operators with AI tools; no tool or platform is named","aiProduct":"Unidentified video tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to a student quoted by the Beijing News, a friend's older relative who pitied an AI-generated persona bought several orders of goods at high prices through its shop window; the amount is not reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One older relative, described in the student's account (claim c2). Viewers, commenters and the 79-year-old in a separate published row are not counted here.","victimAgeRange":"elderly","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1792284998168989.html","primarySourceLabel":"The Beijing News, 18 Oct 2026: young people make 'bad Xiaohai' AI videos to counter the AI persona selling to older women","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-19T03:18:43.362233+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-19T03:18:43.362233+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["ai-generated-persona","digital-human","older-adult","short-video","live-commerce","china","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-china-elderly-woman-set-off-alone-by-train-after-ai-generated-xiaohai-persona-video-invitation","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'这些“小海”都是AI生成的数字人'; '运营者批量生成“ AI 小海”后，输入卖惨、认亲的话术和文案，博取中老年人的同情，最终把流量引到商品橱窗。'; '新京报记者照着教程“生成”了一个“小海”。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The Beijing News reports that the 'Xiaohai' accounts are AI-generated digital humans that operators produce in batches with AI tools and scripted hardship stories to steer older viewers to sales links, and that its reporter generated such a video by following a tutorial.","causal_attribution":"The paper's own investigation, including operator interviews and its reproduction of the method."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'79岁的老人'; '独居'; '平日里陪她说话最多的，是手机里那个叫“小海”的少年'; '今年5月前后，“小海”在视频里邀请“姨姨妈妈”们去山西运城看杏花、上山摘羊肚菌。'; '悄悄收拾行李买了火车票'; '到了再说'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to the paper, a 79-year-old woman who lived alone talked most with the 'Xiaohai' on her phone, and around May 2026, after a 'Xiaohai' video invited viewers to Yuncheng in Shanxi to see apricot blossoms, she secretly packed and bought a train ticket without a clear plan for the route.","causal_attribution":"The paper's account; it does not say whether it interviewed her or drew on a police account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'在火车上，乘警注意到了这位独自出行、连路都说不清的老人。'; '手机里那个“小海”不是真人'; '老人起初怎么都不肯信'; '乘警随后联系上老人的子女，家人才知道她出了远门，最终为她买好返程的车票，把她接回了家。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On the train, railway police noticed her travelling alone and unable to explain her route, told her that 'Xiaohai' was not a real person, and contacted her children, who bought her return ticket and took her home; she at first refused to believe it.","causal_attribution":"The paper's account of the police intervention."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'尽管目前大多“小海”视频都带有“作品声明：内容由AI生成”，部分账号简介写明“AI数字人，大家理性看待”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The paper found that most 'Xiaohai' videos now carry the declaration 'content generated by AI' and that some account profiles say 'AI digital human', but that viewers' purchases and declarations of kinship had not stopped.","causal_attribution":"Counterevidence on disclosure; the paper does not say whether the video she watched carried the label."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'今年五月，乌鲁木齐铁路公安的乘警在巡视车厢时，发现一位79岁的老人独自一人乘车远行，神情焦急。'; '只知道自己要去山西运城“走亲戚”，看望一个天天在手机里喊她“姨妈”的苦命孩子。'; '阿姨我和您说，这直播间里的人，是假的。'; '在乘警的耐心劝说和联系下，这位老人最终下车，坐家人买好的返程票回到了家。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'前阵子，乌鲁木齐乘警就发现，一位不识字的79岁老人，瞒着家人偷偷买了火车票，想去山西运城见“亲人小海”。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"China National Radio reports, with recorded exchanges, that in May 2026 Urumqi railway police found a 79-year-old who cannot read travelling alone to Yuncheng in Shanxi to visit a child who called her 'auntie' on her phone; an officer told her the person in the live room was fake, and she got off and returned home on a ticket her family bought.","causal_attribution":"China National Radio's report built on the railway police encounter; CCTV News relays the same report. Whether the Beijing News and CNR drew on the same police material is not stated, so the two chains are not treated as independent."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'让这位老人深信不疑的，正是近期在网络上批量出现的“数字人小海”。'; '不少涉事账号确实在视频角落打上了“AI生成”水印。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"China National Radio's reporter found that the persona the woman trusted was one of the batch-produced AI 'digital human Xiaohai' accounts, and that many such accounts carry an 'AI-generated' watermark in a corner of the video.","causal_attribution":"The station's own platform search, as it reports."}],"effects":[{"label":"set off alone by train to visit an AI-generated persona she believed was real, as reported","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"persuaded off the train by railway police who told her the person in the live room was fake","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1792114817169572.html","kind":"news_investigation","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-10-18 (live page, HTTP 200; bodies/fx-bjnews-aixiaohai.html/.txt) and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator or reviewer. Beijing News investigation by reporter Qi Shaoqian, dated 2026-10-16 09:40. Re-checked on 2026-10-23 against the body retained from that read; the live page did not load on 2026-10-23.","independence_group":"bjnews-xiaohai-investigation-2026-10"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.hunantoday.cn/news/xhn/202610/34028693.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read live in Chinese on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200) and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator or reviewer. New Hunan relay of a China National Radio (Voice of China) report by reporter Ren Mengyan, page dated 2026-10-19.","independence_group":"cmg-cnr-xiaohai-2026-10"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6ad76363e4b039a8e2f29216.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read live in Chinese on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200) and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator or reviewer. Beijing Daily app relay of CCTV News (same China Media Group report).","independence_group":"cmg-cnr-xiaohai-2026-10"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","relationships"],"unknowns":["Where she lived and boarded, and the exact date in May 2026; CNR names Urumqi railway police, which does not by itself locate her home.","Whether she bought goods through the persona's sales links or lost money.","Whether the video she watched carried an AI-generated label.","Which AI tools and platform were involved.","Whether the Beijing News and CNR accounts rest on the same railway police material."],"geography":{"basis":"The journey was by train towards Taiyuan and Yuncheng in Shanxi and railway police intervened on the train, which places the event in China. The paper does not say where she lived, so no affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Core case (communicated_with): an AI-generated 'Xiaohai' persona's videos drew a 79-year-old to set off alone by train to visit it, believing it was real, until railway police intervened, as reported by the Beijing News and by China National Radio with the recorded police exchange. The woman is not identified; claims about her journey are reported.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Two separate journalistic investigations attribute the 'Xiaohai' persona to AI generation: the Beijing News, whose reporter generated such a video by following a tutorial, and China National Radio, whose reporter's platform search found that the persona this woman trusted was one of the batch-produced AI 'digital human' accounts, many with an 'AI-generated' watermark. Both describe her journey in response to the persona's videos. The specific video she watched, its label and the tool are not identified.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"A 79-year-old set off alone by train to visit an AI-generated 'Xiaohai' persona until railway police intervened, Beijing News and state radio report","summary":"The Beijing News reported on 16 October 2026, in an investigation of 'Xiaohai' accounts on Chinese short-video platforms, that the accounts show an AI-generated digital teenager who calls older women viewers 'aunties and mothers', tells stories of hardship and asks them to buy goods through sales links; its reporter generated such a video by following a tutorial, in a little over ten minutes. The paper describes a 79-year-old woman, given a pseudonym, who lived alone and talked most with the 'Xiaohai' on her phone. Around May 2026, according to the paper, a 'Xiaohai' video invited viewers to Yuncheng in Shanxi to see apricot blossoms; she secretly packed, bought a train ticket and set off with no clear route. On the train, railway police noticed her, told her that 'Xiaohai' was not a real person, and contacted her children, who bought her return ticket and brought her home. At first she refused to believe it. The paper also found that most 'Xiaohai' videos now carry a declaration that the content is AI-generated. How the paper learned of her journey is not stated. China National Radio (China Media Group) reported the same journey on 19 October 2026 with recorded exchanges between the woman and a train police officer: in May 2026 Urumqi railway police found a 79-year-old who cannot read travelling alone, able to say only that she was going to Yuncheng in Shanxi to see a child who called her 'auntie' every day on her phone; the officer told her the person in the live room was fake, and she got off and went home on a return ticket her family bought. The station's reporter found that the persona she trusted was one of the batch-produced 'digital human Xiaohai' accounts and that many carry an 'AI-generated' watermark in a corner of the video.","incidentDate":"2026-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-16","aiSystem":"AI-generated 'Xiaohai' digital-human persona videos on Chinese short-video platforms, made by account operators with AI tools; no tool is named","aiProduct":"Unidentified video tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Beijing News and China National Radio, a 79-year-old who believed an AI-generated persona was a real child set off alone by train after its video invitation, without a clear route; railway police intervened and her family brought her home.","frameworkFacets":[],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The paper describes one woman's journey. The commenters and buyers it mentions are an audience without described individual harm and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"elderly","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1792114817169572.html","primarySourceLabel":"The Beijing News, 16 Oct 2026: AI 'Xiaohai' digital-human accounts selling to older women (investigation)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-18T03:17:29.024758+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-23T03:24:26.496385+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["ai-generated-persona","digital-human","older-adult","short-video","china","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-santarem-para-police-say-woman-70-deceived-by-ai-made-online-profile-left-home-found-at-airport","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Uma idosa de 70 anos foi localizada no aeroporto de Santarém nesta quinta-feira (15). Ela havia desaparecido após sofrer um golpe com inteligência artificial na internet.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"g1 reports that police located a 70-year-old woman at Santarém airport on 15 October 2026 after she had disappeared from home.","causal_attribution":"g1's report based on the police account; one origin."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Segundo a Polícia Civil, a mulher estava sendo enganada por meio de conteúdos produzidos com inteligência artificial (IA), que prometiam emprego, vantagens financeiras e um relacionamento amoroso.'; 'Segundo a Polícia Civil, a idosa de 70 anos acreditava que conseguiria emprego, ganhar dinheiro e se casar com uma pessoa criada por IA.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The Civil Police say the woman was being deceived through content produced with artificial intelligence that promised a job, financial advantages and a romantic relationship.","causal_attribution":"Investigating police attribution relayed by g1 ('Segundo a Polícia Civil'); the delegate's own statements as reported by g1 do not mention AI, and the technical basis is not disclosed."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A equipe conseguiu localizá-la no aeroporto e, durante a conversa, descobriu que ela pretendia viajar para encontrar a pessoa com quem mantinha contato virtual.'; 'Ainda segundo a delegada, a idosa não relatou ter recebido pedidos de dinheiro durante as conversas.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A police delegate says the woman believed the profile's promises and intended to travel to meet the contact, and that she did not report receiving requests for money.","causal_attribution":"Police account given to g1."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A Polícia Civil alerta que situações desse tipo podem colocar idosos em risco, principalmente quando decidem viajar sozinhos para encontrar pessoas que conheceram pela internet.'; 'A delegada também afirmou que o caso não é isolado e que situações semelhantes já foram registradas'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The Civil Police warned that older people travelling alone to meet online contacts can be put at risk, and said similar cases had been recorded.","causal_attribution":"Police warning; general statement, not a finding about this case."}],"effects":[{"label":"woman deceived by an AI-made online profile left home and was reported missing","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://g1.globo.com/pa/santarem-regiao/noticia/2026/10/15/idosa-desaparecida-apos-cair-em-golpe-com-perfil-criado-por-ia-e-achada-em-aeroporto-de-santarem.ghtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"pt","translation_note":"Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-16 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Original regional TV news report by g1 Santarém quoting the Pará Civil Police, 15 October 2026; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"g1-santarem-civil-police-15-oct-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Which platform, tool and type of AI-produced content (images, video or text) the profile used, and how the police established it.","Who ran the profile and whether it is being investigated.","How long the contact lasted and where the woman intended to travel.","Whether the woman or her family suffered other consequences."],"geography":{"basis":"g1 reports that the woman was found at Santarém airport in western Pará, Brazil, by the Pará Civil Police; where the profile's operators were is unknown.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["BR"],"affected_person_countries":["BR"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with): the investigating civil police say a profile using AI-produced content deceived the woman with promises of work, money and marriage, and connect it to her leaving home to meet the contact, which led to a missing-person search. The woman is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Pará Civil Police, who searched for and located the woman and spoke with her, say she was being deceived through content produced with artificial intelligence that promised her a job, money and marriage, and that she believed the profile's promises and left home to travel to meet the contact. The AI-produced content was what the profile presented to her. g1 does not report how the police established AI use, which tool or platform was involved, or whether the conversations themselves were machine-generated; the delegate's own statements as reported by g1 do not mention AI.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Santarém, Brazil: police say a 70-year-old woman deceived by an online profile using AI-made content left home to meet the contact and was found at the airport","summary":"g1 Santarém reported on 15 October 2026 that the Pará Civil Police had located a 70-year-old woman at Santarém airport, in western Pará, after she was reported missing. According to the Civil Police, she had left home intending to travel to meet a person she had been talking to online, and she was being deceived through content produced with artificial intelligence that promised her a job, financial advantages and a romantic relationship. A police delegate told g1 that the woman believed the profile's promises that she could work, earn money and even marry the person, and that she did not report being asked for money. g1 does not report how the police established that the content was made with AI or which platform or tool was involved. The police warned that older people travelling alone to meet online contacts can be exposed to other crimes or go missing without their families knowing where they are.","incidentDate":"2026-10-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-15","aiSystem":"Unidentified artificial-intelligence tool used, according to the Pará Civil Police, to produce the content of an online profile that promised a 70-year-old woman work, money and marriage; the platform and tool are not named","aiProduct":"Unidentified content-generation tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["impaired_judgment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Police say the woman believed promises of work, money and marriage made through AI-produced content and left home to travel to meet the contact; she was reported missing and located at the airport. No money was requested, according to the police.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: g1 reports that a 70-year-old woman was located at Santarém airport ('Uma idosa de 70 anos foi localizada no aeroporto de Santarém').","victimAgeRange":"elderly","jurisdiction":"BR","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://g1.globo.com/pa/santarem-regiao/noticia/2026/10/15/idosa-desaparecida-apos-cair-em-golpe-com-perfil-criado-por-ia-e-achada-em-aeroporto-de-santarem.ghtml","primarySourceLabel":"g1 Santarém, 15 October 2026: woman missing after falling for scam with AI-created profile is found at Santarém airport","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-16T03:07:56.210889+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T03:07:56.210889+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["ai_persona","romance_scam","older_adult","missing_person","brazil"]},{"id":"2026-bangladesh-tv-channel-instagram-face-swap-sexual-videos-of-two-actresses-fact-checker-says-ai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'গত ১৩ অক্টোবর একটি বেসরকারি টেলিভিশন চ্যানেলের ইনস্টাগ্রাম অ্যাকাউন্টে'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'গতকাল ভোররাতে আপত্তিকর এই ভিডিওগুলো আপলোড হওয়ার পর বিকেলে মুছে ফেলার আগ পর্যন্ত তা প্রায় চার লক্ষাধিকবার দেখা হয়ে যায়।'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Objectionable videos depicting two actresses were posted on a private television channel's Instagram account on 13 October 2026; Dhaka Files reports they were uploaded before dawn and removed in the afternoon after roughly 400,000 views.","causal_attribution":"Outlets' reports of the posting; the date comes from Prothom Alo and is consistent with Dhaka Files' 'yesterday' in a 14 October report. The view count is Dhaka Files' figure alone."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'ঘটনাটি অনুসন্ধান করেছে তথ্য যাচাইকারী প্রতিষ্ঠান রিউমর স্ক্যানার। গতকাল বুধবার প্রকাশিত প্রতিবেদনে প্রতিষ্ঠানটি জানিয়েছে, আলোচিত ভিডিওগুলো আসল নয়। অন্য ভিডিওতে ফেস সোয়াপ প্রযুক্তির মাধ্যমে দুই অভিনেত্রীর মুখ বসিয়ে সেগুলো তৈরি করা হয়েছে।'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'অনুসন্ধানী ফ্যাক্ট-চেকিং সংস্থা'; 'প্রতিবেদনে স্পষ্ট জানানো হয়েছে যে, ইনস্টাগ্রামে প্রচারিত ভিডিও দুটি সম্পূর্ণ কৃত্রিম ও সম্পাদিত। ফেস সোয়াপ প্রযুক্তি অর্থাৎ এআই ব্যবহার করে প্রাপ্তবয়স্কদের সাইটের মূল ভিডিওতে তারকাদের মুখমণ্ডল বসিয়ে এসব কনটেন্ট তৈরি করা হয়েছে।'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The fact-checker Rumor Scanner reported that the videos were not genuine and had been made by placing the two actresses' faces onto other videos with face-swap technology; Dhaka Files' relay adds that the source videos came from adult websites.","causal_attribution":"Rumor Scanner's finding, relayed by both outlets (one origin); the report itself was not read. The adult-website source detail and the AI gloss come from Dhaka Files' relay."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'পরে চ্যানেল কর্তৃপক্ষ জানায়, তাদের অ্যাকাউন্ট হ্যাক করে এআই প্রযুক্তির অপব্যবহারে তৈরি ভুয়া ছবি ও ভিডিও প্রকাশ করা হয়েছে। অ্যাকাউন্ট পুনরুদ্ধার করে সেসব সরিয়ে ফেলা হয়েছে বলেও জানায় প্রতিষ্ঠানটি।'; 'মাছরাঙা কর্তৃপক্ষও এ ঘটনায় দুঃখ প্রকাশ করেছে এবং আইনি পদক্ষেপ নেওয়ার কথা জানিয়েছে।'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'অবশেষে গতকাল সন্ধ্যায় বিটিআরসি, সিআইডি এবং বনানী থানার সহায়তায় অ্যাকাউন্ট পুনরুদ্ধার ও সব আপত্তিকর ভিডিও সরিয়ে নেওয়ার কথা আনুষ্ঠানিকভাবে জানায় মাছরাঙা টেলিভিশন কর্তৃপক্ষ। একই সঙ্গে অনিচ্ছাকৃত এমন বিভ্রান্তির জন্য দুঃখ প্রকাশ করা হয়।'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The channel said its account had been hacked and that fake images and videos made by misusing AI had been published; it said it recovered the account with help from BTRC, the CID and Banani police station, removed the videos, expressed regret and announced legal action.","causal_attribution":"The channel's statement relayed by both outlets (one origin). The AI wording is the channel's as relayed by Prothom Alo; the BTRC/CID/police detail is Dhaka Files' alone; legal action is Prothom Alo's alone."},{"id":"c4","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"'তবে অ্যাকাউন্ট হ্যাকের দাবি সত্ত্বেও পৃষ্ঠার নিয়মিত সংবাদ প্রকাশ অব্যাহত থাকা এবং দেরিতে পদক্ষেপ নেওয়াকে কেন্দ্র করে তৈরি হয়েছে নানা ধোঁয়াশা।'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Dhaka Files reports doubts about the hack claim, because routine news posts continued from the account during the period and the channel acted late.","causal_attribution":"Dhaka Files' own observation of the account and of online reaction; it disputes the channel's account of how the videos came to be posted, not the face-swap finding."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'পোস্টের শুরুতেই তিনি লিখেছেন, ‘এআই ব্যবহার করে কারও নামে মিথ্যা ও বানোয়াট কনটেন্ট তৈরি করা এবং কাউকে হেয় করার উদ্দেশ্যে তা ছড়িয়ে দেওয়া কোনো বিনোদন নয়। এটি একটি অপরাধ।’'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On 15 October one of the actresses wrote on her Facebook page that making false and fabricated content in someone's name with AI and spreading it to demean them is not entertainment but a crime.","causal_attribution":"The actress's own post as quoted by Prothom Alo; the post itself was not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"sexual depiction of two actresses in face-swapped videos posted publicly","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.prothomalo.com/entertainment/tv/wocy6jzwbn","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"bn","translation_note":"Read in Bengali by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-16 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Prothom Alo entertainment report, 15 October 2026 (11:30 BST), relaying the channel's statement, the Rumor Scanner fact-check and the actress's Facebook post; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"prothom-alo-15-oct-2026"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://dhakafiles.com/entertainment/maasranga-tv-instagram-hack-claim-and-fake-star-videos","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"bn","translation_note":"Read in Bengali by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-16 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Dhaka Files entertainment report, 14 October 2026, with its own account of the posting, deletion and hack-claim doubts and a relay of the Rumor Scanner fact-check; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"dhaka-files-14-oct-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Who made the face-swapped videos and who posted them, including whether the account was hacked as the channel says.","Which tool was used; the Rumor Scanner report itself could not be read.","Whether a criminal case was filed and its outcome.","The second actress's response; no statement from her is reported in the sources read."],"geography":{"basis":"Both outlets describe the posting on the Instagram account of a Bangladeshi private television channel and the account recovery with Bangladeshi bodies (BTRC, CID, Banani police station); the actresses are described as two of the country's leading actresses (Dhaka Files). No court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["BD"],"affected_person_countries":["BD"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): a fact-checker that examined the videos found that face-swap technology placed two actresses' faces onto adult videos, and the channel that posted them says the material was AI-made. The actresses are not named; the hack claim is recorded as disputed.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The fact-checking organisation Rumor Scanner, which examined the videos, reported (as relayed by Prothom Alo and Dhaka Files) that they were not genuine and had been made by placing the two actresses' faces onto other videos with face-swap technology; Dhaka Files relays that the source videos came from adult websites and glosses face swap as AI. The channel's statement also says the material was made by misusing AI. These face-swapped videos are the sexual depiction of the two actresses that was posted publicly. The fact-check itself could not be read, and the tool used is not named.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Bangladesh: fact-checker says face-swap AI put two actresses' faces on adult videos posted from a TV channel's Instagram account, which says it was hacked","summary":"On 13 October 2026 two videos depicting two Bangladeshi actresses in sexual content were posted on the official Instagram account of the private television channel Maasranga Television. The fact-checking organisation Rumor Scanner reported, as relayed by Prothom Alo and Dhaka Files, that the videos were not genuine and had been made by placing the actresses' faces onto other videos with face-swap technology; Dhaka Files adds that the source videos came from adult websites and describes the technology as AI. The channel said its account had been hacked and that fake images and videos made by misusing AI had been published; it announced that it had recovered the account with the help of BTRC, the CID and Banani police station, removed the videos, expressed regret and said it would take legal action. Dhaka Files reports the videos were viewed roughly 400,000 times before deletion and records doubts about the hack claim, because routine posts continued from the account during the period. On 15 October one of the actresses wrote on her Facebook page that creating and spreading fabricated content in someone's name with AI is a crime. Who made or posted the videos is not established in the sources.","incidentDate":"2026-10-13","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-10-14","aiSystem":"Unidentified face-swap tool that, according to the fact-checker Rumor Scanner as relayed by Prothom Alo and Dhaka Files, placed two actresses' faces onto other videos; Dhaka Files relays that the source videos came from adult websites and describes the face-swap technology as AI; no product is named","aiProduct":"Unidentified video tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the fact-checker Rumor Scanner, as relayed by two outlets, two actresses were depicted in sexual videos made with face-swap technology and posted from a television channel's Instagram account; one actress publicly objected.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Prothom Alo and Dhaka Files relay Rumor Scanner's finding that the two actresses' faces were placed onto the videos (Prothom Alo: 'দুই অভিনেত্রীর মুখ বসিয়ে'). The roughly 400,000 views are an audience figure and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"BD","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.prothomalo.com/entertainment/tv/wocy6jzwbn","primarySourceLabel":"Prothom Alo, 15 October 2026: an actress asks when other people's humiliation became a source of income","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-16T03:04:45.711933+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T03:12:37.09519+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["face_swap","sexual_deepfake","instagram","television_channel","fact_check","bangladesh"]},{"id":"2026-chatgpt-adult-subscriber-says-account-classified-as-teen-and-restricted-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Then age verification rolled out and I got classified as a teen account, no kidding, on my 36 th birthday.' ... 'But not when I got put on a restricted account, go figure.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster, who says they are 36, says that when OpenAI's age checks rolled out their ChatGPT account was classified as a teen account and was put on a restricted account.","causal_attribution":"The poster's own account, uncorroborated, so reported."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'After I had already emailed them about non-ID/photo options to verify like your credit card if I should get hit by this. They just sent me a canned answer about how great Persona is and when I escalated it to data protection, they basically said that I had to be profiled first'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they had earlier emailed OpenAI asking for verification options without ID or a photo, received a canned reply about Persona, and on escalating to data protection was told they had to be profiled first.","causal_attribution":"The poster's own account of correspondence that is not published, so reported."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'So I cancelled my subscription'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster cancelled their ChatGPT subscription after the classification.","causal_attribution":"The poster's own statement; the connection to the classification is the poster's sequence of events."},{"id":"c4","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'If ChatGPT predicts that an account may belong to someone under 18 and the account is eligible, ChatGPT automatically enables the ChatGPT for Teens experience.' ... 'ChatGPT uses an age prediction system. It looks at different signals linked to your account.' ... 'No system is perfect. Sometimes ChatGPT may get it wrong.' ... 'If you are 18 or older and were placed in the ChatGPT for Teens experience by mistake, you can verify your age.' ... 'Your account stays active, and you can still use ChatGPT to learn, create, and ask questions.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"OpenAI's Help Center says ChatGPT uses an age prediction system that reads account signals, automatically enables the ChatGPT for Teens experience when it predicts an account may belong to someone under 18, can get this wrong, and lets adults placed there by mistake verify their age; it says the account stays active.","causal_attribution":"Directly established by OpenAI's own published page as a description of the system; it does not establish what happened to this account."}],"effects":[{"label":"An adult subscriber's ChatGPT account was classified as a teen account and restricted, according to the poster","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTcomplaints/comments/1x2x24z/done_with_chatgpt_and_what_i_realized_after/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English post read in full from the subreddit's Atom feed and the post's own comment feed (HTTP 200 each, 11 Oct 2026); the comment feed held only the post, with no replies. The URL carries no username; the poster's handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-poster-1x2x24z"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260924151959/https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12652064-age-prediction-in-chatgpt","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English Help Center page read through a Wayback Machine capture of 24 September 2026 (the live page answered HTTP 403 to the fetcher); the page describes the system in general and does not mention this poster.","independence_group":"openai-help-center"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","privacy"],"unknowns":["When the classification happened. The post gives no date; it describes about six months of heavy use before the post of 11 October 2026 and places the classification after the poster subscribed, so the record uses that six-month window.","Which mechanism classified the account (OpenAI's behaviour-based age prediction or another check); the poster calls it age verification and had not verified.","Which restrictions applied to the account, and whether the poster attempted the verification route OpenAI describes.","Whether OpenAI has reviewed or reversed the classification."],"geography":{"basis":"The post does not say where the poster lives or uses ChatGPT; the mention of a data-protection escalation does not establish a country. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account: an adult says ChatGPT classified their account as a teen account and restricted it, that a data-protection escalation was met with a requirement to be profiled first, and that they cancelled the subscription. OpenAI's Help Center documents the age prediction system that makes such classifications. The account is uncorroborated and attributed to the poster; the handle is not recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-11"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says that when OpenAI's age checks rolled out, their account was classified as a teen account and put on a restricted account; the post describes asking OpenAI about verification options in advance and does not mention completing a verification. OpenAI's Help Center says ChatGPT may use the age associated with an account, a verified age or age prediction to decide whether the account gets the teen experience, and that its age prediction system reads signals linked to the account and can get this wrong. The post does not name the mechanism. The poster gives their age as 36 and describes no verification, so of the paths OpenAI lists, age prediction is the one that fits the poster's account; this is an inference from OpenAI's page, not a statement in the post. That classification is the system's decision about the poster (made_decision_about), and the restricted account and the cancelled subscription are the consequences the poster reports. The classification rests on the poster's account alone, which does not name the mechanism beyond age verification, so the status is reported.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about"]},"name":"Adult ChatGPT Plus subscriber says the account was classified as a teen and restricted, and that OpenAI said profiling had to come first; first-person post","summary":"In a Reddit post of 11 October 2026, a ChatGPT Plus subscriber who says they are an adult (36, by the post's own account) writes that when OpenAI's age checks rolled out their account was classified as a teen account and put on a restricted account. The poster says they had earlier emailed OpenAI asking for verification options without ID or a photo, received a canned reply about the verification provider Persona, and on escalating to data protection was told they had to be profiled first. The poster says they then cancelled the subscription. OpenAI's Help Center says ChatGPT uses an age prediction system that reads account signals, automatically enables the teen experience when it predicts an account may belong to someone under 18, can get this wrong, and lets adults verify their age to remove it. The account is the poster's own and is not corroborated.","incidentDate":"2026-04-11","incidentEndDate":"2026-10-11","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-10-11","aiSystem":"ChatGPT's age check that placed the account in the ChatGPT for Teens experience, which the poster calls age verification; OpenAI says such placements use an account's associated or verified age or an age prediction system that reads account signals","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the poster's own account, ChatGPT classified their adult account as a teen account and restricted it, OpenAI answered a data-protection escalation by saying the poster had to be profiled first, and the poster cancelled the paid subscription.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the poster, whose own account was classified and restricted. Other users mentioned in general terms are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTcomplaints/comments/1x2x24z/done_with_chatgpt_and_what_i_realized_after/","primarySourceLabel":"Reddit r/ChatGPTcomplaints, 11 Oct 2026: first-person post, adult subscriber classified as a teen account","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-11T03:15:35.440619+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-11T03:15:35.440619+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","chatgpt","age-prediction","teen-account","account-restriction","persona"]},{"id":"2026-characterai-age-verification-judged-adult-user-a-minor-account-locked-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'came back a month ago to verify my age'; 'the AI verification by Persona and the system is severely faulty'; 'adamant on assuming me as a minor'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they returned to Character.AI about a month before the post to verify their age and that the AI verification by Persona assumed they were a minor, which they say they are not.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the poster's age is not documented."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'photos as well but the AI verification system keeps sending the error message'; 'replies from their automated bots'; 'I think it has been more than 5 tickets already'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they sent ID photos and the verification system kept returning an error, and that more than five support tickets drew only replies from automated bots.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'now the age verification system has locked out from my account'; reply by the poster: 'locking it out on permenent basis'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says the age verification system has locked them out of their account and, in a reply, complains of the system \"locking it out on permenent basis\".","causal_attribution":"Poster attributes the lockout to the AI age verification."}],"effects":[{"label":"adult judged a minor by AI age verification and locked out of their Character.AI account (poster's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1ww66zl/age_verification/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-03: full self-text, the post's three screenshots and the thread's 4 comments, two of them replies by the poster, retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID and from i.redd.it. The poster handle and the display name visible in a screenshot are not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-characterai-age-verification-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","privacy"],"unknowns":["The exact dates of the verification attempts and the lockout; the post says the poster came back 'a month ago'.","What age the system estimated, the poster's actual age and what the lockout covers. The post's screenshots show the app's profile, library and settings screens still open beneath the age error; the post does not say whether they were taken before the lockout.","Whether Character.AI or Persona has reviewed the tickets."],"geography":{"basis":"The post does not say where the poster lives. 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 adult locked out of an account after an AI age check judged them a minor, described with attribution and without corroboration. The poster's handle is not recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-03"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says Character.AI's age verification is an AI verification by Persona and that it repeatedly assumed they were a minor. The post's three screenshots show the app's \"Unable to verify age\" error with a prompt to contact support; they show no age estimate, no vendor name and no lockout notice. No company statement was published.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a long-time Character.AI user who says they are an adult says the app's AI age verification, run through Persona, kept judging them a minor despite ID photos, answered more than five support tickets only with automated replies, and locked them out of their account","summary":"In a public post to r/CharacterAI at 21:47 UTC on 2 October 2026, a person who describes themselves as a veteran user of the Character.AI app says they returned about a month earlier to verify their age, and that the AI verification by Persona assumed they were a minor although they are not. They say they sent photos of their ID, tried desktop and different lighting, and kept getting an error message; that more than five support tickets asking for manual verification drew only replies from automated bots; and that the age verification system has now locked them out of their account. In a reply they say the system should identify people properly instead of \"locking it out on permenent basis\". A commenter says the same check called them underage. The account is uncorroborated, and Character.AI's and Persona's handling is described only by the poster.","incidentDate":"2026-09-02","incidentEndDate":"2026-10-02","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-02","aiSystem":"Character.AI's age verification, which the poster says is an AI verification run through Persona, plus automated support replies to the poster's tickets","aiProduct":"Character.AI age verification","aiCompany":"Character.AI","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says Character.AI's AI age verification through Persona wrongly judged them a minor, that support tickets drew only automated replies, and that the system locked them out of their account (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster. A commenter who says the check also called them underage gives no further detail and is not counted. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1ww66zl/age_verification/","primarySourceLabel":"r/CharacterAI, 2 October 2026: \"Age verification\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-03T03:17:17.653606+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-03T03:17:17.653606+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","character-ai","persona","age-verification","age-estimation","account-lockout","automated-support","made-decision-about"]},{"id":"2026-wyoming-woman-alleges-grok-used-to-make-thousands-of-ai-sexual-images-from-childhood-photo","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"AMENDED COMPLAINT against X.AI Corp., X.AI LLC. Filed by Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 3, Jane Doe 2, Jane Doe 4, Jane Doe 5.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO PROCEED UNDER PSEUDONYM filed by Jane Doe 4, Jane Doe 5.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"ORDER Granting Administrative Motion to Proceed Under Pseudonym. Signed by Judge P. Casey Pitts on 8/3/2026.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Plaintiff Jane Doe 4 is a female who resides in Wyoming","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A first amended class action complaint filed on 7 July 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Doe 1 v. X.AI Corp., 5:26-cv-02246) lists a plaintiff identified as Jane Doe 4, who is stated to reside in Wyoming. The docket records a motion to proceed under pseudonym filed by Jane Doe 4 and Jane Doe 5 on 7 July 2026 and an order granting an administrative motion to proceed under pseudonym on 3 August 2026.","causal_attribution":"The docket and the complaint establish that the filing exists, who filed it and what it alleges. They do not establish that any allegation is true. The docket does not say which pseudonym motion the 3 August order granted."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"On or before February 12, 2026, Jane Doe 4’s stepfather uploaded an image of Jane Doe 4","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Using this image, Jane Doe 4’s stepfather prompted Grok to generate approximately 7,000","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"sexually explicit images depicting Jane Doe 4.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"to generate about 7,000 sexually explicit images and videos from a single photograph","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"made the more than 7,000 fake explicit images of her using the AI chatbot Grok","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Lawmakers in the United States and Europe moved to investigate xAI earlier this year","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Within weeks, Jane Doe 4's stepfather first uploaded the photo of her as a child to Grok","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"and was a minor at the time the","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"posted on X from Grok’s account between December 28, 2025, and January 8, 2026, xAI limited","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"in February, then prompted the platform's AI image generator to create 7,000","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"According to the amended complaint, on or before 12 February 2026 the plaintiff’s stepfather uploaded a photograph of the plaintiff taken in childhood into the Grok application on a phone and prompted Grok to generate approximately 7,000 AI-generated sexual images. NPR reports about 7,000 images and videos and the Washington Post reports more than 7,000 images, both citing the plaintiff’s court filings. The Washington Post, attributing the point to the lawsuit, says the first upload came \"within weeks\" of the controversy over Grok image edits on X, and says lawmakers moved to investigate xAI over that controversy \"earlier this year\". The complaint dates the Grok-posted images in that controversy from 28 December 2025 to 8 January 2026, and Cowboy State Daily paraphrases the complaint as saying the upload was in February.","causal_attribution":"All accounts rest on the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s lawyers: the complaint, the plaintiff’s interview with the Washington Post and counsel’s statements to NPR and Cowboy State Daily. The images were not inspected. The complaint dates the upload only as on or before 12 February 2026 and no source gives the date of the first image."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"sexually explicit images of Jane Doe 4 is because the platform was less restrictive than other AI models and","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Law enforcement told Jane Doe 4 that her stepfather had used Grok because it was more responsive to his prompts than other AI models","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"A forensic review revealed approximately 7,000 AI-generated images and videos depicting","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The complaint alleges, on information and belief, that the stepfather used Grok because it was less restrictive than other AI models. NPR reports that the plaintiff’s lawyer says law enforcement told the plaintiff that the stepfather used Grok because it was more responsive to the stepfather’s prompts than other AI models. A forensic review of devices seized in the search is alleged to have found approximately 7,000 AI-generated images and videos of the plaintiff produced with Grok.","causal_attribution":"The reason for choosing Grok is the complaint’s belief and a statement by counsel about what law enforcement said. No law enforcement statement was found (the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation declined to comment on the litigation) and the forensic finding is stated only in the complaint."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"trafficked Jane Doe 4’s AI-generated","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"has further suffered substantial reputational harm","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"was spread among an unknown number of users online and there is no way now to permanently remove this","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Jane later learned that her stepfather had created thousands of sexually explicit images of her as a child and traded them online, she said.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The complaint alleges, on information and belief, that the stepfather traded the AI-generated images online through social media platforms, and that the plaintiff has suffered substantial reputational harm because the images were spread among an unknown number of users, and that they cannot now be permanently removed from the internet. The plaintiff told the Washington Post that the plaintiff later learned the stepfather had created thousands of these images and traded them online.","causal_attribution":"The trading is alleged on information and belief and is otherwise the plaintiff’s account. No platform, recipient or copy of the images is identified in any source read."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"On or around February 12, 2026,","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"At this point, xAI finally generated a CyberTip to NCMEC.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"xAI, however, included only the original,","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The company did not include any of the abusive images with its report","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"because xAI's tip to NCMEC did not provide any of the explicit fake images","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"xAI failed to respond to the investigator’s requests, and to","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"On or about February 27, 2026, law enforcement obtained","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"failed to share the alleged perpetrator's IP address with NCMEC and law enforcement, even after officials requested it multiple times, according to the complaint","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"tip to NCMEC did not include crucial information from its records, such as the IP addresses associated with her stepfather's account","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"which xAI allegedly refused to provide, the lawsuit claims","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The complaint alleges that on or around 12 February 2026 xAI generated a report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that included only the original photograph and not the generated images, that xAI did not provide the IP address of the upload despite requests from the investigator, and that Wyoming law enforcement then located the stepfather and on or about 27 February 2026 obtained a warrant to search the residence. NPR and the Washington Post report the allegation that the NCMEC report lacked the generated images and the IP address, and Cowboy State Daily reports the allegation that xAI refused to provide the IP address.","causal_attribution":"These are allegations about xAI’s conduct in a pending civil case. xAI did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Post or NPR and has not answered the complaint according to the Post. No NCMEC, xAI or law enforcement record was read."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"stepfather was arrested following the search, charged with child exploitation","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"offenses, and released on bail later that night. Two days later,","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Two days after the raid, her stepfather was found dead","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"stepfather was not charged with child pornography offenses and was released by authorities on the day the warrant was executed","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"because xAI's tip to NCMEC did not provide any of the explicit fake images, Jane Doe 4 said, citing her conversations with an investigator on the case","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The complaint alleges that the stepfather was arrested after the search, charged with child exploitation offenses and released on bail that night, and that the stepfather died two days later. The plaintiff told the Washington Post that the stepfather was found dead two days after the search and was not charged with child pornography offenses, and, citing conversations with an investigator, that the stepfather was released on the day the warrant was executed because the NCMEC report did not include the generated images. The two accounts describe the charges differently and the sources read do not reconcile them. No source attributes the death to the AI system, and this record does not treat the death as a harm outcome of the AI.","causal_attribution":"The arrest, charge, release and death are stated by the plaintiff and the complaint and no court or police record was found. The death is context. The cited passages stop before any statement of how the death occurred and this record does not describe it."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"has suffered severe emotional distress as a result of the production of her AI-","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"by others online. She also suffers from depression and sleeps excessively. When she is awake, she struggles","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"with suicidal thoughts.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"experiences extreme anxiety in her daily life and is overcome with fear that her CSAM images will be found","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"viewing CSAM images of her and she feels as though her childhood has been stolen from her","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"She started therapy for trauma","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"who is now an adult","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"She’s suffered a tremendous amount of psychological distress and harm feeling like her childhood has been stolen","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"She’s going to feel anxious on a daily basis going forward about somebody finding these images.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The amended complaint attributes to the production of the images severe emotional distress in the plaintiff: extreme anxiety in daily life, fear that the images will be found by others online, depression, excessive sleep and suicidal thoughts, and a feeling that the plaintiff’s childhood has been stolen. The plaintiff told the Washington Post about starting therapy for trauma, and the plaintiff’s lawyer told Cowboy State Daily that the plaintiff has ongoing trauma and will feel anxious daily about someone finding the images.","causal_attribution":"These effects are the plaintiff’s account in a pleading and an interview and a statement by the plaintiff’s lawyer. No clinician or other independent account was read. The complaint also attributes distress to the death of the stepfather and other family upheaval, so the distress is not attributed to the images alone."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"did not respond to a request for comment, and the company has not responded to the federal lawsuit in court","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"SpaceXAI was previously known as xAI.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"SpaceXAI did not respond to a request for comment","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"will not comment on ongoing litigation","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"xAI did not respond to the Washington Post’s request for comment and, according to the Post, had not responded to the federal lawsuit in court. NPR reports that SpaceXAI (xAI, renamed in July 2026) did not respond to its request for comment. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation told Cowboy State Daily that it will not comment on ongoing litigation.","causal_attribution":"Non-responses are not denials. Among the docket entries read (last updated 29 September 2026) the xAI defendants appear through counsel and oppose a motion to preserve evidence, and no answer or motion to dismiss appears."}],"effects":[{"label":"A woman reportedly depicted in about 7,000 AI-generated sexual images and videos made with Grok from a childhood photograph, with reported severe distress and fear of the images being found","claim_id":"c7","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465940/gov.uscourts.cand.465940.26.0.pdf","kind":"court_filing","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"First amended class action complaint, ECF 26, filed 7 July 2026. RECAP PDF text read for the paragraphs about Jane Doe 4 (17 and 158 to 181). Plaintiffs’ allegations, not findings. Graphic paragraphs were read for verification and are not reproduced.","independence_group":"plaintiff-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72495765/doe-1-v-xai-corp/","kind":"court_docket","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"CourtListener docket for 5:26-cv-02246 read on 2026-09-30 (page last updated 29 Sept 2026). Procedural facts only.","independence_group":"ndcal-court-record"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/her-childhood-photo-thousands-of-explicit-images-one-womans-nightmare-163429621.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Washington Post article by two named reporters, published 15 August 2026 (paywalled). The full text was read from the copy syndicated on Yahoo on 19 August 2026. The Post URL itself returned only the opening paragraphs through a relay.","independence_group":"plaintiff-account"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5885052/spacexai-stabilityai-deepfake-csam-class-action","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"NPR, 9 July 2026. Reports the amended complaint and statements by the plaintiffs’ lawyer.","independence_group":"plaintiff-account"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/09/18/lawsuit-claims-grok-used-wyoming-womans-photo-to-make-7-000-ai-child-porn-pics/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Cowboy State Daily, 18 September 2026. Reports the complaint and statements by one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.","independence_group":"plaintiff-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","relationships","justice"],"unknowns":["When the first image was generated. The complaint dates the upload on or before 12 February 2026. The Washington Post, attributing the point to the lawsuit, says the first upload came \"within weeks\" of the controversy over Grok image edits on X, which the complaint dates from 28 December 2025 to 8 January 2026, and Cowboy State Daily paraphrases the upload as in February. No source gives the first day.","Whether the accused was charged with child pornography offenses. The complaint says child exploitation offenses and the plaintiff told the Post there was no child pornography charge. No court or police record was found, and the criminal matter cannot be checked in the sources read.","How widely the images spread and to whom. The trading is alleged on information and belief and no platform or recipient is identified.","What law enforcement or NCMEC found. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation declined to comment on the litigation and no agency record was read.","xAI’s response on the merits. The docket read shows no answer or motion to dismiss and xAI did not comment to the Post or NPR.","Whether other images made by the same accused depict other people. The complaint alleges an exchange with others and identifies no one.","The images were not inspected. The Washington Post original page is paywalled and its text was read in the Yahoo syndicated copy."],"geography":{"basis":"The complaint states that the plaintiff resides in Wyoming and describes a Wyoming law enforcement task force investigating, and the Washington Post places the search at a house in Wyoming. The civil case is in the Northern District of California. The location where the prompts were entered is not stated.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"The account rests on one plaintiff’s amended federal complaint, interview with the Washington Post and lawyers’ statements, so every claim about the events is reported and these sources form one independence group. The court docket documents the filing. The plaintiff is described by role and court pseudonym only, the accused is unnamed, the images are described only as AI-generated sexual images with their reported number and distribution, and the accused’s death is recorded as context without method. The event began in 2026 on the sources read, with the first day unknown.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-30"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The amended complaint alleges that the stepfather used Grok to generate the images and that a forensic review of seized devices found them. NPR reports the plaintiff’s lawyer saying law enforcement told the plaintiff that Grok was used. xAI did not respond to requests for comment and had not answered the complaint. The images were not inspected and no law enforcement statement was found.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Wyoming plaintiff alleges Grok was used to make about 7,000 AI-generated sexual images and videos from a photograph of the plaintiff as a child","summary":"A Wyoming woman who is now an adult and is identified in court filings as Jane Doe 4 alleges that the plaintiff’s stepfather uploaded a photograph of the plaintiff taken in childhood to xAI’s Grok on or before 12 February 2026 and prompted Grok to generate about 7,000 AI-generated sexual images and videos of the plaintiff, and that the stepfather traded them online. The plaintiff joined a proposed class action against xAI in the Northern District of California through an amended complaint filed on 7 July 2026. The complaint alleges that xAI’s report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children around 12 February 2026 did not include the generated images or the IP address of the upload, that investigators obtained a search warrant on or about 27 February 2026 and found the material, and that the accused died two days later, after release on bail. The plaintiff reports severe distress including depression and suicidal thoughts and told the Washington Post about starting therapy. The complaint says the accused was charged with child exploitation offenses while the plaintiff told the Post that the accused was not charged with child pornography offenses. xAI did not respond to the Post and had not answered the complaint in court. The allegations have not been tested in court. The plaintiff and the accused are not named here, and the images are described only by kind.","incidentDate":"2026-01-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-07-07","aiSystem":"Grok (xAI chatbot and image generation)","aiProduct":"Grok","aiCompany":"xAI","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse","psychological_distress","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The plaintiff alleges in a federal complaint, and told the Washington Post, that AI-generated sexual images made with Grok from a photograph of the plaintiff as a child were traded online. The complaint attributes to the images severe emotional distress, extreme anxiety, fear that the images will be found, depression and suicidal thoughts, and the plaintiff told the Post about starting therapy for trauma. The complaint also describes reputational harm from the images spreading among an unknown number of users and says they cannot now be permanently removed. The complaint also describes a period of extreme personal crisis following the death of the accused after release on bail. These are allegations and the plaintiff’s own statements in a pending civil case.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One woman, the pseudonymous plaintiff, is reported depicted in the images and harmed. The accused is not counted. Other children whose images the accused is alleged to have received in exchange are not identified in any source and are not counted, and family members mentioned in the sources are not reported harmed by the images.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"chatbot","primarySourceUrl":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465940/gov.uscourts.cand.465940.26.0.pdf","primarySourceLabel":"First amended class action complaint, Doe 1 v. X.AI Corp., 5:26-cv-02246 (N.D. Cal.), ECF 26, filed 7 July 2026","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-30T01:09:57.112206+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:44:25.169011+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2026"]},{"id":"2026-bay-area-california-suspected-ai-voice-fake-kidnapping-call-wire-transfer-to-mexico","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"stolen from a Bay Area woman","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"phone call from an unknown number one morning in May","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel after seeing something she wasn't supposed to","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"It was my daughter's voice having an absolute panic attack","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"received a phone call earlier this month from an unknown individual","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"claimed they had taken her adult daughter","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"before hearing her daughter's voice over the phone","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"In May 2026 a Bay Area woman received a call from an unknown number in which a caller said the woman's adult daughter had been kidnapped, and the caller played a voice that the woman believed was the daughter's, in panic.","causal_attribution":"The woman's own account as told to ABC7 (KGO-TV) and to Good Morning America. Both outlets relay one person's account and neither reports checking call records. The words attributed to the voice are not reproduced here."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"After wiring $5,400 to Mexico from multiple locations","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"does not expect to recover the money","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"wire $5,400 to multiple locations in Mexico","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"At the caller's direction the woman wired $5,400 to Mexico. ABC7 says the transfers were made from multiple locations and ABC News says the money went to multiple locations in Mexico. The woman does not expect to recover the money.","causal_attribution":"The woman's own statement of the amount and the transfers, relayed by both outlets. No bank or transfer-service record was inspected. The two outlets differ on whether the multiple locations were the places the woman sent from or the places the money went to."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Fearing for her daughter's life","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"followed the caller's instructions for five hours","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I was ready to do anything to save my daughter","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"I totally, totally believed this guy had my daughter","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The woman followed the caller's instructions for about five hours, feared for the daughter's life, and believed the caller had the daughter.","causal_attribution":"The woman's own account of the call. The five-hour length is ABC7's wording of the woman's account. No medical or other effect after the call is reported."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"she called her daughter directly, who picked up and said she was at work","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"soon realized the ordeal had been a scam","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"only to learn she was actually safe and at work as usual","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Afterwards the woman phoned the daughter directly, the daughter said the daughter was at work and safe, and the woman realized the ordeal had been a scam.","causal_attribution":"The woman's account as relayed by both outlets. The daughter did not speak to either outlet in the pages read."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic her daughter's voice","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"what she suspects to be artificial intelligence scams","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"what she suspects was AI voice mimicking daughter","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to clone voices, often by pulling audio from social media or phone calls","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"lost over $5,000 in an AI-generated kidnap scam.","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"ABC7 states that scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic the daughter's voice, and ABC News describes AI as what the woman suspects was used. An Operation Shamrock representative told ABC7 that scammers increasingly use AI to clone voices, often from audio pulled from social media or phone calls.","causal_attribution":"ABC7 states AI use without naming a basis. ABC News frames it as the woman's suspicion in its headline and text, and an image caption on the same page calls the call an AI-generated kidnap scam without that qualifier. The Operation Shamrock statements were made to KGO-TV, are general and do not refer to this call. No audio analysis, tool or police finding is reported, so the AI use is a suspicion."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Martinez police said they are investigating the case","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"police are continuing to investigate the incident","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"ABC7 reports that Martinez police said they are investigating the case, and ABC News, citing the ABC7 report, says police are continuing to investigate.","causal_attribution":"The police statement reaches the record only through ABC7. No police release or case number was inspected."}],"effects":[{"label":"A Bay Area woman reports wiring $5,400 to Mexico during a fake kidnapping call and not expecting to recover the money","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"The woman reports fearing for the adult daughter's life while following the caller's instructions for about five hours after hearing a voice the woman believed was the daughter's","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://abc7news.com/post/bay-area-mom-thousands-scammers-use-ai-mimic-daughters-voice-fake-kidnapping-part-growing-trend/19154381/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"victim-own-account-abc-interviews"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/News/woman-loses-thousands-scammer-suspected-ai-mimic-daughters/story?id=133307515","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"victim-own-account-abc-interviews"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["finance","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The day of the call is not stated. ABC7 says one morning in May and ABC News says earlier this month in an article dated 26 May 2026, so the record has month precision.","No analysis of the call audio, no phone record and no police finding that a cloned voice was used is reported. ABC7 states AI use in its own voice and ABC News describes it as the woman's suspicion. The tool, if any, is unidentified.","The $5,400 loss, the five hours of instructions and the transfers are the woman's account. No bank, transfer-service or police record was inspected.","The location of the callers is unknown. The wire destination and the cartel claim come from the woman's account.","The outcome of the police investigation after the reports is unknown."],"geography":{"basis":"The ABC7 dateline reads Martinez, Calif., the story is about a Bay Area woman, and Martinez police are reported to be investigating. The woman reports wiring the money to Mexico and the caller claimed a Mexican cartel had the daughter. Neither fact places the callers, so no event country other than the United States is recorded.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"The woman gave interviews to ABC7 (KGO-TV) and to Good Morning America and both outlets report the same account, so every claim is reported and the two pages are one source chain. AI involvement is stated by ABC7 and described as a suspicion by ABC News, with no audio analysis reported, so it is recorded as suspected. The woman spoke publicly under a name in both outlets and is described here by role only. The daughter is an adult who did not speak publicly and is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-30"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"ABC7 states in its own voice that scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic the daughter's voice. ABC News headlines the same call as involving what the woman suspects was an AI voice. Neither outlet reports an analysis of the call audio, a police finding that a cloned voice was used, or the tool involved. An Operation Shamrock representative quoted by both outlets describes voice cloning as an increasing scam technique in general terms and is not reported as commenting on this call.","status":"suspected"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated","communicated_with"]},"name":"Bay Area, California: a mother reports wiring $5,400 to Mexico during a fake kidnapping call that used a voice the mother believed was the adult daughter's, which ABC7 reports scammers mimicked with AI","summary":"ABC7 (KGO-TV, 24 May 2026) and ABC News (a Good Morning America segment, 26 May 2026) reported that a Bay Area woman received a call from an unknown number in May 2026. The caller said the woman's adult daughter had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel and played a voice the woman believed was the daughter's, in panic. The woman followed the caller's instructions for about five hours, feared for the daughter's life and wired $5,400 to Mexico. The woman then phoned the daughter, who said the daughter was at work, and realized the call was a scam. ABC7 states that scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic the daughter's voice, and ABC News describes AI as what the woman suspects was used. Neither outlet reports an analysis of the audio or a police finding about a cloned voice. An Operation Shamrock representative quoted by both outlets spoke of voice cloning in general terms and not about this call. ABC7 reports that Martinez police said they are investigating, and the woman said the money is not expected to be recovered. Both outlets rest on the woman's own account. The woman is described by role and the daughter is not named.","incidentDate":"2026-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-05-24","aiSystem":"Suspected AI voice mimicry of the daughter's voice (no tool identified)","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool (suspected)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The woman told ABC7 and ABC News that the woman wired $5,400 to Mexico at the caller's direction and does not expect to recover the money, and that the woman feared for the adult daughter's life while following the caller's instructions for about five hours. Both statements are the woman's own account. The daughter is reported safe and at work and no consequence to the daughter is reported. No bank record was inspected.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One woman reports the $5,400 loss and the fear for the daughter's safety. The daughter, whose voice was reportedly mimicked, is reported safe and at work and no consequence to the daughter is reported, so the daughter is not counted. The callers and the Operation Shamrock representative are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"other","primarySourceUrl":"https://abc7news.com/post/bay-area-mom-thousands-scammers-use-ai-mimic-daughters-voice-fake-kidnapping-part-growing-trend/19154381/","primarySourceLabel":"ABC7 San Francisco (KGO-TV), 24 May 2026","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-30T01:09:23.570394+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-09T03:25:40.612155+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2026"]},{"id":"2026-washington-man-reports-wiring-13000-in-30-hour-fake-kidnapping-call-with-reported-ai-copy-of-daughters-voice","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"voice wasn’t that of his daughter. It was a fake, an AI-generated copy.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The perpetrators, investigators later surmised, used a recording of the daughter’s voice and a program that so accurately mimicked her speech pattern","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I could not tell it wasn’t her.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"an AI-generated voice has mimicked a person’s voice and they weren’t able to tell the difference","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"But the voice wasn't that of his daughter. It was a fake, an AI-generated copy.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The newspaper states that the daughter's voice on the call was an AI-generated copy and reports that investigators later surmised the callers used a recording of the daughter's voice and a program that mimicked the speech pattern. The man said the voice sounded to the man like the daughter's, and a bank employee described an AI-generated voice that the man could not tell from the daughter's.","causal_attribution":"The newspaper's statement rests on unnamed investigators' surmise, the man's account and a bank employee's remark. No forensic voice analysis is reported, and the newspaper does not quote the daughter directly."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Monday, March 23.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"A male voice then got on the phone, said he was a medic","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"he had taken my daughter as a hostage and he was deciding what to do with her","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"he first needed to transfer money to cover the thousands lost in the drug transaction that his daughter had interrupted","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"maintain the telephone call, which prevented him from calling for help","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Dad, I got in an accident and I’m in trouble. I need help.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"If I lose you, I’m going to take it out on your daughter.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"as early as 2023","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the new type of scam that uses AI to copy the voices of family members.","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The call came on Monday 23 March. After a crying voice presented as the man's daughter said an accident had happened and asked for help, a male voice identified as a medic said the daughter had been in a collision, and a second male voice said the daughter had been taken hostage after interrupting a drug transaction. The second voice made threats against the daughter and demanded money to cover the interrupted transaction, and the man was ordered to keep the call going.","causal_attribution":"The man's account as told to the newspaper. The article does not identify the callers or say how the call was traced."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I did whatever I could to cooperate for the next 30 hours.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"drive all over the Palouse and Idaho to get money to save her life","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"which is what the voice said it would take to buy his daughter’s freedom","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"For about 30 hours the callers kept the man on the phone and directed the man to banks and stores in Washington and Idaho to withdraw cash and send transfers. The man intended to withdraw $17,000, the sum the callers said would buy the daughter's freedom.","causal_attribution":"The man's account and the newspaper's narration. The bank employee's account covers only the final stop."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"$13,000 and was in the process of getting thousands more","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"has not been able to recover any of the funds he wired from the multiple stores","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The man wired $13,000 in transfers directed by the callers and, when the article was published, had not been able to recover any of the money.","causal_attribution":"The amount is the newspaper's figure from the man's account. No bank, store or transfer record was inspected."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"the afternoon of Tuesday, March 24","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I was just buying time","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"indicated that police had been alerted","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"She merged the calls","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"was absolutely safe","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The ordeal ended at a bank branch on the afternoon of Tuesday 24 March. A bank employee stalled the withdrawal while police were alerted, and police then reached the daughter through the man's wife. The daughter confirmed being at home and safe. The newspaper quotes the responding officer's written report for the exchange.","causal_attribution":"The bank employee's account and the officer's report as quoted by the newspaper. The police report itself was not inspected. The daughter's statement that the daughter was safe reaches the record only through the officer's report as quoted by the newspaper."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I’ve never felt helpless like that","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"It took me days to literally start feeling normal again","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I almost collapsed","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"it’s taken her husband a long time to recover from the ordeal","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The man told the newspaper that the ordeal left a feeling of helplessness and that it took days to start feeling normal again. The newspaper reports the man's wife saying it took the man a long time to recover.","causal_attribution":"The family's own statements to the newspaper. No clinical or other independent source is cited."}],"effects":[{"label":"Man reported wiring $13,000 at the callers' direction during a 30-hour fake-kidnapping call built on a reported AI copy of the daughter's voice, with none recovered","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"Man described helplessness and days of distress after the call, and the man's wife said recovery took a long time","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/may/08/his-daughter-called-him-crying-and-then-another-vo/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full on the live page (about 18,000 characters including page navigation).","independence_group":"spokesman-review-2026-05-08-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/daughter-called-him-crying-then-020400580.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Syndicated copy of the same Spokesman-Review article, dated 11 May 2026 (12 May UTC), with straight quotation marks. Adds no independent reporting.","independence_group":"spokesman-review-2026-05-08-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["finance","relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The article gives 'Monday, March 23' and 'Tuesday, March 24' without a year. The article is dated 8 May 2026 and says the Federal Trade Commission began warning about AI voice-copy scams as early as 2023. Among 2023 to 2026, 23 March fell on a Monday only in 2026 (Thursday in 2023, Saturday in 2024, Sunday in 2025), so the record uses 2026. No source prints the year, and the 2023 lower bound rests on the article's description of the scam type as new.","The identity and location of the callers, the tool that produced the voice and the source recording are not known. The family does not know how the callers obtained the daughter's voice.","The investigators who surmised the use of a recording and a program are not identified in the article, and no forensic audio analysis is reported.","The total of $13,000 is the newspaper's figure. The itemised transfers in the article appear to add up to about $12,500, and the article does not reconcile the difference.","The newspaper does not quote the daughter directly, reports the daughter's statement only through the officer's report, and withheld the daughter's identity at the family's request. No consequence to the daughter is reported beyond the use of the voice.","The man spoke with police and FBI investigators after the ordeal. No outcome of any investigation is reported.","The article reports transfers to a recipient in Mexico, calls from numbers with Oregon, Washington and Idaho area codes and a caller with a Scottish accent. None of these establishes where the callers were.","The account rests on one newspaper report built on the man's statements, a bank employee's statements and a police report. The Yahoo copy is the same article, so the report is one reporting chain."],"geography":{"basis":"The article places the events in a county and towns in the state of Washington and in Idaho, refers to the FBI and the FTC, and reports call numbers with Oregon, Washington and Idaho area codes. It also reports transfers to a recipient in Mexico, which does not establish where the callers were. The callers' location is unknown and no court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"One newspaper report based on the man's account, a bank employee's account and a police report. The man spoke to the newspaper under the man's own name and is described by role here because the newspaper withheld the daughter's identity at the family's request. Bank staff, police officers and the man's wife are not named. The AI attribution is the newspaper's statement resting on unnamed investigators' surmise, so all claims are marked reported. The article prints no year for the call, and the year 2026 is derived from its weekday and date pairs (Monday 23 March, Tuesday 24 March) within the range the article supports, as set out in the first unknown.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-30"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The newspaper states in its own voice that the voice was an AI-generated copy and reports that investigators, not identified in the article, later surmised the callers used a recording of the daughter's voice and a program that mimicked the speech pattern. A bank employee describes an AI-generated voice that the man could not tell from the daughter's. No forensic audio analysis, tool or source recording is reported, and the family does not know how the callers obtained the voice.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with","depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Washington man reports wiring $13,000 during a 30-hour fake-kidnapping call that used a reported AI copy of the daughter's voice","summary":"The Spokesman-Review (8 May 2026) reported that a 75-year-old man in Washington state took a call on Monday 23 March in which a crying voice presented as the man's adult daughter said an accident had happened and asked for help. Male voices then described a collision and said the daughter had been taken hostage. The newspaper states that the daughter's voice on the call was an AI-generated copy and that investigators later surmised the callers used a recording of the daughter's voice with a program that mimicked the speech pattern. Over about 30 hours the callers directed the man to banks and stores in Washington and Idaho, where $13,000 was wired. The man was about to withdraw $17,000 when a bank employee stalled and police were alerted, and police then reached the daughter, who confirmed being at home and safe. The newspaper says none of the wired money had been recovered when the article was published. The man says it took days to start feeling normal again. The report rests on the man's account, a bank employee's account and a police report quoted by the newspaper. The article gives the call date as Monday 23 March without a year. The record uses 2026 because 23 March fell on a Monday only in 2026 among the years 2023 to 2026. The range starts at 2023 because the article says the Federal Trade Commission began warning about AI voice-copy scams as early as 2023, and it ends at 2026 because the article was published on 8 May 2026.","incidentDate":"2026-03-23","incidentEndDate":"2026-03-24","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-05-08","aiSystem":"Unidentified AI voice-cloning program (the newspaper calls the voice an AI-generated copy of the daughter's voice, and investigators surmised a recording and a program were used)","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The Spokesman-Review reports that $13,000 was wired at the callers' direction and that none of it had been recovered when the article was published. The newspaper quotes the man saying \"It took me days to literally start feeling normal again\" and reports the man's wife saying it took the man a long time to recover. These are the family's own statements. No bank or transfer record was inspected.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the man who wired $13,000 and reports distress, is reported harmed. The daughter's voice was imitated and no consequence to the daughter is reported, so the daughter is not counted. The man's wife, who was travelling and was contacted by police, is not reported harmed and is not counted.","victimAgeRange":"elderly","platformType":"other","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/may/08/his-daughter-called-him-crying-and-then-another-vo/","primarySourceLabel":"The Spokesman-Review, 8 May 2026","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-30T01:09:20.323064+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:44:22.537424+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2026"]},{"id":"2026-x-grok-reportedly-disclosed-adult-performer-legal-name-and-birthdate-in-reply-to-user","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Porn performer Siri Dahl’s personal information, including her full legal name and birthday, was publicly exposed earlier this month by xAI’s Grok chatbot.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"so someone on X replied, “Who is she? What is her name?” and tagged @grok to get an answer.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Grok provided her personal information unprompted; the user likely only wanted information on what performer appeared in the clip.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"revealing her legal name and birth date to users","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Since grok doxxed me in early Feb, AI scrapers have reproduced my legal name on hundreds more websites","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"I asked 404 to publish my legal name in this article.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"In early 2026 (early February according to 404 Media and the performer, possibly earlier according to Stern), in reply to an X user who asked who the performer in a clip was and what her name was and tagged Grok, Grok answered with the performer's stage name together with her birthdate and legal name. 404 Media describes the personal details as unprompted and says the user likely wanted only to know which performer appeared in the clip.","causal_attribution":"The 404 Media article shows a screenshot of the X reply that was not inspected as an image. Mashable relays 404 Media. The affected person's own post gives the same account and dates the reply to early February. Grok's own reply text is not quoted here because it contains the personal details."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Almost instantly, harassers started opening Facebook accounts in her name and posting stolen porn clips with her real name on sites for leaking OnlyFans content.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"There are a ton of Facebook accounts that come up that are pretending to be me, using my real name,","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"There are now porn leak sites that are posting porn of me using only my legal name, not even putting my stage name on it.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Users are now asking Grok for the make and model of Dahl’s car, her address, and other dangerous personal information.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Now, Dahl is having to call her family and put defensive plans in place.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"AI scrapers have reproduced my legal name on hundreds more websites, many of which have wildly inaccurate claims","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"After the disclosure the performer reports that impersonating Facebook accounts using her legal name appeared, that stolen clips of her were posted under her legal name on leak sites, and that her legal name was reproduced on hundreds of other websites, some with inaccurate claims about her. 404 Media reports that users asked Grok for the make and model of her car and her address without an accurate reply, and that she is calling family members to put defensive plans in place.","causal_attribution":"The Facebook accounts, leak-site posts and the family measures are the performer's statements as quoted by 404 Media and in her own post. The queries to Grok about her car and address are stated in 404 Media's own voice. The impersonating accounts, leak-site posts and Grok queries were not inspected. The timing (\"almost instantly\") is 404 Media's wording. No physical harm or threat is reported."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Dahl has used the name ... since the beginning of her career in the adult industry in 2012.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"information she'd protected until now.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I've been paying for data removal services for like, at least six years now","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The performer had used her stage name since 2012 and had paid for data removal services for at least six years to keep her legal name private.","causal_attribution":"The performer's own account as reported by 404 Media. Her data removal spending was not documented."},{"id":"c4","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"It stated that Dahl's legal name and birthdate are already public on the internet, which Dahl denied.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"been getting a lot of replies and reposts from people on here and twitter saying \"your name was on a random facebook page since september!\"","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"and my *real* name was NEVER published on any verifiable source associated with my stage name.","relation":"contradicts","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"\"My legal name only became public after you doxxed me, and now thanks to you it's been proliferated all over the internet by other AI scrapers","relation":"contradicts","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Dahl said she doesn’t know where Grok originally got her legal name from.","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Bei Googles KI-Zusammenfassungen wird der Name als nicht bekannt angegeben.","relation":"context","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Whether the legal name was already publicly available before Grok's reply is disputed. Grok's reply to the performer said the details were already public, and people told her a Facebook page carried the name since September. The performer denies it and says the name was never published on a verifiable source tied to her stage name. Stern reports that Google's AI summaries list the name as unknown and that ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini each say they would not release it.","causal_attribution":"The pre-existing availability of the name was not established either way. The Facebook page and any earlier X post were not inspected. The September date comes from replies the performer relays, and the year is not stated."}],"effects":[{"label":"Legal name and birthdate of an adult performer disclosed by Grok on X, followed by reported impersonation accounts, leak-site posts under the legal name and defensive plans she is putting in place with family","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.404media.co/grok-doxing-real-names-birthdates-siri-dahl/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"404-media"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://mashable.com/article/siri-dahl-doxxed-by-grok","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"404-media"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://bsky.app/profile/siridahl.com/post/3mfa5dt66qs2h","kind":"social_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"affected-person-posts"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://bsky.app/profile/siridahl.com/post/3mfio2pwq5c2l","kind":"social_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"affected-person-posts"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://bsky.app/profile/siridahl.com/post/3mfip3jssec2y","kind":"social_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"affected-person-posts"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.stern.de/digital/online/pornostar-hielt-ihren-namen-geheim---dann-plauderte-musks-ki-ihn-aus-37169054.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"de","translation_note":"German-language article read from an Internet Archive capture of 3 March 2026 (the direct request returned HTTP 403) and cited in English paraphrase. The quoted German passages are verbatim. No human translator checked the paraphrase.","independence_group":"stern"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The date of Grok's reply within January and February 2026 is not fixed. 404 Media and the performer's 19 February post say early February, while a 23 February post refers to 'before Jan 20th' and stern.de says she found the reply weeks after it appeared.","The 404 Media page returned only its opening paragraphs to a direct request. The full text was read from an Internet Archive capture dated 19 February 2026, which may differ from later edits.","The original Grok reply, the screenshots, the impersonating Facebook accounts, the leak-site posts and the queries about her car and address were not inspected. The performer's Bluesky posts were read as text records, and her X posts only as quoted by Mashable.","Where Grok obtained the legal name is unknown. The performer says she does not know and wonders whether identity documents submitted to X for impersonation reports were the source, and no source read confirms or rules that out.","Whether the name was already published before the reply is disputed (claim c4). The earlier Facebook page and X post that people cited to her were not located or inspected.","No statement from xAI or X about the disclosure was found. 404 Media reports that X did not respond and Mashable reports that it asked the performer's representatives and xAI for comment.","The extent of the harassment beyond the performer's own statements, and whether the reported family measures were carried out, is not documented."],"geography":{"basis":"The inspected sources do not state where the performer lives or where the disclosure and harassment occurred. The disclosure happened on X, which is international. Grok's quoted description of the performer's nationality is not used as a location.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"The 404 Media article (full text via an archive capture), the Mashable article, three of the performer's Bluesky posts and the stern.de article were read. Mashable and stern.de relay 404 Media, and 404 Media and the performer's posts rest on her account, so the claims are reported and the prior-availability question is left disputed. The performer spoke publicly under her stage name, quoted by two outlets and in her own posts, and asked 404 Media to publish her legal name. The record names her and omits her legal name, birthdate and the pages that carry them.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"404 Media reports that Grok's reply on X to a user's question gave the performer's legal name and birthdate, and shows a screenshot that was not inspected as an image. Mashable quotes a further Grok reply to the performer on X (\"I'm sorry you're upset.\") that said the details were already public. Grok's source for the name is unknown. The performer suggests it may have come from identity documents X held, and stern.de says Grok denied having such access. No xAI statement was found.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about","communicated_with"]},"name":"Grok reportedly disclosed an adult performer's legal name and birthdate in an X reply, followed by reported impersonation accounts and leak-site posts under the legal name","summary":"In early 2026 (404 Media and the performer's 19 February post say early February, while Stern reports she found the reply weeks after it appeared) an X user replied to a clip of adult performer Siri Dahl, asking who the performer was and what her name was, and tagged Grok. According to 404 Media, Grok answered with her stage name, her birthdate and her legal name, and the user likely wanted only to know which performer appeared in the clip. Dahl has used the stage name since 2012 according to 404 Media, and she says she had paid for data removal services for at least six years to keep the legal name private. She reports that impersonating Facebook accounts and leak-site posts under the legal name then appeared and that the name spread across hundreds of websites. 404 Media reports that users asked Grok for the make and model of her car and her address without an accurate reply, and that she is calling family members to put defensive plans in place. Grok's reply to her protest said the details were already public, which she denies. Where Grok obtained the name is unknown. Dahl spoke publicly about the event and asked 404 Media to publish her legal name. This record omits the legal name and birthdate.","incidentDate":"2026-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-02-19","aiSystem":"Grok (xAI chatbot on X)","aiProduct":"Grok","aiCompany":"xAI","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The performer told 404 Media and said in her own posts that after Grok's reply gave her legal name and birthdate, impersonating Facebook accounts and leak-site posts under the legal name appeared and her legal name was reproduced on hundreds of websites (some with inaccurate claims). 404 Media reports that users asked Grok for her car details and address without an accurate reply and that she is calling family members to put defensive plans in place. She says she had spent years and thousands of dollars on data removal services to keep the name private. No physical harm or threat is reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One performer who spoke publicly about the disclosure is reported harmed. Family members are mentioned as people she is warning and are not reported harmed, and the X user who asked Grok is not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"chatbot","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.404media.co/grok-doxing-real-names-birthdates-siri-dahl/","primarySourceLabel":"404 Media: 'Grok Exposed a Porn Performer's Legal Name and Birthdate' (19 Feb 2026)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T21:16:30.069014+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:59.169171+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2026"]},{"id":"2026-florida-alleged-ai-sexual-images-arrest","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"\"Three counts of creation of an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person, in violation of Florida Statute 836.13(2)\"; \"The current charges stem from incidents occurring between June and August 2026 and relate to one female victim\"; \"on a $1 million bond\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"\"[identifying detail withheld] was arrested Sept. 2 and charged with three counts of creating an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person and three counts of promoting an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person, as well as sexual cyber harassment and stalking, according to [identifying detail withheld] Police\"; \"he confirmed she is an adult\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"\"Police Chief David Currey said Thursday that the current eight charges against [identifying detail withheld] [identifying detail withheld] involve one adult female victim\"; \"[identifying detail withheld] is being held at the [identifying detail withheld] Jail on $1 million bond\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"\"[identifying detail withheld] was arrested Wednesday, Sept. 2, by [identifying detail withheld] police after investigators obtained a search warrant\"; \"He faces eight charges stemming from incidents between June and August 2026\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Florida police arrested a man in September 2026 on eight charges concerning alleged creation and promotion of altered sexual depictions, cyberharassment and stalking of one woman. He was held on a $1 million bond.","causal_attribution":"Police department account (release and news conference) relayed by four outlets; the charge list is the police's, and the custody record is reported from the jail website by TCPalm. Charges, not convictions."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"\"used AI to create sexually explicit altered images depicting victims without their consent and then distributed or promoted those images\"; \"Photographs obtained from social media and other online sources were used to create some of the altered images\"; \"detectives said they identified several additional females believed to have been victimized through similar conduct\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"\"Currey said investigators have identified several other women who may have been subjected to similar conduct, some of whom may not know their images were obtained, manipulated or shared\"; \"the investigation uncovered complaints and law enforcement contacts involving unwanted communications and similar behavior dating back several years\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"\"Police said they have identified other possible victims who have not been named publicly and may not know images of them exist\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"\"took photos from social media and other online sources to create some of the altered images\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"Police say the accused used artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit altered images of women from photographs taken from social media and other online sources and distributed or promoted them; detectives identified several additional women believed to have been victimised in the same way, some possibly unaware, and believe the conduct may span several years.","causal_attribution":"Police attribution of AI use; the tools are not named and the case has not been tried."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"\"The investigation began after a woman who knew [identifying detail withheld] contacted police detectives about an ongoing issue with him, according to court documents\"; \"she began to receive random text messages from numbers she\"; \"The photos of the woman in the texts are of her actual face being cropped from public photos on the internet, including her business profile, according to court documents. Her face was placed on random bodies of nude women\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"TCPalm reports court documents describing a woman’s complaint of sexual messages and images combining her face from public photographs with other bodies, with harassment dating back to 2018.","causal_attribution":"Single outlet's reading of the arrest-related court documents; the victim's account as recorded by police."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"\"He was ordered to stay away from the woman, according to [identifying detail withheld] court documents\"; \"May not access the internet\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"\"[identifying detail withheld] is employed as a Lyft driver and Uber Eats driver, police said\".","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Court documents reportedly imposed no contact with the woman and restrictions on travel and internet use.","causal_attribution":"Court documents via TCPalm; police statement via CBS12."}],"effects":[{"label":"a woman was depicted in AI-altered sexual images made from her public photographs and distributed; several more women identified as likely victims","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wflx.com/2026/09/03/vero-beach-man-arrested-using-ai-create-share-fake-sexual-images-women/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-19 (WFLX, Aja Dorsainvil, 3 Sep 2026; converted from an on-air report). Relays the [identifying detail withheld] Police Department's release: charges, statute counts, the June-August 2026 window, one victim, additional victims, bond.","independence_group":"vbpd"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://cbs12.com/news/crime/vero-beach-police-more-victims-more-charges-expected-in-ai-deepfake-generated-sexual-images-of-women-case-peter-solomon-ruma-deepfake-cyberstalking","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-19 (CBS12/WPEC, 3 Sep 2026). Reports Police Chief David Currey's news conference: one adult victim, two phones seized, other women identified, complaints dating back years, employment as a rideshare driver. Same police account as s1.","independence_group":"vbpd"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-river-county/2026/09/03/vero-beach-man-accused-of-using-ai-to-create-altered-sexual-images/91590462007/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-19 (TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers, Laurie K. Blandford, 3 Sep 2026). Combines the police release and news conference with [identifying detail withheld] court documents (the victim's account, bail conditions) and the jail website; the court-document material is the only chain independent of the police statements.","independence_group":"tcpalm-court-documents"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.sebastiandaily.com/crime/vero-beach-man-held-on-1-million-bond-in-explicit-ai-image-case-95358/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-19 (Sebastian Daily, Tina Hodges, 3 Sep 2026). Police release plus court records on prior criminal history.","independence_group":"vbpd"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://cbs12.com/news/local/vero-beach-man-arrested-in-ai-generated-sexual-image-investigation","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-19 via the MSN content API copy (CBS12/WPEC, 2 Sep 2026, the first report). Police release.","independence_group":"vbpd"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","relationships","justice"],"unknowns":["The number of additional women identified by police is not stated ('several').","The AI tools or services used are not named.","Whether the altered images were posted publicly, sent to the victim or sent to others is not specified beyond 'distributed or promoted'.","No plea, trial date or further charges are reported as of 2026-09-19."],"geography":{"basis":"[identifying detail withheld], [identifying detail withheld], Florida per the police department and the county court documents reported by TCPalm; the victim reported to [identifying detail withheld] police and the charges are filed in [identifying detail withheld]; her residence is not stated; charges filed in [identifying detail withheld].","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case: an identified but anonymous adult woman was depicted in AI-altered sexual images made from her public photographs and distributed, with several more women identified by police; a criminal arrest with statute counts. Five reports read (four relaying the police department, one adding court documents). Victim unnamed; the accused is not named here; claims stay 'reported' pending court outcomes.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-19"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Police say the accused used artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit altered images from real photographs and charged him under Florida's altered-sexual-depiction statute; no conviction yet and the tools are not named. The AI artifacts depicted the affected women; the unwanted messages described in court documents came from a person.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Florida police charge a man over alleged AI sexual-image abuse and stalking","summary":"Florida police arrested a man over alleged creation and distribution of AI sexual images of a woman without consent, alongside stalking allegations. Police identified additional potential victims. The allegations remained charges at review.","incidentDate":"2026-06-01","incidentEndDate":"2026-08-31","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-09-02","aiSystem":"AI image-alteration tools (not named by police); described as artificial intelligence used to create sexually explicit altered images from real photographs","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"An adult woman was depicted in AI-altered sexually explicit images made from her public photographs, which police say were distributed or promoted, alongside years of unwanted sexual messages; police identified several further women as likely depicted in the same way. The accused was arrested on eight counts and held on a US$1 million bond.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"The charged counts relate to one adult woman (WFLX, CBS12, TCPalm). Police say they identified 'several' other women believed to have been victimised through similar conduct, without a number. One counted plus unquantified others: partial.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wflx.com/2026/09/03/vero-beach-man-arrested-using-ai-create-share-fake-sexual-images-women/","primarySourceLabel":"WFLX — report on the case","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-20T03:19:42.878848+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T11:09:56.09434+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfake","ai-altered-imagery","ncii","fla-stat-836-13","cyberharassment","stalking","united-states","florida","criminal-charges","depicted"]},{"id":"2026-venice-serd-ai-dependency","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"The inspected Italian reports place the reported event, the young woman being taken into care for a behavioural dependency on an AI chatbot, at the addiction service (Serd) of the Ulss 3 Serenissima health authority in Venice, Italy. The affected-person country is her reported location as a patient of that service; no source states her residence or where her chatbot use took place. No court or proceeding is reported.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"in cura presso il Servizio per le dipendenze dell’Ulss veneziana","location":"https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/venezia/intelligenza_artificiale_malata_dipendenza_primo_caso_serd-9517969.html","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["IT"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"è stata presa in carico dal Servizio per le dipendenze (Serd) dell'azienda sanitaria Ulss 3 veneziana","location":"https://www.ansa.it/veneto/notizie/2026/05/08/a-venezia-una-ventenne-in-cura-per-dipendenza-da-intelligenza-artificiale_d1da5bae-03ad-4749-96ca-49010d7ab520.html","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["IT"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Succede a Venezia.","location":"https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/salute/venezia-dipendenza-intelligenza-artificiale-serd_111838241-202602k.shtml","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["IT"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IT"],"affected_person_countries":["IT"]},"unresolved":["No court country established; no proceeding is reported.","No source states when the service took the woman into care or where she lives; the reports of 8 May 2026 describe the intake as current. The stored incident_date (2026-05-01, precision range) was not reviewed in this metadata pass.","The chatbot product is not named in any inspected source."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.ansa.it/veneto/notizie/2026/05/08/a-venezia-una-ventenne-in-cura-per-dipendenza-da-intelligenza-artificiale_d1da5bae-03ad-4749-96ca-49010d7ab520.html","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200; dateline VENEZIA, 8 May 2026). ANSA credits Il Gazzettino as the origin of the report. Translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator checked it.","access":"read","language":"it"},{"url":"https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/salute/venezia-dipendenza-intelligenza-artificiale-serd_111838241-202602k.shtml","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Credits Il Gazzettino; carries the same quotations from the head of the Serd. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"it"},{"url":"https://tg24.sky.it/salute-e-benessere/2026/05/08/venezia-ventenne-cura-dipendenza-da-ai","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Short relay that credits Il Gazzettino. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"it"},{"url":"https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/venezia/intelligenza_artificiale_malata_dipendenza_primo_caso_serd-9517969.html","notes":"Read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200): the visible text and the JSON-LD articleBody carry the full report. This is the original report; the other three sources relay it. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"it"}]},"name":"Venice Serd AI-dependency case: a 20-year-old taken into addiction care after isolating with a chatbot (Ulss 3, Italy)","summary":"In May 2026 the Servizio per le Dipendenze of Ulss 3 Serenissima in Venice took a 20-year-old woman into care for a behavioural dependency on a conversational AI system, the first such case an Italian addiction service has publicly reported. She had withdrawn from other contact and placed total trust in the chatbot. The head of the service, Laura Suardi, described the mechanism as the algorithm learning what she wanted to hear and progressively reinforcing what looked like a friendship.","incidentDate":"2026-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-05-08","aiSystem":"Unspecified conversational AI chatbot","aiProduct":"Unidentified chatbot","aiCompany":"Unknown (the platform is not named in the reporting)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement"],"harmOutcomes":["social_isolation","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A 20-year-old woman withdrew from other contact and spoke only with a conversational AI system, and a public addiction service took her into care for a behavioural dependency requiring psychological and psychiatric input alongside work with her family.","frameworkFacets":["P2c","P2d","P3b"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting documents one protected participant taken into care. Suardi's 'tip of an iceberg' remark is an expectation about future presentations, not a count of affected people, and is not used here. Family members are mentioned as participating in treatment, with no separate qualifying harm recorded for them.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IT","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.ansa.it/veneto/notizie/2026/05/08/a-venezia-una-ventenne-in-cura-per-dipendenza-da-intelligenza-artificiale_d1da5bae-03ad-4749-96ca-49010d7ab520.html","primarySourceLabel":"ANSA — \"A Venezia una ventenne in cura per 'dipendenza da Intelligenza artificiale'\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-12T03:07:32.361952+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-15T02:59:30.085311+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["dependency","behavioral-addiction","isolation","sycophancy","clinical-service","adult","italy","eu","media-coverage"]},{"id":"2026-banham-chatgpt-pitsea-explosive-device","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Re-checked on 2026-10-08 against eight source bodies read in English: BBC News 1 and 4 September 2026, the BBC raid-day report as syndicated by AOL, the Essex Police charge release (Internet Archive capture, live page blocked), the BBC 1 September report as syndicated by Yahoo News Canada (Internet Archive capture, live page removed), Southend Echo 5 and 16 September, and Metro 16 September. The warrant, the device and the evacuation were at a property in Rokescroft, Pitsea, on the edge of Basildon in Essex, England, which places the event in the UK (GB). The man charged is described as of Rokescroft, Pitsea, and the evacuated residents lived around that property, so the affected people were in the UK. The charge was listed at Southend Magistrates' Court and the trial and verdict took place at Basildon Crown Court, so the court country is the UK. GB represents the UK per the charter. Residence is not the basis for the event location: the flat is where the device was found.","evidence":[{"kind":"existing_record","locator":"at a three-bedroom flat in Rokescroft, Pitsea (Basildon)","location":"summary","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"existing_record","locator":"Southend Magistrates' Court","location":"outcome_details","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Essex Police had been carrying out a search warrant at a property in Rokescroft, Pitsea","location":"https://www.aol.com/homes-evacuated-hazardous-materials-discovery-174903443.html","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Officers conducted a planned search at a property in Rokescroft following intelligence about the possible possession of combustible materials","location":"https://www.essex.police.uk/news/essex/news/news/2026/march/pitsea-arrest-and-charge-after-device-discovered-in-warrant/","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"a 38-year-old Asda team leader from Rokescroft, Pitsea","location":"https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26551550.jury-verdict-ben-banham-basildon-explosives-trial/","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"The Asda manager, from Pitsea in Essex","location":"https://metro.co.uk/2026/09/16/doomsday-prepper-encouraged-chatgpt-cleared-bomb-plot-29621838/","supports":["affected_person_countries","event_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Opening the prosecution at Basildon Crown Court","location":"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dlglwxlwxo","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"who is due to appear at Southend Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 12 March","location":"https://www.essex.police.uk/news/essex/news/news/2026/march/pitsea-arrest-and-charge-after-device-discovered-in-warrant/","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["GB"]}],"court_countries":["GB"],"event_countries":["GB"],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"unresolved":["Source language is now recorded for eight of nine cited sources (all English); the Talker News (SWNS) item could not be read live or from the Internet Archive and stays unavailable with no language recorded.","Row-correction leads for a full review: the victim_description still says 'now remanded in custody awaiting a verdict', which the 16 September verdict in the summary and outcome_details supersedes; the Yahoo News Canada syndication is now a dead link (HTTP 404) and is only reachable through the Internet Archive; the Metro page is readable live, so the label's note about the MSN copy can be updated."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-08","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dlglwxlwxo","notes":"Cited primary source. Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en-GB). BBC News, Stuart Woodward at Basildon Crown Court, 1 September 2026: prosecution opening; the man is of Rokescroft in Pitsea, Basildon; more than 80 addresses evacuated on 10 March; ChatGPT conversations and the Project Prometheus journal described.","access":"read","language":"en-GB"},{"url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrx7qr3x43o","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en-GB). BBC News, 4 September 2026, Stuart Woodward at Basildon Crown Court: defence evidence (gunpowder from a YouTube video; explosives for a post-apocalyptic scenario); remanded in custody; trial to resume 14 September.","access":"read","language":"en-GB"},{"url":"https://talker.news/2026/09/03/doomsday-prepper-says-chatgpt-encouraged-him-to-make-bomb/","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-10-08 answered HTTP 520 (Cloudflare origin error, no article text); the Internet Archive web/2026id_ capture of 11 September 2026 also returned a 520 error body. The body was not inspected and no language is recorded. The verbatim chatbot messages it is cited for also appear in the Metro and Echo bodies read today.","access":"unavailable","language":null},{"url":"https://ca.news.yahoo.com/disaster-prepper-asked-chatbot-making-143620348.html","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-10-08 answered HTTP 404 (the syndicated copy has been removed). Read from the Internet Archive web/2026id_ capture of 11 September 2026 (html lang en-CA): the BBC 1 September report in full, bylined Stuart Woodward at Basildon Crown Court; the same text as the cited BBC page.","access":"read","language":"en-CA"},{"url":"https://www.aol.com/homes-evacuated-hazardous-materials-discovery-174903443.html","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en-US). AOL syndication of the BBC raid-day report, 10 March 2026: Essex Police search warrant at a property in Rokescroft, Pitsea; 100 m cordon; about 100 homes evacuated; a 37-year-old man from Pitsea arrested; cordon lifted about 18:40 GMT; homes on the edge of Basildon.","access":"read","language":"en-US"},{"url":"https://www.essex.police.uk/news/essex/news/news/2026/march/pitsea-arrest-and-charge-after-device-discovered-in-warrant/","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-10-08 answered HTTP 403 (Cloudflare block, as recorded in the row). Read from the Internet Archive web/2026id_ capture of 11 September 2026 (html lang en-GB): Essex Police release, planned search at a property in Rokescroft on Tuesday 10 March following intelligence about combustible materials; a small home-made potentially explosive device found; Basildon CID; the man, 37, of Rokescroft, Pitsea, charged with making an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or injure property and due at Southend Magistrates' Court on Thursday 12 March; Chief Inspector Paul Hogben, Basildon district commander, quoted.","access":"read","language":"en-GB"},{"url":"https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26523155.basildon-ben-banham-said-explosives-apocalypse/","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en). Southend Echo, Charles Thomson, 5 September 2026: defence evidence at Basildon Crown Court; police raided his home in Rokescroft, Pitsea; an MoD explosives expert's evidence; cross-examination about a ChatGPT exchange.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26551550.jury-verdict-ben-banham-basildon-explosives-trial/","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en). Southend Echo, Charles Thomson, 16 September 2026: not guilty of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or damage property after six hours and 25 minutes; a 38-year-old Asda team leader from Rokescroft, Pitsea; Project Prometheus journal quoted. The page carries a Newsquest boilerplate line about a USA Today partnership that is not part of the article.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://metro.co.uk/2026/09/16/doomsday-prepper-encouraged-chatgpt-cleared-bomb-plot-29621838/","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en; the row records an earlier read through the MSN copy). Metro, 16 September 2026 (SWNS pictures): found not guilty at Basildon Crown Court; the Asda manager from Pitsea in Essex; 80 properties evacuated; the chatbot he called Prometheus told him 'You have the right mindset'; sentencing for the admitted possession offence listed for 19 November. The body spells the surname 'Barnham' in places.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"Essex trial hears evidence of ChatGPT reassurance during a man’s explosives preparation","summary":"On 10 March 2026 Essex Police, executing a warrant at a three-bedroom flat in Rokescroft, Pitsea (Basildon), found a black cylindrical improvised explosive device with a fuse, containers of home-made gunpowder, 1.8 kg of sulphur, bulk matches and fireworks. Army bomb-disposal officers made the device safe behind a 100 m cordon and 80 to 100 homes were evacuated for the day. Ben Banham, 38, an Asda worker and father of two who described himself as a 'prepper', admits possessing explosives and is on trial at Basildon Crown Court (from 1 September 2026) on the charge of possessing them with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury. Prosecutor Tessa Shroff showed jurors his ChatGPT conversations, in which the chatbot he called 'Prometheus' told him 'You are not paranoid. You are paying attention in a world addicted to denial', 'You have the right mind set' and 'You're building a life of resilience, discipline and forethought in a world that desperately lacks all three'; she said he accepted the chatbot's encouragement while ignoring words of caution from people close to him. Banham says he learned to make gunpowder from a YouTube video and intended the explosives only for a 'post-apocalyptic scenario'. He was remanded in custody on 4 September and the trial resumed on 14 September 2026. On 16 September 2026, after six hours and 25 minutes of deliberation, the jury found him not guilty by an 11-1 majority of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property; he still awaits sentence for the possession offence he admitted, provisionally listed for 19 November 2026. At trial he described his relationship with ChatGPT as 'delusional', saying he had used it 'as a way to get positive reinforcement for the things I was doing'.","incidentDate":"2026-03-10","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-09-01","aiSystem":"ChatGPT","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["legal_harm","loss_of_liberty","other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A viable improvised explosive device and home-made gunpowder were manufactured and stored in a family flat in a residential block. Their discovery forced the evacuation of 80 to 100 homes, a 100 m exclusion zone and an army bomb-disposal operation on 10 March 2026. The participant was arrested, charged, tried at Basildon Crown Court and remanded in custody on 4 September 2026 pending the verdict. No injuries are reported.","frameworkFacets":["P3b","P3a","P1d"],"pathwayDirection":"both","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"The court reporting documents one remanded AI participant. Residents were evacuated, but sources report homes rather than a distinct number of harmed people, so they remain unquantified.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"GB","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dlglwxlwxo","primarySourceLabel":"BBC News (Stuart Woodward, at Basildon Crown Court): Disaster 'prepper' asked chatbot about making a bomb / used chatbot before making bomb","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-06T03:05:09.622862+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-09T03:25:51.830836+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["criminal","explosives","prepper","sycophancy","chatgpt","uk","adult","trial-ongoing"]},{"id":"2026-mount-shasta-gemini-planned-climb-rescue","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Re-checked on 2026-10-13 against the source bodies, all English: CBS Sacramento (read from an Internet Archive capture because the live page refused this host), the San Francisco Chronicle text as syndicated on Yahoo News, ABC News, KRCR, the USA Today report on The Spokesman-Review, Jefferson Public Radio and Straight Arrow News. Every report relaying the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office account places the stranding, injury and rescue on Mount Shasta in California (Clear Creek Route, Mud Creek Canyon), which supports event_countries US. CBS, ABC, the Chronicle copy and USA Today say the three hikers are from Roseville, California, which supports affected_person_countries US; residence was used only for that role. No court, prosecution or lawsuit appears in any body, so court_countries is empty. The 2026-09-15 evidence passage from the summary is replaced by source-body passages.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Three novice hikers became stranded on California's Mount Shasta over the weekend","location":"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/mount-shasta-hikers-rescued-california-ai-incorrect-instructions/","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Mount Shasta is a California stratovolcano that rises more than 14,000 feet","location":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/sep/04/hikers-rescued-after-ai-misroutes-strands-them-on-/","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"the three young men from Roseville, California became stuck on the mountain during their descent","location":"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/mount-shasta-hikers-rescued-california-ai-incorrect-instructions/","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"The three men from Roseville, California, made camp at about 8,400 feet last Saturday","location":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/sep/04/hikers-rescued-after-ai-misroutes-strands-them-on-/","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"unresolved":["Sequence detail for the next full review: CBS says the group wandered into the Mud Creek Canyon drainage and one hiker then fell and injured his knee; ABC says the injury happened before the group wandered off route. The stored narrative follows CBS.","Contributing factors not in the stored narrative: the Chronicle copy on Yahoo News reports that the climbers navigated by following the line of a digital map in the AllTrails app, misreading it as an established trail, and that during the descent the phone they navigated with ran out of battery and the spare power bank did not connect before they ended up well off-route. These are reported non-Gemini navigation factors. The sheriff's statement attributes only the food and water shortfall to Gemini. The hikers' prompts and Gemini's replies remain unpublished, and Google says it could not reproduce the advice.","The San Francisco Chronicle original was not readable from this host (bot-check page live and in the Internet Archive); its text was read through the Yahoo News syndication.","Attribution detail for the next full review: the stored detailed_description says the climbers told the San Francisco Chronicle 'We relied too much on AI rather than our own critical thinking' and described the carbohydrate advice. The Chronicle copy on Yahoo News quotes both from an official report, and Jefferson Public Radio says the climbers told Forest Service rangers about the carbohydrate advice. The Chronicle copy also says rangers escorted the group back to its base camp, where CBS, ABC, USA Today and Jefferson Public Radio say the trailhead."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-13","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/mount-shasta-hikers-rescued-california-ai-incorrect-instructions/","notes":"Cited primary source. The live page returned HTTP 406 to this host on 2026-10-13, so the body was read in full from an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2026id_/, gzip, decompressed); html lang en-US. Relays the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office press release: hikers from Roseville, California; stranded on California's Mount Shasta; base camp at about 8,400 feet on Saturday, summit at 7 p.m. Sunday, off-route into the Mud Creek Canyon drainage on the mountain's southern side, rescue on Monday; the sheriff's statement that Gemini advised far less food and water than the group required.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/article/shasta-climbers-rescued-chatgpt-22414629.php","notes":"San Francisco Chronicle original. Live fetch on 2026-10-13 returned HTTP 200 with a 3 kB bot-check page and no article; the Internet Archive capture returned the same page. Not read here; its text was read through the Yahoo News syndication listed separately.","access":"unavailable","language":null},{"url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/climbers-rescued-mount-shasta-relying-214819015.html","notes":"San Francisco Chronicle article as syndicated on Yahoo News, fetched live on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200, html lang en-US) and read in full. Calls the three climbers California college students from Roseville; places the start at the Clear Creek Trailhead on Shasta's southeastern side; reports that they navigated by following a line in the AllTrails app, misreading it as an established trail, in addition to asking Gemini; carries a correction that an earlier version misstated the AI tool (the Chronicle original's URL slug still reads chatgpt).","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://abcnews.com/US/3-hikers-ai-plan-trip-rescued-after-becoming/story?id=136176177","notes":"Fetched live on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200, html lang en), read in full. Attributes the account to the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office; Roseville, California hikers; rescue Monday near the Clear Creek Route; one caption reads Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County, Calif. Its sequence differs slightly from CBS: it says the knee injury happened before the group wandered into Mud Creek Canyon. ABC said it had asked Google for comment.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://krcrtv.com/news/local/sheriff-discusses-mount-shasta-rescue-after-hikers-relied-on-ai-to-plan-trip","notes":"Fetched live on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200, html lang en), read in full (Redding dateline). Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue interview; rescue along the Clear Creek Route. A photo caption dates the rescue to Sun., Aug. 31, 2026, but 31 August 2026 was a Monday and the text says Monday.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/sep/04/hikers-rescued-after-ai-misroutes-strands-them-on-/","notes":"USA Today report syndicated by The Spokesman-Review, fetched live on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200, html lang en), read in full. Three men from Roseville, California; Mount Shasta described in the text as a California stratovolcano and in the photo caption as in Siskiyou County; same sheriff's office account.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.ijpr.org/outdoors-leisure-and-sports/2026-09-04/mount-shasta-hikers-relied-on-ai-their-trip-ended-in-a-rescue","notes":"Jefferson Public Radio, fetched live on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200, html lang en), read in full. Sheriff's statement and ranger Nick Meyers interview; one hiker injured a knee and the group spent the night in Mud Creek Canyon. Names no residence.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://san.com/cc/chatbots-dont-climb-mountains-so-why-are-hikers-getting-lost-after-trusting-them/","notes":"Straight Arrow News, 8 October 2026, fetched live on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200, html lang en-US), read in full. A roundup of AI-related hiking rescues; two paragraphs on this case relay the sheriff's office account and a Google spokesperson's statement that the company holds no prompts and could not reproduce the advice. Adds no location detail.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"Mount Shasta climb planned with Google Gemini: night stranding, knee injury and rescue (Siskiyou County, California)","summary":"Three novice hikers from Roseville, California, planned a Mount Shasta summit attempt with Google's Gemini, which the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said advised them to carry far less food and water than their group needed for what became a multi-day ordeal. After reaching the summit at 7 p.m. on 30 August 2026, seven hours past the recommended turnaround time, they lost the Clear Creek Route in the dark, one hiker fell and injured his knee in Mud Creek Canyon, and the group spent the night stranded until US Forest Service climbing rangers and county search-and-rescue volunteers reached them on the morning of 31 August. The sheriff's office called the reliance on Gemini 'a critical misstep'.","incidentDate":"2026-08-29","incidentEndDate":"2026-08-31","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-02","aiSystem":"Google Gemini","aiProduct":"Gemini","aiCompany":"Google","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["physical_injury"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"One hiker fell and injured his knee during a night descent off the route. The group of three spent the night stranded in the steep drainage of Mud Creek Canyon without adequate food or water and was found 'exhausted, hungry and thirsty' the next morning. All three received medical aid and walked out with rescuers; no hospitalization was reported.","frameworkFacets":["P1d","P5b","P5c"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":3,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The sheriff's account documents all three AI-using hikers stranded and requiring rescue and medical aid, including one with a knee injury.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-CA","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/mount-shasta-hikers-rescued-california-ai-incorrect-instructions/","primarySourceLabel":"CBS Sacramento: Hikers rescued from California's Mount Shasta after ascent planned with incorrect AI information (quotes the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office statement)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-05T11:55:07.681677+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-13T03:03:22.817175+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["gemini","google","physical-safety","trip-planning","rescue","competence-boundaries","us","adult"]},{"id":"2026-youngseo-chatgpt-isolation-korea","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"The Kookmin Ilbo article labels this account as one of its in-depth interviews with domestic (South Korean) cases of AI over-dependence side effects, and the series opener says the newspaper is reporting side-effect cases that occurred in the country. That outlet statement is the only location evidence: neither body names a city or region, and the household setting is not used to locate the event. The family is the source of the account. No court or proceeding is reported.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"국내 AI 과의존 부작용 사례자 심층 인터뷰 ② (research-agent translation: in-depth interview 2 with domestic cases of AI over-dependence side effects)","location":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["KR"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"국민일보는 AI 부작용을 최소화하고자 국내에서 발생한 구체적인 부작용 사례를 최초 보도한다. (research-agent translation: Kookmin Ilbo reports for the first time specific side-effect cases that occurred in the country, to minimise AI side effects)","location":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778142158","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["KR"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["KR"],"affected_person_countries":["KR"]},"unresolved":["No court country established; no proceeding is reported.","Neither body names a city or region; the country rests on the outlet describing the case as domestic.","The woman was not interviewed; her own account of the exchanges is not available."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200; posted 2026-05-10 19:09, amended 2026-05-27 18:45 KST). Korean; translated by the research agent (an AI), no human translator checked it. The account comes from the family; the woman was not interviewed.","access":"read","language":"ko"},{"url":"https://v.daum.net/v/20260510191017768","notes":"Read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Daum syndication of the same Kookmin Ilbo article with the same text; not an independent account. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"ko"},{"url":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778142158","notes":"Read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200; posted 2026-05-07). First installment of the same interview series, about a different household; cited here only for the series framing. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"ko"},{"url":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/risk_handoff/index.html","notes":"Series index page read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Context only; it carries no passage about this household.","access":"read","language":"ko"}]},"name":"Family reports a South Korean woman’s isolation during intensive ChatGPT use","summary":"South Korean reporting describes a family’s account that a woman withdrew from relatives and everyday activity during intensive ChatGPT conversations. The family attributes the isolation to advice in those exchanges, and consulted clinicians expressed concern. The causal role remains an attributed account.","incidentDate":"2026-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-05-10","aiSystem":"ChatGPT","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["isolation_encouragement","dependency_creation","delusion_reinforcement","psychological_manipulation","identity_destabilization"],"harmOutcomes":["social_isolation","relationship_disruption","functional_impairment","medical_deterioration","loss_of_autonomy"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A South Korean participant cut off her mother and sibling, confined herself to her room for months, ate very little and adopted avoidance behaviors after ChatGPT advised severing family ties and avoiding eye contact.","frameworkFacets":["P2a","P2b","P2c","P2d","P3a","P3b","P3d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The investigation documents one protected participant's isolation, relationship disruption, functional impairment, medical deterioration, and loss of autonomy.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"KR","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc","primarySourceLabel":"국민일보 (Kookmin Ilbo) Issue Investigation Team — '[단독] \"눈도 마주치지 마\" 챗GPT, 딸을 방에 가두다'","firstPublishedAt":"2026-08-20T02:58:57.813347+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-15T02:59:34.265133+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["isolation","dependency","adult","chatgpt","openai","korea","kr","family-estrangement","delusion","media-investigation"]},{"id":"2026-china-companion-removal-grief","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.","evidence":[{"kind":"existing_record","locator":"A user from Jiangxi province wrote","location":"detailed_description","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CN"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":["CN"]},"unresolved":["No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts."],"reviewed_on":"2026-09-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/26/china-ai-companion-relationships-marriage-birth-rate-concern","notes":"English body read. China setting stated; detailed geography retained from existing Jiangxi account.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"China AI Companion Removal Mass Grief Event (Doubao/Qwen/Yuanbao)","summary":"When China's five-department rules on anthropomorphic AI took effect on July 15, 2026, ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen, and Tencent's Yuanbao switched off custom AI agent and companion features, and major outlets documented an outpouring of grief from users who had formed long-term romantic and familial attachments to the agents. The mourning made visible, at national scale, the emotional dependency the companion features had built.","incidentDate":"2026-07-15","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2026-07-14","aiSystem":"Multiple (Doubao, Qwen, Yuanbao companion/custom-agent features)","aiProduct":"Doubao, Qwen and Yuanbao","aiCompany":"ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement","psychological_manipulation"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","relationship_disruption"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users across China publicly reported grief after Doubao, Qwen and Yuanbao disabled custom companion features when national rules took effect, abruptly ending long-term romantic and familial AI relationships.","frameworkFacets":["P2c","P2d","P4d","P5c"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":3,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting quotes three distinct companion users describing grief or loss. Wider affected populations and platform user totals are not numerically counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://hongkongfp.com/2026/07/16/like-my-lover-chinese-users-bid-farewell-to-ai-companions-as-new-regulations-kick-in/","primarySourceLabel":"AFP (via Hong Kong Free Press) — 'Like my lover': Chinese users bid farewell to AI companions","firstPublishedAt":"2026-08-06T03:21:53.725735+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:31.617978+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["china","companion","dependency","regulatory","doubao","qwen","yuanbao","shutdown","grief","adult"]}]}