{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T08:30:38.226Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"cctv","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"unknown","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":1,"regulatory":0,"minors":1,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":2,"relationPending":1,"relationUnknown":1},"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":"2025-hangzhou-courts-rule-tech-firm-unlawfully-dismissed-quality-inspector-after-citing-ai-replacement","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'月薪25000元，公司以项目受ＡＩ技术冲击为由协商调岗，将薪资降至15000元，协商未成后直接通知解除劳动合同。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'负责对AI与用户交互所生成的答案进行把关'; '原先2.5万元的月薪降为1.5万元。协商不成后，公司直接通知他解除劳动合同。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'从事的问句质检项目受到AI技术冲击、需对其所在项目进行优化调整为由'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The worker checked the quality of an AI large language model's answers at 25,000 yuan a month; citing the impact of AI technology on the project, the company proposed a transfer cutting his pay to 15,000 yuan and, when negotiation failed, notified him that his contract was terminated.","causal_attribution":"The employer's stated reason, as recorded in the court's typical case and reported by the outlets."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'去年1月，公司提出要将他从主管调到普通运营岗位'; '公司才告诉他具体原因，由于技术升级，他从事的质检工作AI就能完成，他被AI替岗了。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The company proposed the transfer in January 2025 and told the worker only at arbitration that, after a technical upgrade, AI could do his quality-inspection work.","causal_attribution":"China National Radio's account (citing CCTV News); the date is relative to its 3 May 2026 publication."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'认定公司构成违法解除劳动合同，并且需要向他支付26万余元的赔偿金。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'某网讯科技公司不服仲裁裁决结果，诉至杭州市余杭区法院。'; '最终杭州两级法院均认定科技公司构成违法解除。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'which reportedly upheld the lower court’s decision in April 2026'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'ordered a fintech company to pay a former worker more than 260,000 yuan (roughly $38,000) in compensation after it replaced his role with AI'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"},{"locator":"'a tech worker displaced by AI in Hangzhou won his case against his employer earlier this year'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"Labour arbitration and courts at first and second instance found the termination unlawful and ordered compensation of more than 260,000 yuan.","causal_attribution":"Reported from the court's typical case; the judgments were not read."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'企业主动引入ＡＩ技术是为适应市场竞争而实施的技术革新，并不必然等同于导致劳动合同无法履行的“客观情况重大变化”，公司提供的降薪方案不构成合理协商方案'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'It reportedly decided AI replacement did not constitute a “major change” in the company’s circumstances'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The court held that a company's voluntary introduction of AI to adapt to competition does not necessarily amount to a major change in objective circumstances making the contract impossible to perform, and that the pay-cut proposal was not a reasonable offer.","causal_attribution":"The court's reasoning as released in its typical case."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'仅仅以公司引入AI降成本来解除劳动合同，并不属于劳动合同法规定的客观情况发生重大变化'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'Shi Guoqiang, judge of the fifth civil division of the Hangzhou court, said that the company did not abide by China’s Labor Contract Law'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Judge Shi Guoqiang of the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court said that terminating a contract only because a company introduced AI to cut costs is not the major change in objective circumstances that the Labour Contract Law requires, and that the company did not abide by that law.","causal_attribution":"The judge's own words to CCTV and as quoted by Sixth Tone."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'自去年一月公司解除劳动合同至今，他还没能找到合适的新工作。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The worker told CCTV that he had not found a suitable new job since the company terminated his contract in January 2025.","causal_attribution":"The worker's own statement to CCTV (one source)."}],"effects":[{"label":"offered a 40 per cent pay cut and then dismissed after the employer cited AI taking over his work","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"arbitration and two court levels found the dismissal unlawful and ordered compensation","claim_id":"c3","direction":"positive"},{"label":"had not found a suitable new job more than a year after the dismissal (his statement to CCTV)","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://ori.hangzhou.com.cn/ornews/content/2026-04/29/content_9214417.htm","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. A report of the court press conference.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://news.cnr.cn/native/gd/20260503/t20260503_527609128.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. The page states CCTV News as its source; it recounts the same court typical case.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/tech-worker-replaced-by-ai-wins-court-battle.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full. Relays Chinese state media reports of the same court case, so it shares the group.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://china.caixin.com/2026-04-29/102439348.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. Only the opening paragraphs were readable; the rest is behind a paywall.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2026/05-03/10614979.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-10-16 and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. China News Service page carrying the CCTV news-client report (3 May 2026), the same CCTV report China National Radio relays; it adds the judge's interview and the worker's statement to CCTV.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018530","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-16 (Sixth Tone, 14 May 2026). Reports the ruling as released by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court and quotes the presiding judge and the worker's lawyer.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/08/10/nx-s1-5822592/chinas-courts-side-with-workers-displaced-by-ai-but-employees-remain-anxious","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-16 (NPR, 10 August 2026). Mentions the case briefly in a report on Chinese rulings about AI-related dismissals.","independence_group":"hangzhou-court-ai-replacement-typical-case-apr-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work","justice"],"unknowns":["The employer's name and what AI system took over the inspection work.","The dates of the termination, the arbitration award and each judgment, beyond the January 2025 transfer proposal and the April 2026 appeal ruling as reported.","Whether the compensation figure of more than 260,000 yuan is the total or an additional amount; ACS describes it as further compensation."],"geography":{"basis":"The employer is described as a Hangzhou technology company and the case was decided by the Yuhang District court and the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang, China. The worker's own country is not stated.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as an employer's consequential response to AI adoption: a worker whose job was to check an AI model's answers was offered a 40 per cent pay cut and dismissed after the employer cited AI, and arbitration and two court levels found the dismissal unlawful. The facts rest on the Hangzhou court's typical case as reported by Hangzhou media, China National Radio, Caixin, ACS Information Age, China News Service (CCTV) and Sixth Tone, with the judge's reasoning and the worker's own statement to CCTV.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The harm is the employer's response to its own adoption of AI: according to the Hangzhou court's typical case as reported by Hangzhou media and Caixin, the company cited the impact of AI technology on the worker's answer-quality-inspection project to propose a transfer at 15,000 instead of 25,000 yuan a month and terminated his contract when he refused; China National Radio reports that the company said at arbitration that AI could now do his inspection work. No source describes an AI output about the worker, so the relation is recorded as unknown under the consequential-response exemption.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["unknown"]},"name":"Hangzhou courts rule a tech firm unlawfully dismissed a quality-inspection supervisor after it cited AI replacement and he refused a 40% pay cut","summary":"A technology company in Hangzhou, China, employed a worker to check the quality of answers produced by an AI large language model, at 25,000 yuan a month. In January 2025, citing the impact of AI technology on his project, it proposed moving him to an ordinary operations post at 15,000 yuan a month; when he did not agree, it notified him that his contract was terminated, according to a typical case released by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court on 28 April 2026 and reported by Hangzhou media and China National Radio. China National Radio, citing CCTV News, reports that the company told him only at arbitration that after a technical upgrade AI could do his inspection work. A labour arbitration panel and then two levels of court in Hangzhou found the termination unlawful and ordered compensation of more than 260,000 yuan. The court said that introducing AI to stay competitive is not in itself the kind of major change in objective circumstances that makes an employment contract impossible to perform, and that the pay-cut offer was not a reasonable proposal. The worker told CCTV that he had not found a suitable new job since the termination.","incidentDate":"2025-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-04-28","aiSystem":"No AI product is named. The employer cited the impact of AI technology on the worker's project checking a large language model's answers, and, as China National Radio reports, said at arbitration that AI could now do that inspection work","aiProduct":"Unidentified AI quality-inspection tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The worker was offered a 40 per cent pay cut and then dismissed after the employer cited AI taking over his quality-inspection work; arbitration and two court levels found the dismissal unlawful and ordered compensation of more than 260,000 yuan (Hangzhou court typical case as reported by Hangzhou media and China National Radio). He told CCTV he had not found a suitable new job since the dismissal.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One worker was dismissed (court typical case as reported by Hangzhou media and China National Radio). He is counted under other people harmed because the AI was the employer's, not his own tool.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://ori.hangzhou.com.cn/ornews/content/2026-04/29/content_9214417.htm","primarySourceLabel":"Hangzhou net, 28 April 2026: report of the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court press conference on AI-era labour disputes","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-16T03:07:06.486524+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T03:19:12.664193+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["dismissal","ai-replacement","labour-arbitration","pay-cut","workplace-ai","consequential-response"]},{"id":"2026-cctv-dream-boyfriend-ai-minors-china","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Re-checked on 2026-10-09 against all six cited source bodies, read in Chinese by the research agent (an AI). The January 2026 items (Sina lede, The Paper republishing CCTV News via China Women's News, the Xinhua commentary and the Workers' Daily digest on Tencent) describe the 梦角哥 (Dream Boyfriend) phenomenon, the 500-plus comments under a connection video and the researchers' statements without naming a place for any minor or event; the '北京' on The Paper and Tencent pages is the posting account's location, and the Beijing Normal University hotline is a platform response, not an event location. The Beijing News body (dated 2025-01-12) attributes the ten-year-old girl's forty-plus storylines to a CCTV.com report and names no place. The Beijing Daily URL carries a Legal Daily investigation dated 2024-11-23 whose interviewees include a Beijing resident whose ten-year-old son used an AI story-chat app and a mother from Zhejiang whose fifth-grader used one; these are reported residences of affected minors in a cited body and support affected_person_countries CN. No body states where any use or event took place, and residence does not locate an event, so event_countries remains a reviewed unknown. Nationality ('Chinese minors'), the Chinese-language services and the publishers' locations are not used. No court or legal proceeding is described.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"北京市民马先生的儿子今年10岁，非常热衷AI剧情聊天软件","location":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s67411ebce4b00bb8087aa93b.html","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CN"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"来自浙江的李女士也发现她正在读小学五年级的孩子使用了一款AI剧情聊天软件","location":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s67411ebce4b00bb8087aa93b.html","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CN"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["CN"]},"unresolved":["The event setting is unknown after review. None of the six cited bodies states where any minor used the apps or where any described event occurred; the Beijing and Zhejiang mentions are reported residences of the Legal Daily interviewees' children and residence does not locate an event.","The location of the ten-year-old girl with forty-plus storylines, the row's one counted affected person, is stated in no cited body; affected_person_countries CN rests on the other located minors in the Legal Daily body, which the row's affected count does not include.","No court country established. No lawsuit, regulatory decision or inquest is described in any cited body.","Row-correction lead for a full review (legacy_full_review): the row merges three separate items, the Legal Daily investigation of 2024-11-23 (served at the cited Beijing Daily URL), the CCTV.com report of the ten-year-old girl commented on by Beijing News on 2025-01-12, and the CCTV News 'Dream Boyfriend' report of 2026-01-25; the stored dates 2026-01-25 on the Beijing Daily and Beijing News sources are wrong, and the stored incident_date 2025-06-01 matches none of the bodies.","The Sina mobile page exposes only the lede; the full CCTV investigation text was read through The Paper's republication."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-09","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://finance.sina.cn/2026-01-25/detail-inhiprmv9778943.d.html","notes":"Cited primary source. Fetched live on 2026-10-09 (HTTP 200). The mobile page exposes only the headline and the lede (about 810 characters of text): a Beijing Daily account relaying the CCTV investigation ('MJG' is the pinyin abbreviation of 梦角哥; connection videos use tarot, AI or 'higher-dimensional' thought). No page language attribute; the text is Chinese, read by the research agent (an AI). The full article body was not exposed, and the lede names no place for any minor or event.","access":"read","language":"zh"},{"url":"https://www.news.cn/comments/20260126/e732c5c4964a4b4c9a0fb2d028517a01/c.html","notes":"Xinhua commentary dated 2026-01-26 (HTTP 200, about 1,200 characters, Chinese, read by the research agent, an AI). General commentary on minors' 'encrypted talk' (梦回大唐, ED, 梦角哥) citing CCTV News; it locates no minor, event or court and does not describe the ten-year-old girl.","access":"read","language":"zh"},{"url":"https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_32461926","notes":"The Paper page dated 2026-01-25 republishing the CCTV News report through the China Women's News account (HTTP 200, about 2,900 characters, Chinese, read by the research agent, an AI). Carries the 梦角哥 section (connection videos, the 500-plus comments, the internet-company researcher's 'psychological trap' quote, the China Youth Research Center researcher's quote, the platform's algorithmic identification and the Beijing Normal University hotline). The '北京' near the dateline is the posting account's location. Names no place for any minor or event.","access":"read","language":"zh"},{"url":"https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260126A01G9R00","notes":"Workers' Daily morning digest on Tencent News dated 2026-01-26 (HTTP 200, html lang zh-CN, Chinese, read by the research agent, an AI). A multi-story bulletin whose 梦角哥 item summarises the CCTV News report in two paragraphs credited to 央视新闻; '发布于 北京' is the account's posting location. No minor, event or court is located.","access":"read","language":"zh-CN"},{"url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s67411ebce4b00bb8087aa93b.html","notes":"Fetched live on 2026-10-09 (HTTP 200, html lang attribute zh_CN, recorded here as zh-CN; Chinese, read by the research agent, an AI; about 4,500 characters). The page is not a 2026-01-25 Beijing Daily report: it carries a Legal Daily (法治日报) investigation by 赵丽 and 马子煜 dated 2024-11-23 on AI story-chat apps (parents' accounts including a Beijing resident's ten-year-old son and a Zhejiang mother's fifth-grader; the five-app registration test; a seven-website test; in-app purchases). The stored row's five-app registration finding comes from this article. The stored source date and label are wrong and should be corrected at the next full review.","access":"read","language":"zh-CN"},{"url":"https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1736675105168368.html","notes":"Beijing News commentary (快评) dated 2025-01-12, not 2026-01-25 as the stored label says (HTTP 200, about 2,200 characters, Chinese, read by the research agent, an AI). It attributes the ten-year-old girl's secret use of an AI chat app with forty-plus storylines and 'infidelity' plots to a CCTV.com (央视网) report and names no place. The stored source date should be corrected at the next full review.","access":"read","language":"zh"}]},"name":"CCTV Investigation: 梦角哥 (Dream Boyfriend) AI Virtual Romance Harm to Minors (China)","summary":"In January 2026, CCTV investigated the '梦角哥' (Dream Boyfriend / Mengjiage) phenomenon — minors forming deep romantic relationships with AI-generated fictional characters. Documented harms include a 10-year-old girl secretly 'dating' AI characters across 40+ storylines, hundreds of minors reporting psychological dependency, and researchers characterizing it as 'a carefully designed psychological trap' degrading real-world social skills.","incidentDate":"2025-06-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-01-25","aiSystem":"Multiple AI chatting/companion apps (unnamed)","aiProduct":"Unidentified AI companion apps","aiCompany":"Multiple Chinese AI companion platforms","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"verified","harmCategories":["dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement","romantic_escalation","minor_exploitation","identity_destabilization"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation","relationship_disruption","loss_of_autonomy"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"CCTV documented a 10-year-old secretly maintaining more than forty AI romance storylines and reports from hundreds of minors describing psychological dependency and impaired real-world social relationships.","frameworkFacets":["P2a","P2b","P2c","P2d","P5a"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"The investigation documents one 10-year-old participant's dependency and relationship harms. Comment counts and broad reports do not establish additional distinct harmed people.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://finance.sina.cn/2026-01-25/detail-inhiprmv9778943.d.html","primarySourceLabel":"新浪财经 (Sina Finance) / CCTV Investigation","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-29T10:33:36.580515+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-09T03:13:04.690408+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["china","cctv","xinhua","ai-companion","minor","romantic","dependency","social-degradation","mass-scale","investigation","non-western"]}]}