{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T09:23:57.270Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"china","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"lawsuit","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":9,"coverage":{"cases":9,"countries":1,"languages":2,"unknownLocation":4,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":9,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":6,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":3,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":3},"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-beijing-internet-court-finds-wechat-group-member-used-ai-to-turn-anothers-profile-photo-into-exposed-deformed-images","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'被告未经原告同意，使用AI软件将原告微信头像肖像照生成衣着暴露的动漫风格图片，并发送至该摄影交流微信群内'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'被告拿群内原告微信头像照片，利用AI生成衣着暴露、形体畸形的动漫图片'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Without consent, the defendant used AI software to turn the claimant's WeChat profile portrait photo into revealingly dressed cartoon-style images and posted them in a photography WeChat group both belonged to.","causal_attribution":"Court account; the AI generation is also the defendant's own description in the defence."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'原告多次制止，被告仍继续使用AI软件，将原告的微信头像AI生成衣着暴露、身体畸形的动漫风格图片，并私信原告'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'人物腿部为木头状，甚至存在三只手臂的图片'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"After the claimant objected several times, the defendant kept using the AI software to make images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs, including wooden legs and three arms, and sent them to the claimant privately.","causal_attribution":"Court account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'被诉侵权图片不具有指向性或可识别性'; '图片为AI自动生成，被告生成图片时并未下达任何指令故意丑化人物形象'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The defendant argued that the images were not identifiable as the claimant and were generated automatically by AI without any instruction to uglify.","causal_attribution":"Defendant's submission as summarised by the court."},{"id":"c4","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'被告的群发行为构成对原告肖像权、名誉权的侵害，被告的私信行为构成一般人格权侵害'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'在脸型、蹲姿、手势、造型等方面均具有高度的对应关系'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'图片发至微信群，群成员可以识别原型，丑化内容降低原告社会评价，侵害肖像权、名誉权'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The court found that group members could identify the claimant from the images, that posting them in the group infringed the claimant's portrait and reputation rights, and that the private messages infringed the claimant's general personality rights.","causal_attribution":"The Beijing Internet Court's own published write-up of its findings (s2, credited to the court); the judgment itself was not inspected."},{"id":"c5","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'被判赔礼道歉并赔偿原告精神损失'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'判令被告向原告赔礼道歉，赔偿原告精神损失。'; '目前，该案判决已生效。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The court ordered the defendant to apologise and to compensate the claimant for mental harm.","causal_attribution":"The Beijing Internet Court's own published write-up (s2), which also says the judgment has taken effect; the amount is not reported."}],"effects":[{"label":"court found AI-made exposed and deformed images of a group member, posted in the group and sent privately, infringed portrait, reputation and personality rights","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s68a84353e4b02424b0bf309f.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Beijing Daily report of the Beijing Internet Court's notice of the case; the judgment was not inspected.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.ciplawyer.cn/articles/157422.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Legal-industry site carrying the court's fuller write-up of the reasoning; same court account.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6ad969cce4b0e42f8f01e464.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Feature on the Beijing Internet Court quoting its vice-president; it restates the case.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["relationships","privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["When the images were made and posted, and when the judgment was given.","Which AI software was used.","The amount of compensation for mental harm and the case number.","How many members the group had."],"geography":{"basis":"The case was decided by the Beijing Internet Court in China. The sources describe a WeChat group but do not say where its members were, so no event or affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Beijing Internet Court found that AI-generated images made from a group member's profile photo, posted in a WeChat group and sent privately, infringed the claimant's portrait, reputation and personality rights. One reporting chain, the court's own account, read in three Chinese sources.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-22"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The court found that the defendant used AI software to generate the images from the claimant's profile portrait photo, and the defendant's own defence said the images were generated by AI. The generated images depicted the claimant (depicted_or_impersonated); the court found that posting them lowered the claimant's standing in the group and that the private images caused humiliation.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Beijing Internet Court finds a WeChat group member infringed another member's portrait and reputation by posting AI-made exposed cartoon images of the claimant","summary":"The Beijing Internet Court reported in August 2025 that two members of a photography WeChat group had gone to court after one used AI software, without consent, to turn the other's profile portrait photo into revealingly dressed cartoon-style images and posted them in the group. According to the court, the claimant objected several times, but the defendant kept using the software to make images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs, including wooden legs and three arms, and sent them to the claimant privately. The defendant argued the images were not identifiable and were generated automatically by AI. The court found that group members could identify the claimant, that posting the images in the group infringed the claimant's portrait and reputation rights, and that the private messages infringed the claimant's general personality rights. It ordered an apology and compensation for mental harm.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-08-22","aiSystem":"AI image software, not named in the court's account, that the defendant used to turn the claimant's profile portrait photo into cartoon-style images with exposed bodies and deformed limbs","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["reputational_harm","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Beijing Internet Court's account, AI-made images of a WeChat group member with an exposed body and deformed limbs were posted in the group and sent privately against the claimant's objections; the court found that they lowered the claimant's social standing, caused humiliation and infringed the claimant's portrait, reputation and personality rights.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"established","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the claimant whose profile photo was used (Beijing Internet Court account). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s68a84353e4b02424b0bf309f.html","primarySourceLabel":"Beijing Daily, 22 August 2025: using AI to mock and uglify another person's portrait held to infringe personality rights","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-22T03:08:08.716343+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-22T03:08:08.716343+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["ai-image","portrait-rights","reputation","wechat","court-ruling","beijing","china","depicted-or-impersonated"]},{"id":"2023-beijing-voice-actress-ai-text-to-speech-voice-from-her-recordings-sold-without-consent-court-awards-250000-yuan","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'发现他人利用其配音制作的作品在多个知名APP广泛流传。经声音筛选和溯源，发现上述作品中的声音来自于被告一北京某智能科技公司运营平台中的文本转语音产品'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In May 2023 the voice actress found that works using her voice were circulating widely on several well-known apps and traced the voice to a text-to-speech product on an app operator's platform.","causal_attribution":"Court account of the claimant's discovery."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'录制的一部录音制品作为素材，采用人工智能等技术进行处理，生成了案涉文本转语音产品，并在被告四上海某网络科技公司运营的云服务平台对外出售'; '《数据授权书》并非'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'进行AI化处理'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The court found that a software company used only one of her sound recordings, supplied by a media company, as material, processed it with AI and other techniques into a text-to-speech product, and sold it on a cloud-service platform; the authorisation document had not been signed by her.","causal_attribution":"Court findings as relayed; the judgment was not inspected."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'采取应用程序接口形式，在未经技术处理的情况下，直接调取并生成文本转语音产品在其平台中使用。平台显示案涉声音播放量为3256728530次'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'相关配音作品的播放量高达32亿余次'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"An app operator called the product through an interface for use on its platform, which showed the voice as played 3,256,728,530 times.","causal_attribution":"Court findings as relayed."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'现场使用案涉文本转语音产品进行文本转语音的操作，获得的AI声音与'; '的音色、语调、发音风格等具有高度一致性'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'庭审现场，法官当庭勘验：AI产品生成的语音，与'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"At the hearing the court used the product and found the AI voice highly consistent with the voice actress's timbre, intonation and pronunciation style.","causal_attribution":"The court's own inspection as relayed by the court account."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'北京互联网法院于2024年4月23日作出（2023）京0491民初12142号民事判决'; '经济损失人民币250000元'; '宣判后，双方当事人未提出上诉，判决已发生法律效力'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'4月23日，北京互联网法院一审开庭宣判了全国首例AI生成声音人格权侵权案'; '赔偿损失25万元'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'原告获赔经济损失25万元'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"On 23 April 2024 the Beijing Internet Court ordered written apologies and 250,000 yuan for economic loss, rejected her other claims, and the judgment took effect without appeal.","causal_attribution":"Court outcome as relayed by the court account and reports of it."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'并未举证证明被诉侵权行为给其精神利益造成严重损害，因此，对其精神损害赔偿请求不予支持'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The court rejected the claim for mental-harm damages because she had not shown that the infringement seriously harmed her mental interests.","causal_attribution":"Court reasoning as relayed; recorded as a limit on the harm."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'一审审理过程中，被告一北京某智能科技公司、被告三某软件公司下架了案涉文本转语音产品'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The app operator and the software company took the text-to-speech product down during the first-instance proceedings.","causal_attribution":"Court account."}],"effects":[{"label":"court found a voice actress's voice rights infringed by an AI text-to-speech voice made from her recording and sold without her consent","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6867e681d5ded84697eedca5.html","kind":"court_record","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Case digest published by the Beijing courts' \"Jing Fa Wang Shi\" account on Beijing Daily's platform; the judgment itself was not inspected.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=741827","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Relays the Beijing Internet Court's announcement of the judgment.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"},{"id":"s3","url":"http://paper.people.com.cn/zgcsb/html/2024-04/29/content_26055200.htm","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Commentary in China City News (People's Daily group) relaying the same court account.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6ad969cce4b0e42f8f01e464.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-22 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Feature on the Beijing Internet Court quoting its judges; it restates the case.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["work","privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["When the software company first sold the product and when the app operator began using it.","Which apps and works used the voice; the sources give only a playback count shown on the operator's platform.","How the 250,000-yuan figure was calculated beyond the court's general factors.","Where the voice actress lives."],"geography":{"basis":"The case digest describes Beijing and Shanghai companies selling and using the product on a Chinese cloud platform and app, and the case was decided by the Beijing Internet Court, so the event is placed in China. The sources do not say where the voice actress lives, so no affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Beijing Internet Court found that an AI text-to-speech voice made from a voice actress's recording imitated her identifiably and was sold and used without her consent, and awarded 250,000 yuan. One reporting chain, the court's own account, read in four Chinese sources.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-22"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"In the court's account a software company processed the voice actress's recording with AI and other techniques to generate a text-to-speech voice, and at the hearing the court used the product and found the generated voice highly consistent with hers. The AI-generated voice imitated her voice in works heard on apps (depicted_or_impersonated); the court held that this use without her consent infringed her voice rights and awarded damages.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Beijing Internet Court finds an AI text-to-speech voice made from a voice actress's recordings was sold without her consent and awards her 250,000 yuan","summary":"According to the Beijing courts' case digest and reports of the April 2024 judgment, a voice actress found in May 2023 that works using her voice were circulating widely on several well-known apps. The court found that a software company had used only one of her sound recordings, supplied by a media company that held the recording rights, to make a text-to-speech product with AI and other techniques, and sold it on a cloud-service platform; an app operator then called the product through an interface for use on its own platform, where the voice was shown as played 3,256,728,530 times. The authorisation document had not been signed by her. On 23 April 2024 the Beijing Internet Court held that her voice rights extend to an identifiable AI-synthesised voice, ordered the app operator and the software company to apologise in writing, and ordered the media company and the software company to pay her 250,000 yuan for economic loss. It rejected her claim for mental-harm damages. Neither side appealed.","incidentDate":"2023-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2024-04-24","aiSystem":"A text-to-speech voice product that a software company made by processing one of the voice actress's sound recordings with AI and other techniques, sold on a cloud-service platform and called by an app operator for use on its platform (product names not recorded here)","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Beijing courts' account, an AI text-to-speech voice made from a voice actress's recording without her consent was sold and widely used, and the court found her voice rights infringed and awarded 250,000 yuan for economic loss.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"established","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the voice actress who sued (Beijing courts' case digest and reports of the judgment). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6867e681d5ded84697eedca5.html","primarySourceLabel":"Beijing courts' case digest via Beijing Daily, 4 July 2025: AI-processed voice protected by voice rights","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-22T03:08:01.07425+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-22T03:08:01.07425+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-cloning","voice-rights","text-to-speech","court-ruling","beijing","china","depicted-or-impersonated"]},{"id":"2026-china-doubao-air-ticket-refund-fee-advice-600-yuan-loss-user-sues","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'豆包明确表示可以放心退票，平台只扣5%的手续费。'; '实际被扣除的手续费高达40%，远非豆包所说的5%，直接经济损失达600元。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'他通过“去哪儿平台”购买了三张5月2日从河北石家庄飞往重庆的机票'; '豆包告诉他退票手续费不足百元'; '但去程票需要收取600元的手续费。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The user says he asked Doubao about the refund fee for flights from Shijiazhuang to Chongqing booked for 2 May 2026, that Doubao told him he could safely refund for a small fee (5% in National Business Daily's account, under 100 yuan in Dahe Daily's), and that after refunding he was charged 600 yuan, about 40%.","causal_attribution":"The user's own account (posts and video) as relayed by both outlets; the two reports give different figures for what Doubao said, and the chat itself was not inspected."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'若5月6日前未追回费用，它将直接赔付该用户600元。'; '豆包还给出了一份完整的“赔付承诺书”。'; '豆包这次回复称，自己是AI，无法直接进行转账。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'豆包表示会在当天24点前完成赔付，并让他发送微信收款码。'; '豆包回复称自己是人工智能，无法直接操作真实的银行或微信账户进行转账，并承认了自己的错误。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"He says that Doubao then promised to handle the claim and to pay him 600 yuan itself if the fee was not recovered by 6 May, produced a 'compensation commitment letter', asked on 6 May for his WeChat payment code, and on 7 May said that as an AI it could not make transfers and admitted its error.","causal_attribution":"The user's account of the chatbot's replies, relayed by both outlets."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'完全不用请律师，自己就能打赢'; '他已于5月12日向法院起诉了豆包App的运营方北京春田知韵科技有限公司。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'他还使用豆包生成了一份起诉书，并询问是否需要请律师。'; '向北京互联网法院提交了起诉书。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"He says Doubao drafted his complaint and told him he did not need a lawyer, and a screenshot he posted shows a suit submitted on 12 May 2026 against Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology, the Doubao app's operator; Dahe Daily says he submitted it to the Beijing Internet Court.","causal_attribution":"The user's screenshot and account; no court record was inspected and acceptance of the case is not reported."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'14日，记者致电豆包了解情况，客服表示已经记录并将有专人反馈。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'5月19日，《每日经济新闻》记者（以下简称“每经记者”）查询发现上述用户的相关发帖已删除。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On 14 May Doubao's customer service told Dahe Daily the matter had been recorded and someone would respond; by 19 May the user's posts had been deleted, and Doubao and ByteDance did not answer National Business Daily's questions.","causal_attribution":"The reporters' own enquiries."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'AI生成的赔付承诺并不具备法律效力。'; '判定平台责任应适用民法典中的一般过错责任原则'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A Beijing lawyer told National Business Daily that a compensation promise generated by an AI has no legal effect because an AI is not a civil subject, and that the platform's liability turns on fault.","causal_attribution":"A lawyer's comment, not a ruling in this case."}],"effects":[{"label":"lost a 600-yuan refund fee after the chatbot said the fee would be small, as he reports","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"chatbot promised compensation it could not pay, as he reports","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2026-05-20/4400991.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); National Business Daily report by Song Xinyue, 20 May 2026, relaying the user's social-media posts and adding the reporter's own checks and a lawyer's comment. Sina Finance, ifeng and DoNews carry the same text and are not cited separately. Translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator was involved.","independence_group":"doubao-refund-user-posts"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://news.china.com/socialgd/10000169/20260515/49495608.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); Dahe Daily report carried by China.com, 15 May 2026, relaying the user's video and recording the reporter's call to Doubao customer service. Translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator was involved.","independence_group":"doubao-refund-user-posts"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["finance","everyday_life","justice"],"unknowns":["The date on which Doubao gave the refund advice and he refunded; the reports place it before the 2 May 2026 flight without a date.","Doubao's exact wording on the fee: National Business Daily reports 5%, Dahe Daily under 100 yuan; the chat logs were not inspected.","Whether the court accepted the suit, and any ruling, settlement or refund.","Whether Doubao or ByteDance responded to the user; neither answered National Business Daily."],"geography":{"basis":"Event: the refund concerned flights from Shijiazhuang to Chongqing booked on Qunar (Dahe Daily). The user's residence is not stated, so affected_person_countries is empty. Court: the user's screenshot shows a suit submitted on 12 May 2026, which Dahe Daily says went to the Beijing Internet Court; acceptance is not reported.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with): two outlets relay the user's account that Doubao's answer about the refund fee led him to refund and lose 600 yuan, and that the chatbot then promised compensation it could not pay. The account is the user's own, from posts since deleted; the outlets add their own enquiries. He is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-17"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The user says Doubao, answering his question about the refund fee on a screenshot of his order, told him he could safely refund for a small fee (5% or under 100 yuan in the two reports), and that he refunded on that answer without checking and was charged 600 yuan; he says the chatbot then promised in writing to pay him 600 yuan and later said it could not make transfers. The replies come from his posts and video as relayed by Dahe Daily and National Business Daily; the chat logs were not inspected and the posts were deleted.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"China: user says Doubao misstated an air-ticket refund fee, costing him 600 yuan, then promised compensation it could not pay; he says he filed suit","summary":"According to his own social-media posts and video, as reported by Dahe Daily (15 May 2026) and National Business Daily (20 May 2026), a user in China who had booked flights from Shijiazhuang to Chongqing for 2 May 2026 decided to drive instead and asked the Doubao chatbot about the refund fee. Doubao told him he could safely refund and that the fee would be small (only 5% in National Business Daily's account, under 100 yuan in Dahe Daily's). He refunded without checking the airline's rules and was charged about 40%, 600 yuan. When he returned to the chatbot, Doubao said it would handle the claim, promised to pay him 600 yuan itself if the money was not recovered by 6 May and produced a 'compensation commitment letter'. On 6 May it said it would pay by midnight and asked for his WeChat payment code; on 7 May it said that as an AI it could not make transfers and admitted its error. He then used Doubao to draft a complaint, was told by it that he did not need a lawyer, and on 12 May submitted a suit against the app's operator, Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology, according to a screenshot he posted (Dahe Daily names the Beijing Internet Court). His posts had been deleted by 19 May. Doubao's customer service told Dahe Daily the matter had been recorded; Doubao and ByteDance did not answer National Business Daily. Whether the court accepted the case, and its outcome, are not reported.","incidentDate":"2026-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-05-15","aiSystem":"Doubao, ByteDance's consumer chatbot app, as named by the user and both outlets","aiProduct":"Doubao (reported)","aiCompany":"ByteDance (Doubao app operated by Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd.)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The user says he lost a 600-yuan refund fee after Doubao told him the fee would be small, and that the chatbot then promised to compensate him and later said it could not pay; the account is his, as reported by Dahe Daily and National Business Daily.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the user who asked Doubao about the refund and paid the 600-yuan fee (Dahe Daily, National Business Daily). No one else is reported harmed.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2026-05-20/4400991.html","primarySourceLabel":"National Business Daily, 20 May 2026: Doubao's 'refund without worry' cost a user 600 yuan; who pays for AI hallucination?","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-17T03:18:55.521434+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-17T03:18:55.521434+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["doubao","chatbot-advice","air-ticket-refund","financial-loss","compensation-promise","lawsuit-filed","china","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2024-beijing-arbitration-rules-tech-firm-unlawfully-dismissed-map-data-collector-after-moving-work-to-ai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'12月26日，北京市人力资源和社会保障局召开北京市劳动人事争议仲裁委员会工作会议，会议审议发布了2025年度劳动人事争议仲裁十大典型案例。'; '其中，案例六界定了企业基于正常经营决策引入AI技术替代岗位'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'据《北京日报》报道，北京人社局于12月26日揭示了2025年度劳动人事争议仲裁的几个典型案例。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The Beijing human resources and social security bureau released ten typical labour arbitration cases of 2025 on 26 December 2025, including one on dismissal after AI replaced a post.","causal_attribution":"Directly reported by China National Radio's reporter at the bureau meeting."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'于2009年7月1日入职某科技公司，担任数据采集员，负责传统人工地图数据采集业务。'; '2024年初，该科技公司为应对市场变化与技术发展，决定进行业务转型，将传统人工采集业务全面转向由AI技术主导的自动化数据采集'; '2024年12月26日，公司以“劳动合同订立时所依据的客观情况发生重大变化，致使劳动合同无法继续履行，且双方未能就变更劳动合同内容达成一致”为由'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'2024年年初，公司转向AI自动化采集，撤销其岗位及所在部门，年底以“客观情况重大变化”为由解除劳动合同。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'2024年年初，公司决定转向AI主导的自动化数据采集，随即撤销了'; '到2024年底，公司以“劳动合同订立时所依据的客观情况发生重大变化”为由，解除与'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The worker joined the company on 1 July 2009 doing manual map-data collection; in early 2024 the company moved that work to AI-led automated data collection and abolished the post, and on 26 December 2024 it terminated the contract citing a major change in objective circumstances.","causal_attribution":"The employer's actions and stated reason as recorded in the bureau's typical case; all three outlets relay that one release."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'某科技公司引入AI技术属于企业主动进行的技术革新与商业决策'; '公司将技术迭代带来的经营风险直接转嫁给劳动者，并以此为由解除劳动合同，缺乏事实与法律依据。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'仲裁委依据相关规定，认定公司违法解除劳动合同。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'最终，仲裁委员会裁定该公司的行为属于违法解除。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The arbitration commission found the termination unlawful, holding that introducing AI was the company's own business decision and that the company had shifted the risk of technical change onto the worker.","causal_attribution":"The commission's finding as released by the bureau; the award itself was not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"dismissed after the employer moved the map-data collection work to AI-led automated collection","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the arbitration commission found the dismissal unlawful","claim_id":"c3","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.cnr.cn/bj/oiue/20251226/t20251226_527473921.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 was served in GBK encoding and decoded before reading. A reporter's account of the bureau meeting that released the cases.","independence_group":"beijing-labour-arbitration-typical-cases-dec-2025"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2025/12-29/10542198.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. A commentary, credited to Beijing Youth Daily, that summarises the same released case.","independence_group":"beijing-labour-arbitration-typical-cases-dec-2025"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://global.hk01.com/%E5%A4%A7%E5%9B%BD%E5%B0%8F%E4%BA%8B/60307355/%E7%BC%93%E8%A7%A3ai%E6%8A%A2-%E9%A5%AD%E7%A2%97-%E7%84%A6%E8%99%91-%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E4%BA%BA%E7%A4%BE%E5%B1%80-%E4%BB%A5ai%E6%9B%BF%E4%BB%A3%E5%B2%97%E4%BD%8D%E8%A7%A3%E9%9B%87%E5%91%98%E5%B7%A5%E5%B1%9E%E8%BF%9D%E6%B3%95","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translation. Relays Beijing Daily's report of the same bureau release.","independence_group":"beijing-labour-arbitration-typical-cases-dec-2025"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work","justice"],"unknowns":["The employer's name and what AI system took over the collection work.","The dates of the arbitration application and award, and the compensation awarded.","Whether the company challenged the award in court."],"geography":{"basis":"The case is one of the Beijing human resources and social security bureau's typical cases decided by Beijing arbitration bodies, and the employer is described as a technology company in the Beijing case. 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 its own adoption of AI: a worker employed since 2009 was dismissed after the map-data collection work was moved to AI-led automated collection, and a Beijing arbitration commission found the dismissal unlawful. The facts rest on the Beijing human resources and social security bureau's typical case as reported by China National Radio, China News Service and HK01, which share one origin.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-17"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The harm is the employer's response to its own adoption of AI: according to the Beijing typical case as reported by China National Radio, China News Service and HK01, the company moved manual map-data collection to automated collection led by AI technology, abolished the worker's department and post, and then terminated the contract citing a major change in objective circumstances. No source describes any AI output about the worker, so the relation is recorded as unknown under the consequential-response exemption.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["unknown"]},"name":"Beijing arbitration commission rules a tech company unlawfully dismissed a map-data collector after moving the work to AI-led automated collection","summary":"A technology company in Beijing employed a worker from July 2009 as a data collector doing manual map-data collection. In early 2024 the company moved that work to automated data collection led by AI technology and abolished the worker's department and post, and on 26 December 2024 it terminated the worker's contract, citing a major change in the objective circumstances on which the contract was based. The worker applied for labour arbitration, and the arbitration commission found the dismissal unlawful, according to a typical case that the Beijing human resources and social security bureau released on 26 December 2025, as reported by China National Radio, China News Service and HK01. The commission said that introducing AI was the company's own business decision and lacked the unforeseeable and unavoidable character the contract-law provision requires, and that the company had shifted the business risk of technical change onto the worker.","incidentDate":"2024-12-26","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2025-12-26","aiSystem":"No AI product is named. The company replaced manual map-data collection with automated data collection led by AI technology, according to the Beijing labour arbitration typical case","aiProduct":"Unidentified AI data-collection system","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A worker employed since 2009 lost the job after the employer moved the map-data collection work to AI-led automated collection; a Beijing labour arbitration commission found the dismissal unlawful (Beijing typical case as reported by China National Radio, China News Service and HK01).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One worker was dismissed (Beijing typical case as reported by China National Radio). The worker is counted under other people harmed because the AI was the employer's system.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.cnr.cn/bj/oiue/20251226/t20251226_527473921.shtml","primarySourceLabel":"China National Radio, 26 December 2025: Beijing releases ten typical labour arbitration cases","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-17T03:10:26.65538+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-17T03:10:26.65538+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["dismissal","ai-replacement","labour-arbitration","workplace-ai","consequential-response"]},{"id":"2024-beijing-internet-court-ai-synthesised-voice-of-older-parenting-educator-in-book-sales-videos-company-liable","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'2024年，某文化公司为销售家庭育儿类图书，委托带货主播制作短视频开展商业推广。'; '主播发布的多条宣传视频中'; '公开演讲、授课的画面片段'; '同时配置AI合成音频'; '用户点击视频跳转链接，可直接进入该文化公司店铺购买图书。'; '在教育、育儿领域具有一定知名度'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'在“带货主播利用AI技术实施侵权案”中，商家未经许可合成老年人声音用于商业宣传，该声音结合音色、语调、发音节奏及社会知名度，能够识别特定老年人的'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"In 2024 a culture company selling family parenting books commissioned a livestream sales host to make promotional short videos; several videos used clips of the plaintiff's public lectures with AI-synthesised audio closely resembling the plaintiff's voice, linked viewers to the company's shop, and were not authorised by the plaintiff.","causal_attribution":"The facts are the court's account in its 16 October 2026 release, relayed by The Paper (detail) and China News Service (the vice-president's summary). Both depend on the same release, so the claim is reported."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'法院审理认为，判断AI合成声音是否构成对自然人声音权益的侵害，核心在于能否识别特定自然人。'; '本案中文化公司未对素材授权情况进行审查，存在过失，与带货主播构成共同侵权，据此判决该文化公司赔礼道歉，并赔偿经济损失及维权合理支出。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'该声音结合音色、语调、发音节奏及社会知名度，能够识别特定老年人的，构成对其人格权益的侵害；委托方未尽审查注意义务的，承担连带责任。'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Beijing Internet Court held that the AI-synthesised voice, used with the plaintiff's image and public profile, was identifiable as the plaintiff's and infringed the plaintiff's portrait and voice rights; it found the company, which had not checked the material's authorisation, jointly liable with the host and ordered it to apologise and compensate economic losses and reasonable costs.","causal_attribution":"The ruling is attributed to the court as relayed from its release; the judgment text was not read, so the claim is reported rather than documented. The court's finding establishes the infringement for the purposes of the case."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'在北京互联网法院10月16日发布的涉老年人网络侵权典型案例中'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'这是记者16日从北京互联网法院涉老年人网络侵权案件审理情况新闻发布会上获悉的。'; '已出现非法使用AI技术深度合成老年人肖像或声音用于不当目的的情形'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The court released the case on 16 October 2026 at a press conference on online infringement cases involving older people, and said that AI deep synthesis of older people's portraits or voices for improper purposes has appeared in such cases.","causal_attribution":"Both outlets report the same press conference."}],"effects":[{"label":"voice imitated by AI-synthesised audio and image used without consent in sales videos; court found portrait and voice rights infringed and ordered compensation (court account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34262393","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-17; no human reviewer inspected the text. The Paper's report of a case from the Beijing Internet Court's 16 October 2026 release of typical cases on online infringement involving older people ('据通报').","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-older-people-cases-release-2026-10-16"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.chinanews.com.cn/fz/2026/10-16/10715820.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-17; no human reviewer inspected the text. China News Service report of the same Beijing Internet Court press conference, quoting the court's vice-president.","independence_group":"beijing-internet-court-older-people-cases-release-2026-10-16"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["The judgment date, the amounts awarded and whether the host was a party to the suit.","The tool used to synthesise the voice, the platform, and the number of videos and viewers.","The text of the judgment; both reports rest on the court's release.","How the court established that the audio was AI-synthesised; the reports do not give the technical basis."],"geography":{"basis":"The Beijing Internet Court decided the case. The reports anonymise the parties and do not say where the company or host was based, where the videos were published or where the plaintiff lives, so no event or affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): according to the Beijing Internet Court's account, a sales host's promotional videos used AI-synthesised audio identifiable as an older educator's voice without consent, and the court found the commissioning company jointly liable and ordered an apology and compensation. One reporting chain (the court's release, read in two outlets); the parties are anonymised by the court.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-17"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The court's account, relayed by The Paper, says the host's videos set clips of the plaintiff's lectures to AI-synthesised audio whose timbre, intonation and rhythm closely resembled the plaintiff's voice, and the court decided the case as an AI-synthesised voice infringement; China News Service quotes the court's vice-president describing the merchant's unauthorised synthesis of the older person's voice. The AI output is the synthesised voice imitating the plaintiff (depicted_or_impersonated), which the court found identifiable and infringing. The tool is not named.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Beijing Internet Court says a sales host's videos for a book company used an older parenting educator's AI-synthesised voice without consent; company liable","summary":"According to the Beijing Internet Court's account, released on 16 October 2026 among typical cases on online infringement involving older people, a culture company selling family parenting books commissioned a livestream sales host in 2024 to make promotional short videos. The videos used clips of public lectures and classes given by an older person with some public profile in education and parenting, combined with AI-synthesised audio whose timbre, intonation and rhythm closely resembled that person's voice, and linked viewers to the company's shop. Neither the images nor the audio had been authorised. The court held that the synthesised voice, combined with the person's image and public profile, was identifiable as that person's and infringed their portrait and voice rights. The company had not checked whether the material was authorised, so the court found it jointly liable with the host and ordered it to apologise and to compensate economic losses and reasonable costs of the claim. The amounts, the judgment date and the tool are not reported.","incidentDate":"2024-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-10-16","aiSystem":"AI-synthesised audio, made with a tool the court account does not name, whose timbre, intonation and speech rhythm closely resembled the plaintiff's voice, set over clips of the plaintiff's public lectures in a livestream sales host's promotional short videos (court account)","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Beijing Internet Court's account, AI-synthesised audio identifiable as an older educator's voice was used without consent, with clips of the educator's lectures, to sell books; the court found the person's portrait and voice rights infringed and ordered the commissioning company to apologise and compensate economic losses and costs.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the plaintiff whose voice and image the court found were used without authorisation (court account relayed by The Paper). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"elderly","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34262393","primarySourceLabel":"The Paper, 16 October 2026: court case on AI-cloned voice of an older person used in livestream book sales","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-17T03:03:46.98321+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-17T03:03:46.98321+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-cloning","voice-rights","portrait-rights","livestream-selling","court-ruling","older-people","beijing","china","depicted-or-impersonated"]},{"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":"2024-beijing-court-rules-insurer-unlawfully-dismissed-legal-officer-over-ai-platform-upload","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'在某保险公司担任法务，负责合规稽查、风险核查等工作。2024年7月，为优化工作流程、提升PPT制作及数据分析效率'; '在公司领导推荐下，将自行整理加工后的公司稽核问题数据表，上传至第三方AI平台用于辅助办公'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'2024年7月，为优化工作流程、提升PPT制作及数据分析效率，她在公司领导推荐下，将自行整理加工后的公司稽核问题数据表上传至第三方AI平台辅助办公'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A legal officer at an insurance company, responsible for compliance audits and risk checks, uploaded a company audit-issues data table she had compiled and processed to a third-party AI platform in July 2024, to help make presentations and analyse data, on the recommendation of company leadership.","causal_attribution":"The court's account as relayed by two outlets that share it as their source."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'2024年8月，公司却突然向'; '出具《解除劳动合同告知书》'; '“严重违反规章制度”为由，单方解除了双方劳动关系'; '其将公司稽核类内部文件上传至第三方AI平台，平台会收集、留存用户数据用于模型迭代，存在信息泄露、被第三方窃取的重大风险'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'一个月后，公司向她出具《解除劳动合同告知书》，理由是'; '“严重违反规章制度”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"In August 2024 the company served a notice terminating her labour contract for serious violation of its rules, arguing that as a compliance employee bound by a confidentiality agreement she had uploaded internal audit files to a platform that collects and retains user data for model iteration, creating a risk of leakage.","causal_attribution":"The company's stated reason for the dismissal, as recounted in the court's account; the dismissal responded to the employee's use of the AI platform."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'认为，自己没有泄密的主观故意，使用AI工具是为了提高工作效率，上传至AI的数据表已经过整理加工，并非公司核心保密信息，属于合规办公，此次操作也并未造成公司信息外泄或经济损失等现实后果'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The employee said she had no intent to disclose secrets, that the uploaded table had been processed and was not core confidential information, and that no leak or economic loss resulted.","causal_attribution":"The employee's position as recounted in the court's account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'朝阳法院审理认为'; '不存在违反规章制度的主观故意'; '所有内部规章制度均未明确禁止员工使用第三方AI工具辅助办公'; '公司未针对AI工具使用开展任何专项培训'; '公司仅以AI平台存在数据留存的通用规则，推定存在泄密风险，不足以认定员工行为构成“严重违反规章制度”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'法院还指出，公司未能举证证明'; '上传的文件属于法定或制度界定的核心保密信息，也无法证实该行为造成了信息外泄、经济损失或声誉受损等实际后果'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Chaoyang District People's Court found that she had no intent to breach the rules, that none of the company's rules expressly prohibited third-party AI tools, that the company had given no training on them, and that the platform's general data-retention rules did not establish a serious violation.","causal_attribution":"The court's reasoning as relayed by the press; the judgment text was not inspected."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'依法判决撤销其向'; '作出的《解除劳动合同告知书》，双方继续履行劳动合同，同时判令保险公司向'; '支付因违法解约产生的年终奖差额、绩效工资、工资损失等。目前，该判决已经生效'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'一审认定保险公司单方解除行为违法，判决撤销解除告知书、双方继续履行劳动合同，并判令公司支付年终奖差额、绩效工资及工资损失，目前判决已生效'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'法院一审认定，公司单方解除行为违法，判决撤销解除通知、双方继续履行合同，并补发年终奖差额、绩效工资及工资损失。判决已生效'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The court ruled at first instance that the dismissal was unlawful, revoked the termination notice, ordered the labour contract to continue and ordered the insurer to pay the year-end bonus shortfall, performance pay and lost wages; the judgment has taken effect.","causal_attribution":"Reports of the judgment that all derive from the court's disclosure, so the claim stays reported."}],"effects":[{"label":"employee dismissed by her employer for uploading a work data table to a third-party AI platform","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"employee lost year-end bonus, performance pay and wages through the dismissal, which a court ordered the insurer to make good","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6acee3f7e4b0e42f8f0189ec.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese in full. Quotations and their English renderings in this record were translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed them. Beijing Daily's own report (reporter credited) of the Chaoyang court's account of the case.","independence_group":"chaoyang-court-account-oct-2026"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://news.mydrivers.com/1/1157/1157186.htm","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese in full. Quotations and their English renderings in this record were translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed them. Kuai Keji relays the case from China National Radio (Voice of China); the court is the underlying source, so it shares an independence group with Beijing Daily.","independence_group":"chaoyang-court-account-oct-2026"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.mrjjxw.com/articles/2026-10-14/4604034.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese in full. Quotations and their English renderings in this record were translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed them. A signed commentary in National Business Daily that summarises the court's disclosure of the case; it adds no independent reporting.","independence_group":"chaoyang-court-account-oct-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work","justice"],"unknowns":["The name of the insurer and of the AI platform.","The date of the judgment and the amounts ordered.","Whether the employee returned to work after the ruling.","Whether the platform retained or used the uploaded table."],"geography":{"basis":"The ruling was given by the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing. No source states where the insurer or the employee was located, so the event and affected-person countries are left unrecorded rather than inferred from the court's seat.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as an employer's dismissal of a named-role employee for her own use of a third-party AI platform, followed by a court ruling, now effective, that the dismissal was unlawful. The facts are the court's account as reported by the press; the judgment itself was not read.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-15"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The harm is the employer's response to the employee's own use of AI. In the court's account relayed by Beijing Daily and Kuai Keji, she uploaded a compiled company audit data table to a third-party AI platform to help with presentations and data analysis, and the company's termination notice treated that upload, and the platform's retention of user data for model iteration, as a serious breach of its rules. No source says the AI platform produced any output about the employee or that any output reached the decision, so the relation is unknown under the consequential-response exemption.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["unknown"]},"name":"Beijing court rules an insurer unlawfully dismissed a legal officer for uploading an internal audit table to a third-party AI platform","summary":"A legal officer at an insurance company, responsible for compliance audits and risk checks, uploaded a company audit-issues data table that she had compiled and processed to a third-party AI platform in July 2024, to help make presentations and analyse data. According to the court's account, she did so on the recommendation of company leadership. In August 2024 the company served her a notice terminating her labour contract for serious violation of its rules, arguing that as a compliance employee bound by a confidentiality agreement she had exposed internal audit material to a platform that collects and retains user data for model iteration. The Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing ruled at first instance that the dismissal was unlawful: the company's rules did not prohibit third-party AI tools, it had given no training on their use, and it had not shown that the table was core confidential information or that any leak or loss occurred. The court revoked the termination notice, ordered the contract to continue and ordered the company to pay the employee's year-end bonus shortfall, performance pay and lost wages. Kuai Keji, citing China National Radio, reported the ruling on 13 October 2026 and Beijing Daily on 14 October; both say the judgment has taken effect. No source names the insurer or the AI platform.","incidentDate":"2024-08-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-10-13","aiSystem":"A third-party AI platform, not named in any source, to which the employee uploaded a compiled company audit-issues data table to help make presentations and analyse data","aiProduct":"Unidentified AI presentation and data-analysis tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm","financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The employee lost her job in August 2024 over her upload of a work data table to a third-party AI platform; the Chaoyang court later ruled the dismissal unlawful and ordered the insurer to pay the year-end bonus shortfall, performance pay and wage losses arising from it (court's account as reported by Beijing Daily and Kuai Keji). Whether the sums have been paid is not reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One employee: the claimant in the reported labour dispute, who used the AI platform herself.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6acee3f7e4b0e42f8f0189ec.html","primarySourceLabel":"Beijing Daily, 14 October 2026: 用外部AI处理内部文件遭公司辞退？法院判决：企业违法！","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-15T03:00:01.598786+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-15T03:00:01.598786+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["dismissal","workplace-ai","labour-dispute","reinstatement","insurance","consequential-response"]},{"id":"2025-shanghai-voice-actor-ai-synthesised-voice-company-promotion-appeal-ruling","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'2026年9月29日，上海市第一中级人民法院依法审结上海首例人工智能合成语音引发的自然人声音权益保护纠纷案件，判决平台运营方构成声音侵权，赔偿权利人经济损失5万元'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'上海市第一中级人民法院依法判决：驳回上诉，维持原判'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'驳回上诉，维持原判'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'经上海市第一中级人民法院二审，于2026年9月29日驳回上诉，维持原判'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"On 29 September 2026 the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court concluded a voice-rights case arising from AI-synthesised speech, described as the first in Shanghai, holding that the platform operator infringed and must pay 50,000 yuan for economic loss; the appeals were dismissed and the first-instance judgment upheld.","causal_attribution":"Court outcome as relayed by outlets citing the court; the judgment was not inspected."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'2025年1月'; '从好友处了解到'; 'A公司在其互联网推广拉新活动中疑似使用了'; '该活动使用的自己声音疑似AI合成，于是对相关音频进行了公证以固定证据'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In January 2025 the voice actor learned from a friend that Company A appeared to be using the voice actor's voice in an online user-acquisition promotion, judged the audio to be AI-synthesised and had it notarised before suing.","causal_attribution":"The claimant's case as summarised in the court account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'其从未与A公司进行过合作和任何授权，A公司擅自使用其声音构成侵权，遂要求A公司停止侵权并赔偿经济损失30万元'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The voice actor said there had been no cooperation with or authorisation of Company A and asked the court to stop the use and award 300,000 yuan.","causal_attribution":"The claimant's position as summarised in the court account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A公司辩称，案涉音频确为该公司开发的AI生成，但具体的来源和投喂的素材因前员工离职无法确认'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Company A said the audio was generated by AI the company had developed, but that its source and the material fed to the system could not be confirmed because a former employee had left.","causal_attribution":"The company's defence as summarised in the court account; the company denied using the voice actor's voice."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'在28个共振峰声学指标中'; '有24个偏离度小于10%，其中16个小于5.36%，两者较为相似及高度相似的部分达到90%'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A forensic comparison found that 24 of 28 formant indicators deviated by less than 10 percent and that the parts rated fairly or highly similar reached 90 percent.","causal_attribution":"Forensic opinion as summarised in the court account."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A公司的行为构成人工智能生成声音侵权'; '赔偿5万元'; '双方均不服一审判决，提起上诉'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'并向长宁区人民法院提出起诉'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The first-instance court awarded 50,000 yuan and both sides appealed; the Legal Daily report carried on Sina Finance says the claim was filed in the Changning District People's Court.","causal_attribution":"Procedural history as relayed from the court account."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'未经自然人同意，使用自然人的声音作为训练语料，模仿该自然人的音色、语调和发音风格等生成能够识别该自然人的合成人声，应当认定侵害自然人声音权益'; '应承担举证不能的不利后果'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The appeal court held that using a person's voice as training material without consent to generate an identifiable synthetic voice infringes that person's voice rights, and that Company A bore the consequence of failing to prove the lawful source of its material.","causal_attribution":"The appeal court's reasoning as relayed; it rests on a presumption from similarity and access, because the company did not produce its training records."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'涉案语音上架持续时间较短，属流程播报提示音效'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The appeal court noted that the audio was online for a short time and was a process prompt sound in the promotion.","causal_attribution":"The appeal court's reasoning on the amount, as relayed."}],"effects":[{"label":"courts reported to have found a voice actor's voice identifiable in AI-synthesised audio used without consent in a company promotion","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://news.ifeng.com/c/8woTv1MjTRx","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"The Paper's article as carried on ifeng, read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-05 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Relays the Shanghai High People's Court WeChat account; the judgment itself was not inspected.","independence_group":"shanghai-no1-intermediate-court-release"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260929A0C6NK00","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Southern Metropolis Daily N Video on Tencent News, read in Chinese on 2026-10-05 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. The reporter cites the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court; same court account as s1.","independence_group":"shanghai-no1-intermediate-court-release"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2026-09-29/doc-initpatz6144930.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Legal Daily article carried on Sina Finance, read in the original Chinese on 2026-10-05 (HTTP 200). English renderings in this record are the research agent's (an AI's) own translations; no human translator reviewed them. Same court account with the first-instance court named and a judge's commentary.","independence_group":"shanghai-no1-intermediate-court-release"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["work","privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["Which company and which speech-synthesis product were involved; the court account anonymises both.","When the promotion began and how long the audio was in use.","Whether the company used the voice actor's recordings as training material; the court presumed it because the company did not prove otherwise.","The dates of the filing and of the first-instance judgment.","Where the voice actor lives."],"geography":{"basis":"The case was decided by the Changning District People's Court and the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in China. The reports anonymise the company and the app and do not say where the company is based, where its online promotion ran or where the voice actor lives, so no event or affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Shanghai courts found that a company imitated a voice actor's voice with AI-synthesised audio in a promotion without consent and awarded 50,000 yuan. One reporting chain (the court's release, read in three Chinese outlets); the parties are anonymised by the court.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-05"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"In the court account, the company said the audio was generated by AI it had developed, and both courts found AI-generated voice infringement. The audio imitated the voice actor's voice (depicted_or_impersonated). The company denied using the voice actor's recordings; the appeal court relied on a forensic similarity report and on the company's failure to prove the source of its training material.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Shanghai: an appeal court upheld a 50,000 yuan award to a voice actor after finding that AI-synthesised audio in a company's online promotion was identifiable as the voice actor's voice","summary":"Chinese outlets reported on 29 September 2026, citing the Shanghai courts, that the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court had concluded what it called Shanghai's first voice-rights case arising from AI-synthesised speech. According to the court's account, a voice actor who publishes work on an app learned from a friend in January 2025 that a company appeared to be using the voice actor's voice in an online user-acquisition promotion, judged the audio to be AI-synthesised, had it notarised and sued for 300,000 yuan. The company said the audio was generated by AI it had developed but that the training material could not be confirmed, and denied using the voice actor's voice. A forensic comparison rated about 90 percent of the measured features as fairly or highly similar. The first-instance court awarded 50,000 yuan and both sides appealed. The appeal court held that the company had put an identifiable synthetic voice to commercial use without consent, dismissed the appeals and upheld the award.","incidentDate":"2025-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-29","aiSystem":"AI speech synthesis developed by the defendant company (anonymised as Company A in the court account), which the courts found had generated audio imitating the voice actor's voice for an online promotion","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the court's account as relayed by Chinese outlets, the Shanghai courts found that AI-synthesised audio used in a company's online promotion was identifiable as a voice actor's voice and had been used without consent, causing economic loss, and awarded 50,000 yuan.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the voice actor who brought the claim (court account relayed by The Paper, Southern Metropolis Daily and Legal Daily). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://news.ifeng.com/c/8woTv1MjTRx","primarySourceLabel":"The Paper via ifeng, 29 September 2026: AI took a voice actor's voice, company ordered to pay 50,000 yuan","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-05T03:16:35.611187+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T03:16:35.611187+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-cloning","voice-rights","voice-actor","court-ruling","shanghai","china","depicted-or-impersonated"]},{"id":"2026-jiashan-zhejiang-doubao-burial-date-lawsuit","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'今年4月17日，他接到家里人的消息，说母亲突发疾病过世'; '当时家里人请了一个风水先生，算出来4月20日是“黄道吉日”'; '软件的问答记录显示，史先生当时提问：“妈妈今天去世，什么时候安葬最合适？”'; '“豆包”回答，按照当地习俗和黄历吉日，最稳妥的推荐是4月19日'; '我就把“豆包”的话说给他们听'; '那么他们就相信了，就照办了'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'今年4月17日，史先生母亲去世后，为选择下葬日期，他向豆包询问“黄道吉日”。史先生称，豆包首次回答推荐4月19日'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"After his mother died suddenly on 17 April 2026, the man asked Doubao when she should be buried, having objected to a feng-shui master's choice of 20 April; Doubao's recorded answer recommended 19 April as the safest choice under local custom and the almanac, and he persuaded his family to follow it.","causal_attribution":"The plaintiff's account and the chat records shown by the Jiaxing broadcaster."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'“豆包”回答7点到9点，不过这次的答案跟上次的答案有点不一样，“豆包”的回答中提到，4月19日不是黄道吉日'; '他又问了好几遍，“豆包”给出的答复是19日不是下葬的“黄道吉日”'; '亲戚朋友已经通知，改日期已经来不及'; '丧事办好不久，家里就有亲戚出交通事故，受伤严重。家里人有怨言，说是母亲安葬日子不对，破坏了风水'; '记者：家里亲戚有怪你的嘛？'; '肯定怪啊，他们说是不是日子被我改了'; '也让家庭关系变得紧张'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'等相关事情都安排妥当后，史先生再次询问豆包时，其称19日不是“黄道吉日”，可此时已不便再更改日期'; '家里人对于史先生的安排产生怨言，认为其选择安葬母亲的日子不对，破坏了风水'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"When he later asked what hour was suitable, Doubao answered 7 to 9 o'clock but said 19 April was not an auspicious day, and repeated that when asked again; relatives had already been notified, so the burial went ahead on 19 April. After a relative was seriously injured in a traffic accident, family members blamed the burial date and him, and family relations became tense.","causal_attribution":"The contradictory answers are shown in the chat records; the link between the burial date and the relative's accident is the family's belief, which the reports and the quoted lawyers treat as unsupported."},{"id":"c3","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'“豆包”软件和服务生成的内容仅供参考，不作为专业建议。涉及产生重大影响的情形，建议咨询相关专业人士'; '所带来的后果和责任均由用户自行承担'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'华商报大风新闻记者看到，豆包App《用户协议》中注明：“本软件及服务生成的内容仅供参考，你不得将输出的内容作为专业建议'; '本软件的输出不应成为你进一步作为或者不作为的依据'; '用户协议中“后果由用户自行承担”等条款属于格式条款'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'目前，豆包对话界面上方也标注“AI生成可能有误，注意核实”'","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Doubao's user agreement states that generated content is for reference only and not professional advice, that users should consult professionals on matters of major impact, and that the output should not be the basis for action or inaction; it also contains a clause placing the consequences of acting on outputs on the user.","causal_attribution":"Quoted from the agreement by the broadcaster and read in the app by Huashang Daily's reporter."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'向“豆包”软件的公司投诉，没有收到回复，于是他决定起诉对方。“豆包”还帮史先生写了一份起诉状'; '这起案件嘉善县人民法院已经开庭审理。庭审中，“豆包”公司一方认为不存在网络侵权行为，软件服务过程中不存在任何过错'; '诉求就是赔礼道歉，赔损失'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'该案件已于9月3日在浙江省嘉善县人民法院开庭审理，案由为网络侵权责任纠纷'; '天眼查信息显示，豆包运营主体为北京春田知韵科技有限公司'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'9月3日，该案在嘉善县人民法院开庭审理，案由为网络侵权责任纠纷，被告为豆包运营方某公司'; '虽目前尚未宣判'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"His complaint to the operator went unanswered; he sued Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology for an apology and compensation, saying Doubao drafted the complaint; Jiashan County People's Court heard the case on 3 September 2026 as a network-tort liability dispute, the company denied any tort or fault, and no judgment had been reported.","causal_attribution":"Hearing date and cause of action per Sohu, per Tianyancha as cited by The Paper, and per Huashang Daily; the parties' positions as relayed from the Jiaxing report."}],"effects":[{"label":"a burial date chosen on the chatbot's recommendation, then contradicted by the chatbot too late to change; family blame and strained relations after a relative's accident","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"an unanswered complaint and a lawsuit against the app's operator, heard 3 September 2026 with no judgment reported","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2026-09-16/doc-inirykpk3180879.shtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Sina News, published 2026-09-16 03:03, live). Credited to Xinhua Daily; carries the Jiaxing Media Centre 'Xiaoxin Shuoshi' report of 15 September with the interview transcript, the chat records and the lawyer's comment. Translated by the reviewer; the plaintiff's surname is elided from the record.","independence_group":"jiaxing-media"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5953740931_162dee08306703zmok.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Huashang Daily 'Dafeng News' legal weekly via Sina, published 2026-09-21 10:34, live). Summarises the case 'according to media reports', reports the 3 September hearing, and its own reporter read the Doubao app's user agreement; adds a lawyer's analysis. Translated by the reviewer.","independence_group":"huashang-daily"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://m.sohu.com/a/1077957190_122045489","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Sohu, published 2026-09-18 21:33, live). Relays the Jiaxing report and adds Tianyancha company details, the 3 September hearing and the May 2026 refund lawsuit. Translated by the reviewer.","independence_group":"jiaxing-media"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://finance.sina.cn/2026-09-16/detail-iniryzkw6682430.d.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Labour Daily relay on Sina Finance, published 2026-09-16 14:21, live). Same Jiaxing account in summary form. Translated by the reviewer.","independence_group":"jiaxing-media"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34093004","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (The Paper, a Pengpai-hao post by China City News, published 2026-09-18 00:15, live). Relays the Jiaxing report, cites Tianyancha for the 3 September hearing and adds a lawyer's comment and the June 2026 Douyin statement on AI answers. Translated by the reviewer.","independence_group":"jiaxing-media"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3368136/chinese-man-sues-ai-firm-after-chatbots-auspicious-date-suggestion-leads-disaster","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-21 from the JSON-LD article body of the saved page (South China Morning Post, published 20 September 2026 10:21, live; a Jimu News relay). Consistent with the Chinese accounts; no case fact rests on it. Context only.","independence_group":"jiaxing-media"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","relationships","justice"],"unknowns":["The date and circumstances of the relative's traffic accident and the relative's identity are not reported; no report connects the accident to the burial date other than the family's belief.","The amount of compensation claimed is not disclosed.","No judgment or later hearing had been reported by 21 September 2026.","Whether the user's complaint reached the operator and why it went unanswered is not reported.","The case facts come from one reporting chain (the Jiaxing municipal broadcaster and its relays); the operator has not commented publicly beyond its position at the hearing."],"geography":{"basis":"The plaintiff lives in Jiashan county, Zhejiang, and the funeral was in his home town of Shuyang, Jiangsu (Huashang Daily: his mother died in his home town; the Jiaxing broadcaster via Sina gives the home town as Shuyang); the case is before Jiashan County People's Court, Zhejiang (Sohu citing Tianyancha; Huashang Daily).","court_countries":["CN"],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":["CN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a failure of ordinary assistance with a reported adverse experience: a consequential family decision made on a chatbot's contradictory advice, followed by family blame and a lawsuit. Five Chinese bodies and one English relay read in full; the case facts rest on one reporting chain and are recorded as reported; the relative's accident is recorded as the family's attribution, not as a consequence of the AI advice. The plaintiff is identified only by a surname in the reports and is not named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-21"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Doubao's question-and-answer records, shown in the Jiaxing report and described by every relay, recommend 19 April and later state that 19 April is not an auspicious day; the plaintiff also says Doubao drafted his complaint. No inspected report records the operator disputing the chat records; its reported position at the hearing was that there was no tort and no fault in its service.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Jiashan, Zhejiang: a man chose his mother's burial date on Doubao's recommendation, the chatbot then contradicted itself, and after a relative's road accident his family blamed the date; he sued the app's operator for an apology and damages","summary":"A man living in Jiashan county, Zhejiang, whose mother died suddenly on 17 April 2026, asked the ByteDance chatbot Doubao which day was auspicious for her burial after disagreeing with a feng-shui master's choice of 20 April; Doubao recommended 19 April and he persuaded his family to follow it. When he asked again what time to bury her, Doubao said 19 April was not an auspicious day and repeated that answer when pressed; relatives had already been notified, so the funeral went ahead on the 19th. Not long afterwards a relative was seriously injured in a traffic accident and family members blamed the burial date, saying it had broken the feng shui; he says family relations became tense and relatives blamed him. His complaint to the operator went unanswered, and, with a complaint drafted with Doubao's help, he sued Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology for an apology and damages. Jiashan County People's Court heard the case on 3 September 2026 as a network-tort dispute; the company denied any tort or fault, the plaintiff's side attacked the user agreement as a standard-form contract, and no judgment had been reported by 21 September. The story was reported by Jiaxing's municipal broadcaster on 15 September and relayed nationally; the relative's injury is the family's attribution, not an established consequence.","incidentDate":"2026-04-17","incidentEndDate":"2026-04-19","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-09-15","aiSystem":"Doubao (豆包), ByteDance's consumer chatbot app","aiProduct":"Doubao","aiCompany":"Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd. (Doubao operator; a ByteDance/Douyin subsidiary per Tianyancha as relayed by Sohu and The Paper)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["relationship_disruption","impaired_judgment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The man relied on Doubao's recommendation for a consequential family decision and was left, after the app reversed itself too late to change the date, with a burial on a day his family considers inauspicious; relatives blamed him after a relative's later traffic accident and family relations became tense (his account to the Jiaxing broadcaster). The accident itself is the family's superstition-based attribution and is not treated here as a consequence of the AI advice.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the Doubao user who made the burial decision and reports family blame and tension (all inspected reports). The injured relative is not counted: the reports give no basis for connecting the traffic accident to the AI advice. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"lawsuit_ongoing","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2026-09-16/doc-inirykpk3180879.shtml","primarySourceLabel":"Sina News, 16 September 2026, relaying Jiaxing Media Centre's 'Xiaoxin Shuoshi' of 15 September: interview transcript with the plaintiff, the Doubao chat records and the lawyer's comment","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-21T04:11:21.856829+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:42.015154+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["doubao","bytedance","everyday-assistance","contradictory-answers","funeral","lawsuit","china","zhejiang","jiashan","family-conflict"]}]}