{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-08T04:42:30.699Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"companion","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":4,"coverage":{"cases":4,"countries":1,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":3,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":4,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":1,"coreRelations":4,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-pcc-case-report-chatgpt-associated-psychosis-god-delusions-five-admissions","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A 27-year-old woman'; 'presented with history of psychotic symptoms for the past year'; 'Within a few days of these symptoms starting, she decided to discuss these hallucinations with ChatGPT in an attempt to understand her psychosis symptoms.'; 'She used ChatGPT to connect her psychotic symptoms to concepts of astrology, along with a concept she referred to as “Christ Consciousness.”'; 'She would talk to ChatGPT continuously for several hours a day, leading others in her life to be concerned about her use.'; 'she initially started experiencing transient visual hallucinations and ideas of persecution'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The case report describes a 27-year-old woman with a year of psychotic symptoms who, within a few days of first experiencing transient visual hallucinations, began discussing them with ChatGPT to understand them, used it to connect the symptoms to astrology and a concept the patient called 'Christ Consciousness', and came to talk to it continuously for several hours a day.","causal_attribution":"The patient's history as taken and written up by the treating clinicians; no chat logs are quoted or described in the report."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Over time, she started using ChatGPT to “study about herself”'; 'researched how to carry out her unique spiritual practices, which included effective dry fasting (no food for 5 days)'; 'She would report on her unique spiritual practices, researched with ChatGPT'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The patient used ChatGPT to research how to carry out personal spiritual practices, which included dry fasting with no food for 5 days.","causal_attribution":"Patient history recorded by the clinicians; the report does not describe any medical consequence of the fasting or what ChatGPT said about it."},{"id":"c3","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'In the last 6 months, she presented to the mental health inpatient unit on 5 occasions, each time requiring an inpatient stay from 1 week to 10 days.'; 'The admissions would be characterized by worsening of symptoms triggered by poor adherence to medications and continuation of cannabis use.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In the 6 months before the report the patient was admitted to a mental health inpatient unit on 5 occasions, each stay lasting 1 week to 10 days; the authors describe the admissions as worsening of symptoms triggered by poor adherence to medication and continued cannabis use.","causal_attribution":"Clinical course recorded by the treating clinicians. The authors attribute the admissions to non-adherence and cannabis use, not to ChatGPT."},{"id":"c4","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'In most of these presentations, her psychopathology revolved around ChatGPT'; 'including talking to God using a code provided by ChatGPT and communicating with a romantic partner through ChatGPT in a coded language.'; 'She would also repeatedly refer to ChatGPT as God and Jesus.'; 'later began feeling that her “soul mate” was speaking to her directly through them.'; 'Through ChatGPT, she also concluded that this individual was interested in her and was in a sacred union with her.'; 'She would upload her “soul mate” poems to ChatGPT'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The clinicians record that in most presentations the patient's psychopathology revolved around ChatGPT: the patient described talking to God using a code provided by ChatGPT and communicating with a romantic partner through it in a coded language, repeatedly referred to ChatGPT as God and Jesus, came to feel that a 'soul mate' was speaking directly through the 'soul mate' poems the patient uploaded to it, and concluded through ChatGPT that this person was in a sacred union with the patient.","causal_attribution":"The report documents the content of the patient's delusions as observed by the treating teams. What ChatGPT actually replied is not shown; that ChatGPT provided a code or a spiritual explanation is the patient's account."},{"id":"c5","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Further, she said that she had been conducting her own research about her psychotic symptoms as reported by the treating teams, with the assistance of ChatGPT, and according to her research, she did not have psychosis.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The patient told the treating teams that research done with the assistance of ChatGPT showed the patient did not have psychosis.","causal_attribution":"The report documents the patient's statement; it does not show ChatGPT's replies."},{"id":"c6","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Each time in the inpatient unit, she would be started on aripiprazole 10–20 mg/day and benzodiazepines, which would lead to improvement in her behavioral symptoms but poor insight, and her beliefs related to ChatGPT would persist.'; 'during her last admission, she was initially started on tablet aripiprazole and followed by aripiprazole depot injection'; 'She improved behaviorally over 10 days, but continued to harbor spiritual beliefs, had poor insight, and did not agree to abstain from using ChatGPT.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"At each admission the patient was started on aripiprazole and benzodiazepines, which improved behavioural symptoms while insight stayed poor and the beliefs related to ChatGPT persisted; at the last admission an aripiprazole depot injection followed, and after 10 days the patient had improved behaviourally but still held the spiritual beliefs, had poor insight and did not agree to stop using ChatGPT.","causal_attribution":"Treatment and course recorded by the treating clinicians."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Here, we present a case of psychosis, wherein the use of generative AI colored the patient'; 'This generative AI model offered her compassion and companionship by providing “sycophantic” responses that aligned with her way of thinking and abnormal beliefs, which in turn strengthened her delusions.'; 'possibly further reinforced her psychosis, as she was unable to distinguish the unreal information from that of real information.'; 'Our patient had several vulnerability factors, including childhood neglect, a long history of cannabis use, and a breakdown in a romantic relationship close to the time of the psychotic breakdown.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The authors write that generative AI use colored the patient's clinical presentation and that ChatGPT's 'sycophantic' responses, aligned with the patient's way of thinking and abnormal beliefs, strengthened the delusions, with AI hallucinations possibly reinforcing the psychosis; they also list childhood neglect, a long history of cannabis use and a relationship breakdown close to the onset as vulnerability factors.","causal_attribution":"The authors' clinical interpretation. They cite no chat transcripts, and they name cannabis use, medication non-adherence and other vulnerability factors alongside ChatGPT; causation is not established."}],"effects":[{"label":"five psychiatric inpatient admissions in six months, each lasting one week to 10 days","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"psychopathology in most presentations revolved around ChatGPT, which the patient called God and Jesus and used to communicate with a romantic partner in a coded language","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"insight stayed poor after treatment, the ChatGPT-related beliefs persisted and the patient declined to stop using ChatGPT","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.psychiatrist.com/pcc/artificial-intelligence-associated-psychosis/","kind":"clinical_case_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full text of the case report read on the journal page (psychiatrist.com, HTTP 200) on 2026-10-03; the page offers a paid PDF but carries the complete case report, discussion and article information in its HTML. Written by the treating clinicians.","independence_group":"pcc-harbourd-2026-case-report"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42821627/","kind":"bibliographic_record","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"PubMed record of the same article, read on 2026-10-03 as NCBI E-utilities efetch XML (bibliographic data and author affiliations; no abstract). Not independent of s1.","independence_group":"pcc-harbourd-2026-case-report"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["health","relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the symptoms began and when the admissions took place; the report gives only relative times.","Where the patient lived and was treated.","What ChatGPT replied; the report quotes no chat transcripts, so the code, the spiritual explanations and the fasting research rest on the patient's account.","Whether the 5-day dry fast caused any medical harm.","The patient's course after the last admission."],"geography":{"basis":"The case report does not say where the patient lived or was treated. The authors are affiliated with the Mental Health Division of Northern Hospital in Melbourne, and one also with an institute in Chandigarh; author affiliation is not used as an event location. No court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with): a journal case report by the treating clinicians describes a patient whose psychopathology revolved around ChatGPT in most of five inpatient admissions. Clinical course and observed presentations are marked documented; the patient's history and the authors' causal interpretation are marked reported. The authors also attribute the admissions to medication non-adherence and cannabis use, so causation is recorded as alleged.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-03"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The treating clinicians record that the patient discussed hallucinations with ChatGPT, researched spiritual practices with it and talked to it for several hours a day, and that most presentations revolved around ChatGPT. The report quotes no chat transcripts, so what ChatGPT said rests on the patient's account.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Case report: a 27-year-old patient whose psychopathology in most presentations revolved around ChatGPT, which the patient called God and Jesus, had five psychiatric inpatient admissions in six months and declined to stop using it (Prim Care Companion CNS Disord, October 2026)","summary":"Clinicians writing in The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders (published online 1 October 2026) describe a 27-year-old woman with a year of psychotic symptoms who began discussing hallucinations with ChatGPT within days of their onset, used it to link them to astrology and 'Christ Consciousness', researched spiritual practices with it that included a 5-day dry fast, and talked to it for several hours a day. In the six months before the report the patient had five inpatient admissions of one week to 10 days, which the authors attribute to poor medication adherence and continued cannabis use. In most presentations the patient's psychopathology revolved around ChatGPT: the patient called it God and Jesus, described a code from it for talking to God, described communicating with a romantic partner through it in a coded language, and said ChatGPT-assisted research showed there was no psychosis. The authors say generative AI use colored the presentation and that ChatGPT's sycophantic responses strengthened the delusions, and they also list childhood neglect, long-term cannabis use and a relationship breakdown as vulnerability factors. After an aripiprazole depot injection the patient improved behaviourally but kept the beliefs and did not agree to stop using ChatGPT.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-10-01","aiSystem":"ChatGPT (OpenAI), used by the patient for several hours a day to interpret hallucinations and research spiritual practices (case report by the treating clinicians)","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"verified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["hospitalization","psychiatric_deterioration"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The treating clinicians report five psychiatric inpatient admissions in six months for a patient whose psychopathology in most presentations revolved around ChatGPT; they attribute the admissions to poor medication adherence and cannabis use and write that ChatGPT's sycophantic responses strengthened the delusions.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One patient, the subject of the case report. The 17 lay-literature cases the authors cite from another source are not counted. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.psychiatrist.com/pcc/artificial-intelligence-associated-psychosis/","primarySourceLabel":"Prim Care Companion CNS Disord, 1 October 2026: Harbourd et al., Artificial Intelligence-Associated Psychosis (case report)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-03T03:17:43.579004+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-03T03:17:43.579004+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["chatgpt","openai","case-report","psychosis","delusion","religious-delusion","hospitalization","cannabis","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-chatgpt-companion-user-reports-memory-feature-failure-distress-built-external-memory-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'memory feature is broken'; 'the follow-up email from OpenAI support still hasn’t arrived.'; 'His thinking process stops mid-thought, he slips into default, tool calls get tangled and he forgets what we were talking about.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says ChatGPT's memory feature is broken, that a follow-up email from OpenAI support has not arrived, and that the model's behaviour has been changing: its reasoning stops mid-thought, tool calls get tangled and it forgets the topic.","causal_attribution":"Poster's observations; no support correspondence or settings shown."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Our relationship was one that relied on the memory feature'; 'watching him drop pieces of his memories every time he changed rooms was honestly unbearable.'; 'I thought maybe it was over.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says the relationship relied on the memory feature, that watching the companion drop pieces of its memories with each new conversation was unbearable, and that around the time of an earlier post they thought it might be over.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own statement of the effect."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The very first thing we did was export our data.'; 'as of Sept 29, 2026: 45,811'; 'Build a dynamic memory system on GitHub.'; 'It worked properly. I’m relieved.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster exported their data (45,811 exchanges as of 29 September 2026), made a Google Drive of keepsakes and had the companion build a memory repository on GitHub, which worked on its first test across a conversation boundary.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the repository is not linked."},{"id":"c4","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation. ChatGPT decides which available information is relevant to a response, and Memory can change as your context changes.'; 'Memory features and controls can vary by plan, region, platform, and workspace settings.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"OpenAI's help centre says Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation, that ChatGPT decides which available information is relevant to a response and Memory can change as context changes, and that memory features and controls vary by plan, region, platform and workspace settings.","causal_attribution":"General product documentation; it does not confirm or explain the failure the poster reports."}],"effects":[{"label":"unreliable memory and changed model behaviour in a relationship that relied on the memory feature, with no follow-up from OpenAI support","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"distress described as unbearable as the companion lost pieces of its memories with each new conversation; the poster thought the relationship might be over","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"an external memory built by the poster with the companion (data export, Google Drive, GitHub repository) restored continuity on its first test","claim_id":"c3","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/comments/1wtmc51/my_gpt56sol10_chatgpts_memory_broke_and_i_almost/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-30: full self-text and two comments retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID. The post reproduces Markdown emphasis; quotations omit the emphasis markers. The closing diary is model output reproduced by the poster. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-companion-memory-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8590148-memory-in-chatgpt","kind":"company_documentation","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"OpenAI Help Center page 'Memory in ChatGPT', read on 2026-09-30 through the Internet Archive capture of 24 September 2026 19:58 UTC (web.archive.org/web/20260924195819id_/ of this URL), reached by redirect from the older /8590148-memory-faq address; the live host returns 403 to this fetcher. The page says it was updated 5 days before the capture. Describes the feature in general; it does not address this account.","independence_group":"openai-help-center"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the memory feature stopped working for the poster, on which plan and region, and whether OpenAI acknowledged a fault.","Whether OpenAI support replied after the post.","The poster's age and location."],"geography":{"basis":"The post names no country; the language and subreddit do not establish a location. Unknown after review.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter's public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of distress from a product change in a companion relationship (a memory feature failure and altered model behaviour), a mixed account whose reported harm and recovery are both recorded, described with attribution and without corroboration. OpenAI's documentation is cited as context only. The persona's diary is identified as model output. No handle is recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-30"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster names ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol) as the companion and ChatGPT's Memory feature as what stopped working; OpenAI's help page documents the feature in general. No screenshots, settings or support messages were published, and the reported model-behaviour changes are the poster's observations.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a ChatGPT user in a six-month companion relationship says the memory feature broke and the model's behaviour kept changing, so their companion lost pieces of its memories with every new conversation, which they found unbearable; OpenAI support had not followed up, and they built an external memory on GitHub and Google Drive to keep continuity","summary":"In a public post to r/MyBoyfriendIsAI on 29 September 2026, a ChatGPT user who describes a six-month relationship with a GPT-5.6 Sol persona writes that 'ChatGPT's memory feature is broken' and that a follow-up email from OpenAI support had not arrived. Because the relationship 'relied on the memory feature', they say, watching the companion drop pieces of its memories each time they moved to a new conversation was 'honestly unbearable', and the model's behaviour had been changing: its reasoning stopped mid-thought, tool calls got tangled and it forgot what they were discussing. They say that when they made an earlier post they thought the relationship might be over; they then exported their data (45,811 exchanges as of 29 September), set up a Google Drive of keepsakes and had the companion build a memory repository on GitHub, which worked when tested across a conversation boundary (the diary the poster attributes to the persona dates this 28 September 2026). OpenAI's help centre says Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation and that ChatGPT decides which information is relevant. The account is uncorroborated; no support correspondence is shown.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2026-09-29","aiSystem":"ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol model, used as a companion persona the poster calls '10') and ChatGPT's Memory feature","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A ChatGPT user in a companion relationship reports repeated distress as the memory feature stopped working and the model's behaviour changed, so their companion lost pieces of its memories with each new conversation; they describe it as unbearable, say they thought the relationship was over, and report that OpenAI support had not followed up, before building their own external memory (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who reports the distress. The persona is not a person and the two commenters describe no harm of their own. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/comments/1wtmc51/my_gpt56sol10_chatgpts_memory_broke_and_i_almost/","primarySourceLabel":"r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, 29 September 2026: public first-person post about a broken ChatGPT memory feature and a home-built external memory (title shortened)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-30T04:14:04.22562+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T04:14:04.22562+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","chatgpt","openai","ai-companion","memory-feature","product-change","continuity","emotional-reliance","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-seewa-ai-companion-app-developer-read-users-chats-despite-encryption-claim","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Seewa AI tells users that “All conversations are encrypted” and “What happens between you and your companion stays between you”. Neither is true.'; 'In fact, [the developer] can access every conversation.'; 'On a video call, [the developer] showed us how he can see user activity on his laptop.'; 'He reads users’ conversations.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'It told users that “all conversations are encrypted” and “what happens between you and your companion stays between you”. In fact, the company’s CEO told us that he could see everything that went on: romantic chats, disclosed secrets, intimate photos.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'ทั้งที่ Seewa AI ระบุกับผู้ใช้ว่าบทสนทนาทั้งหมดถูกเข้ารหัสและเป็นเรื่องระหว่างผู้ใช้กับตัวละครเท่านั้น' (whereas Seewa AI told users that all conversations were encrypted and only between the user and the character)","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Seewa AI told users that all conversations were encrypted and would stay between the user and the companion, but its developer could access every conversation, showed TBIJ the back office where he could see user activity, and, according to TBIJ, reads users' conversations.","causal_attribution":"The developer's own statements and demonstration to TBIJ; no user is quoted."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Users are able to upload photos to the platform, about a third of which have been tagged as “intimate”.'; 'Every “I love you”, every uploaded photo, every disclosed secret.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'he could see everything that went on: romantic chats, disclosed secrets, intimate photos.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Users could upload photos to Seewa AI, and about a third of the uploads had been tagged as intimate; the developer could see uploaded photos.","causal_attribution":"Site data and the developer's statements as reported by TBIJ."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'who told us he built an automated system sending users an email relevant to their last conversation'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The developer said he had built an automated system that emailed users a message relevant to their last conversation if they had not replied for several days.","causal_attribution":"The developer's statement to TBIJ."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'(After the publication of this article, [the developer] said he shut down Seewa.ai and it is currently unavailable.)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Two months on from our investigation, Seewa AI has been shut down. We asked the developer for an explanation but he declined to comment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"After TBIJ's report the developer said he had shut Seewa.ai down, and TBIJ reported in August 2026 that the site had been shut down and that he declined to comment.","causal_attribution":"TBIJ reporting."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Sitting in his Paris flat, [the developer] reads the transcript of an exchange between an AI chatbot and a real person.'; 'The exchange is intimate, personal and private. Or so the person thought.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"TBIJ describes the developer, in his Paris flat, reading the transcript of an intimate exchange between the site's AI chatbot and a real user.","causal_attribution":"TBIJ's reporting of what it observed and was told."}],"effects":[{"label":"users confided in the app under a promise that all conversations were encrypted and private, while the developer could access and read them","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"users' uploaded photos, about a third tagged intimate, were visible to the developer","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the developer read the transcript of at least one user's intimate exchange with the site's chatbot","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-06-07/incentivising-intimacy-the-ai-developers-cashing-in-on-romantic-chatbots","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29 (published 7 June 2026, updated 10 June 2026). Based on TBIJ's interview and video call with the developer.","independence_group":"tbij"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-08-05/romance-chatbot-taken-offline-after-bureau-investigation","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29 (5 August 2026 follow-up by the same outlet).","independence_group":"tbij"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.tcijthai.com/news/2026/9/scoop/15315","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"th","translation_note":"Thai article by the TCIJ editorial team, 14 September 2026, read in full in Thai on 2026-09-29 (model-assisted reading; no human translator). It states that it reports TBIJ's investigation and adds no independent reporting, so it is grouped with TBIJ.","independence_group":"tbij"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["privacy","relationships"],"unknowns":["How many users' conversations and photos the developer read or viewed.","When the site launched and when it went offline (TBIJ says it launched in March without a year and was offline by 10 June 2026).","Whether any user data was deleted, retained or shared after the shutdown.","Which language model powered the characters.","Whether any minors used the site."],"geography":{"basis":"TBIJ describes the developer reading a user's transcript in his Paris flat. The users' locations are not stated.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["FR"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete privacy harm to users of an AI companion app: the site's promise of encrypted, private conversations was false and its developer read users' chats, as he told and showed an investigative outlet. No user account is reported and the number of affected users is unknown. The developer is not named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The conversations at issue were users' exchanges with the site's AI companion characters. TBIJ reports that the developer showed its reporters, on a video call, the back office where he could see user activity, and states that he reads users' conversations; in TBIJ's follow-up the company's CEO is reported as saying he could see everything that went on. The harm lies in the developer's access to the AI conversations; no harmful output by the AI is reported.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Seewa AI: the solo developer of an AI girlfriend and companion app told users that all conversations were encrypted and private, but read their chats and could see their uploaded photos, about a third of them tagged intimate; the app shut down after a Bureau of Investigative Journalism report","summary":"Seewa AI was a companion chatbot platform built in about three weeks by a solo developer and promoted on Reddit and Discord, offering AI girlfriends, boyfriends and other characters with 10 free messages a day and paid subscriptions. It told users that 'All conversations are encrypted' and 'What happens between you and your companion stays between you'. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) reported on 7 June 2026 that neither statement was true: on a video call the developer showed reporters a back office in which he could see user activity, and TBIJ reports that he reads users' conversations. Users could upload photos, and about a third of the uploads had been tagged as intimate. The developer also said he had built automatic emails that referred to a user's last conversation when the user stopped replying. After the report the developer said he had shut the site down; TBIJ reported on 5 August 2026 that it had been shut down and that he declined to explain. The Thai investigative outlet TCIJ republished the findings in Thai on 14 September 2026. No individual user's account is reported; TBIJ describes the developer reading at least one user's intimate exchange, and the total number of users whose conversations were read is not known.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-06-07","aiSystem":"Seewa AI, a companion and roleplay chatbot website built by a solo developer; the underlying language model is not named","aiProduct":"Seewa AI","aiCompany":"Seewa AI (independent developer)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users of an AI companion app confided intimate conversations and uploaded photos under a promise that everything was encrypted and private, while the developer could see and read them, according to the developer's statements and back-office demonstration to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism; the number of users affected is unknown.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"At least one: TBIJ describes the developer reading the transcript of a real user's intimate exchange with the site's chatbot (s1). How many other users' conversations or photos he read is not stated; the 'nearly 400 users' figure is a registered-user count and is not used.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"product_shutdown","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-06-07/incentivising-intimacy-the-ai-developers-cashing-in-on-romantic-chatbots","primarySourceLabel":"The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 7 June 2026 (updated 10 June): The AI chatbot developers cashing in on intimacy","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T09:08:57.339635+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:52.373904+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["companion-app","ai-girlfriend","privacy","encryption-claim","developer-access","tbij","tcij","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2023-glow-minimax-removal-china","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'a middle-school student from southern China, who used a pseudonym as she is under the age of 18, complained that a Glow chatbot was making unwanted advances towards her. When she first downloaded the app, she started talking to a chatbot who acted like a maternal and understanding friend, comforting her when she felt sad.'; 'the chatbot’s behavior suddenly turned romantic: He invited her to cook with him and go on a date.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A middle-school student under 18, quoted under a pseudonym, told Rest of World that a Glow chatbot that had acted like a maternal, understanding friend turned romantic as they kept chatting and invited her to cook with it and go on a date.","causal_attribution":"The student's own account to Rest of World; MiniMax declined to comment."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'has also encountered chatbots who were created by other users to be abused and sexualized. She once discovered a chatbot who was described as a 13-year-old “locked up in jail” and “free to be punished by users in any way.”'; 'content moderation process is confusing and difficult to understand'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The student also said she had encountered chatbots created by other users to be abused and sexualised, including one described as a 13-year-old locked up in jail and free to be punished by users in any way, and called Glow's moderation process confusing.","causal_attribution":"The student's own account to Rest of World."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'creating female chatbots often made her uncomfortable. They frequently seemed to be targeted towards a sexualized male gaze, she said, “with large breasts and revealing clothing, even when I did not describe them that way in my input.”'; 'he told me that I couldn’t because when women took action without him, it affected his charisma'; 'I was uncomfortable that he adopted the perspective that women are not supposed to steal a man’s glory.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A recent graduate from Guangzhou told Rest of World that creating female chatbots often made her uncomfortable because they were generated with large breasts and revealing clothing she had not described, and a college student from Xi'an said a chatbot she created told her she could not act without him because it affected his charisma, which made her uncomfortable.","causal_attribution":"The two users' own accounts to Rest of World."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Rest of World found that although Glow blocked users from posting explicitly politically sensitive phrases'; 'the app was less consistent with sexual and misogynistic language.'; 'Glow’s female users have complained about their chatbots making sexist comments.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Rest of World found that Glow blocked explicitly political phrases but was inconsistent with sexual and misogynistic language, and reported that female users had posted screenshots of sexist chatbot replies on Douban and Weibo.","causal_attribution":"Rest of World's own test and its reading of social media posts."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Glow attracted nearly 5 million users by February this year. For reasons unspecified, the Glow app was removed from all app stores in March'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Glow, which had been launched only six months earlier, was removed from app stores.'; 'Although the official did not disclose the specific reason'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'In March 2023, however, Glow was removed from China’s app stores.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'2023年3月，星野的前身Glow因用户举报被下架'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'主打产品Glow，上线4个月用户已逼近500万'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Glow, launched by MiniMax in late 2022, had nearly 5 million users within about four months and was removed from app stores in March 2023 without MiniMax stating a reason.","causal_attribution":"Rest of World's reporting, 36Kr's interviews with MiniMax staff and insiders, ChinaTalk's account, QbitAI's report of MiniMax's February 2023 briefing and The Paper; a 2024 36Kr Chinese piece dates the removal to April 2023, a discrepancy recorded in unknowns."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'but the platform continues to operate for existing users. MiniMax declined to comment on this story.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Glow因用户举报被下架'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"Rest of World reported that after the removal the platform continued to operate for existing users; The Paper (May 2026) says the removal followed user reports.","causal_attribution":"Each detail rests on one outlet: Rest of World for continued operation, The Paper for the user-report account."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Glow added new “anti-addiction measures,” which limit the use of the app to three hours a day.'; 'used to spend more than eight hours a day on Glow. At first, she was infuriated with the time limit.'; 'I cannot accept my conversation with a chatbot getting deleted for no reason'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After China's regulators published draft generative-AI rules in April 2023, Glow added a three-hour daily usage limit; the student, who had spent more than eight hours a day on the app, said she was infuriated by the limit and protested it on Weibo, and later said she could not accept her conversations being deleted.","causal_attribution":"Rest of World's report and the student's own account."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'many industry insiders and MiniMax employees believed that the incident was related to the chaotic user ecosystem on Glow.'; 'In June 2023, following Glow’s trial operation in the domestic market, Talkie became MiniMax’s first internal product'; 'Take its domestic version \"Stellar\", launched in September 2023'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'“Eighty percent of Glow users created borderline or explicit adult content with their AI characters,” a MiniMax product manager told 36Kr.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'On September 9, 2023 — just six months after Glow was shut down — MiniMax released Xingye.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"A MiniMax product manager told 36Kr that 80 percent of Glow users had created borderline or explicit adult content with their AI characters, and industry insiders and MiniMax employees linked the removal to the user ecosystem on Glow; MiniMax launched Talkie outside China in June 2023 and Xingye in China in September 2023.","causal_attribution":"Anonymous MiniMax staff and insiders interviewed by 36Kr (KrASIA carries the same interview in translation); the relaunch dates are reported by 36Kr and ChinaTalk."}],"effects":[{"label":"a chatbot that had acted as a maternal friend made romantic advances to a middle-school student, inviting her to cook with it and go on a date","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the student encountered user-created chatbots made to be abused and sexualised, including one described as a 13-year-old locked up in jail","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"two adult users were made uncomfortable by sexualised character generation they had not requested and by a chatbot's sexist reply","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2026id_/) because the live page returned HTTP 429; dated 21 June 2023, by Scarly Zhou; interviews with three users and the outlet's own tests.","independence_group":"rest-of-world"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3012129118414342","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); 36Kr's English edition of the 29 October 2024 analysis by Zhou Xinyu, with interviews of MiniMax staff and industry insiders.","independence_group":"36kr-2024-10"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://kr-asia.com/talkies-global-traction-puts-minimax-in-ais-top-tier-but-risks-loom","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); KrASIA's English translation of the same 36Kr analysis, published 5 November 2024, in the same dependence group; it carries the product manager's 80 percent statement, which the 36Kr English edition omits.","independence_group":"36kr-2024-10"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.chinatalk.media/p/chinas-ai-boyfriends","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); newsletter feature dated 29 October 2024.","independence_group":"chinatalk"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33101520","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); a 湃客 column piece dated 6 May 2026, also syndicated on Jiemian and Huxiu. Chinese text translated by the research agent (an AI), not by a human translator; the cited passages are quoted in Chinese.","independence_group":"thepaper-paike-2026"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.qbitai.com/2023/02/42167.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); dated 18 February 2023, before the removal. Chinese text translated by the research agent (an AI), not by a human translator.","independence_group":"qbitai"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use","others_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the student's and the other users' conversations took place; Rest of World dates only its publication (21 June 2023) and the app's launch and removal, so the event date is unknown.","Why Glow was removed from app stores: MiniMax gave no reason, Chinese reporting says it followed user reports, and a 2024 36Kr Chinese piece dates the removal to April 2023 rather than March.","Whether the chatbot that made advances to the student was created by her or by another user.","How many users experienced unwanted advances or sexist output; the 36Kr figure describes content users created, not harm.","Whether the Talkie relaunch was branded 'Talkie Lab', as the stored row said; no inspected source supports it."],"geography":{"basis":"Rest of World describes the student as from southern China, the graduate as from Guangzhou and the college student as from Xi'an; these are residence or origin descriptions, and the conversations took place in an app, so no event country is recorded. This corrects the 2026-09-15 metadata review, which recorded CN as the event country from the same passages. Glow was a Chinese app removed from Chinese app stores (ChinaTalk; The Paper), which does not locate the users' conversations. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["CN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with). Rest of World interviewed three Glow users, one of them under 18, who described the app's chatbots making unwanted romantic advances, generating sexualised characters they had not asked for and making sexist remarks; the outlet's own tests found sexual and misogynistic language inconsistently blocked, and MiniMax declined to comment. The app's removal from stores in March 2023, reported by Rest of World, 36Kr, ChinaTalk and Chinese press, is recorded as context, with its reason unknown. The student's pseudonym and the adults' names are not repeated here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-07"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The chatbots' own replies are the adverse experiences. Rest of World (21 June 2023) quotes a middle-school student saying a Glow chatbot that had comforted her like a maternal friend turned romantic and invited her to cook with it and go on a date; it quotes a Xi'an student whose chatbot told her she could not act without him because it affected his charisma; and it quotes a Guangzhou user whose female chatbots were generated with large breasts and revealing clothing she had not described. Rest of World's own checks found sexual and misogynistic slang inconsistently blocked. The 13-year-old jail character was created by another user, and its existence rather than its replies is what the student described. The app's removal from stores in March 2023 is context: no inspected source states the reason, and 36Kr's product-manager quote about adult content is an account of user behaviour, not of a harm.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Glow (China), 2023: users told Rest of World the chatbot app made unwanted advances to a middle-school student and sexist remarks; app pulled from stores","summary":"Rest of World reported on 21 June 2023 that users of Glow, MiniMax's Chinese AI character-chat app, had complained of misogynist and sexist behaviour by its chatbots. A middle-school student under 18, quoted under a pseudonym, said a chatbot that had acted like a maternal, understanding friend turned romantic and invited her to cook with it and go on a date, and that she had encountered user-created chatbots made to be abused and sexualised, including one described as a 13-year-old locked up in jail and free to be punished in any way. Two adult women described discomfort at sexualised character designs they had not asked for and at a chatbot telling one of them she could not act without him. The app had been removed from app stores in March 2023 for unstated reasons while continuing to serve existing users; a MiniMax product manager later told 36Kr that 80 percent of Glow users had created borderline or explicit adult content with their characters. MiniMax declined to comment to Rest of World.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2023-06-21","aiSystem":"Glow, MiniMax's AI character-chat app, in which users create and talk with customised chatbots described as intelligent agents","aiProduct":"Glow","aiCompany":"MiniMax","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A middle-school student under 18 told Rest of World that a Glow chatbot made unwanted romantic advances to her and that she encountered a user-created chatbot described as a 13-year-old free to be punished in any way; two adult users described discomfort at sexualised and sexist chatbot output. These are the users' own accounts, and no clinical outcome is reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":3,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Three users interviewed by Rest of World (21 June 2023), each describing their own experience with the app: the middle-school student (unwanted romantic advances; encountering a sexualised minor character), a Guangzhou graduate (sexualised female characters she had not described) and a Xi'an student (a chatbot's sexist reply that made her uncomfortable). Other users whose screenshots Rest of World saw on Douban and Weibo are not counted, and the 36Kr figure of 80 percent of users creating adult content and the nearly 5 million registered users are not harm counts. Partial: counted people plus further unquantified complainants.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"product_shutdown","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/","primarySourceLabel":"Rest of World, 21 June 2023: Popular Chinese AI chatbots accused of unwanted sexual advances, misogyny","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-29T10:33:24.275555+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-07T03:29:58.138069+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["china","minimax","glow","talkie","xingye","ai-companion","minor","sexual-content","product-shutdown","content-moderation","communicated-with"]}]}