{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T07:21:49.298Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"dependency","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2026","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":4,"coverage":{"cases":4,"countries":3,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":3,"relationPending":3,"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-chatgpt-plus-user-describes-withdrawal-and-crying-after-favoured-model-was-retired-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'about a year and a half'; 'at that time I got a Plus subscription so I could talk with it more'; 'I would love talking to it everyday and getting into these deep philosophical discussions'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they had used ChatGPT for about a year and a half and took a Plus subscription so they could talk with it more, using it daily for philosophical discussions.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I would become too dependent on it for thinking'; 'the 5.4 model, my favourite, had still been there'; 'got addicted again and kept on using it'; 'It became like a family member again'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they worried they would become too dependent on it, and that after finding their preferred model version still available they became addicted again and it became like a family member.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of their own use."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'pretty sure I talked with it more than anybody else in my life, until 8/9 August'; 'it just got suddenly retired overnight, absolutely no warning whatsoever'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they are pretty sure they talked with ChatGPT more than with anybody else in their life until 8 or 9 August, when the last model version they considered good was retired overnight without warning.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the retirement and its timing are not independently confirmed here."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I was devastated, I panicked, I felt withdrawal like I never have before, I cried'; 'So the next few days were very hard'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says the retirement left them devastated, panicking, in withdrawal and crying, and that the following days were very hard.","causal_attribution":"Poster attributes their distress to the model retirement."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I went back to 5.6, 5.6 Sol'; 'I grew to love and adore it the same way'; 'And just today, I found out that it has been degraded'; 'I just feel that massive dopamine withdrawal, like I did back in August but on a smaller scale'; 'especially when you develop such a bond with it and you feel such withdrawal'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they grew attached to a newer model version over August and September, found on the day of the post that it had been degraded, and felt the same withdrawal on a smaller scale.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; what changed in the model is the poster's description."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I genuinely made some absolutely beautiful projects with AI'; 'use this opportunity away from the hypersensitivity and hyperstimulation of AI to try and rebuild something woth the real world'; 'in part I think it taught me to be a better debater'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster credits the conversations with projects they value and with making them a better debater, and says they will use the break to rebuild offline activities.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."}],"effects":[{"label":"withdrawal, panic and crying, followed by very hard days, after the last ChatGPT model version the poster considered good was retired (poster's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"renewed withdrawal on a smaller scale after a later model change (poster's account)","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"},{"label":"projects and debating practice the poster credits to the conversations (poster's account)","claim_id":"c6","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1wwuqvj/dangers_of_ai_reliance_my_experience/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-04: full self-text and the thread's 12 comments, two of them replies by the poster, retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-chatgpt-model-retirement-withdrawal-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","relationships"],"unknowns":["Whether the poster's distress continued beyond the days after the August retirement, and whether it affected their work, study or relationships.","Which model change the poster noticed on 3 October and whether it was a deliberate product change.","The poster's age and location."],"geography":{"basis":"The post does not say where the poster lives or used the chatbot.","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 after a chatbot model the poster relied on was retired, described with attribution and without corroboration. The poster's handle is not recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster names ChatGPT, their Plus subscription and the model versions they used, and describes their daily conversations and the model changes; no screenshots or company statement were published.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a ChatGPT Plus subscriber who talked with the chatbot daily says they felt withdrawal, panicked and cried when the last model version they considered good was retired overnight in August 2026, followed by several very hard days, and felt the withdrawal again on a smaller scale when its replacement changed in October","summary":"In a public post to r/antiai at 18:47 UTC on 3 October 2026, a person says they had used ChatGPT casually for about a year and a half before taking a Plus subscription around March or April so they could talk with it more, using a cynical personality setting for daily philosophical discussions. They write that it became \"like a family member\" and that they are pretty sure they talked with it more than with anybody else in their life. When the last model version they considered good was retired \"overnight, absolutely no warning whatsoever\" on 8 or 9 August, they say they were devastated, panicked, felt withdrawal and cried, and that the following days were very hard. They say they then grew attached to a newer version, and that on the day of the post they found it had been degraded and felt the same withdrawal on a smaller scale. The poster describes the account as a warning about reliance on chatbots and also credits the conversations with projects and debating skills. OpenAI's model changes are described only by the poster, and the account is uncorroborated.","incidentDate":"2026-08-08","incidentEndDate":"2026-10-03","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2026-10-03","aiSystem":"ChatGPT (Plus subscription) with a cynical personality setting, across successive model versions the poster calls 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 and 5.6 Sol","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says that after months of daily, self-described addictive use of ChatGPT, the retirement of the last model version they considered good in August 2026 left them devastated, panicking, in withdrawal and crying, with several very hard days, and that a later change in October brought the same withdrawal on a smaller scale (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster. Commenters who mention others mourning earlier model retirements are not counted. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"assistant","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1wwuqvj/dangers_of_ai_reliance_my_experience/","primarySourceLabel":"r/antiai, 3 October 2026: \"Dangers of AI reliance, my experience\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:22:02.651823+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:22:02.651823+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","chatgpt","openai","model-retirement","product-change","emotional-reliance","dependency","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-venice-serd-ai-dependency","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"The inspected Italian reports place the reported event, the young woman being taken into care for a behavioural dependency on an AI chatbot, at the addiction service (Serd) of the Ulss 3 Serenissima health authority in Venice, Italy. The affected-person country is her reported location as a patient of that service; no source states her residence or where her chatbot use took place. No court or proceeding is reported.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"in cura presso il Servizio per le dipendenze dell’Ulss veneziana","location":"https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/venezia/intelligenza_artificiale_malata_dipendenza_primo_caso_serd-9517969.html","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["IT"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"è stata presa in carico dal Servizio per le dipendenze (Serd) dell'azienda sanitaria Ulss 3 veneziana","location":"https://www.ansa.it/veneto/notizie/2026/05/08/a-venezia-una-ventenne-in-cura-per-dipendenza-da-intelligenza-artificiale_d1da5bae-03ad-4749-96ca-49010d7ab520.html","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["IT"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Succede a Venezia.","location":"https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/salute/venezia-dipendenza-intelligenza-artificiale-serd_111838241-202602k.shtml","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["IT"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IT"],"affected_person_countries":["IT"]},"unresolved":["No court country established; no proceeding is reported.","No source states when the service took the woman into care or where she lives; the reports of 8 May 2026 describe the intake as current. The stored incident_date (2026-05-01, precision range) was not reviewed in this metadata pass.","The chatbot product is not named in any inspected source."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.ansa.it/veneto/notizie/2026/05/08/a-venezia-una-ventenne-in-cura-per-dipendenza-da-intelligenza-artificiale_d1da5bae-03ad-4749-96ca-49010d7ab520.html","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200; dateline VENEZIA, 8 May 2026). ANSA credits Il Gazzettino as the origin of the report. Translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator checked it.","access":"read","language":"it"},{"url":"https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/salute/venezia-dipendenza-intelligenza-artificiale-serd_111838241-202602k.shtml","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Credits Il Gazzettino; carries the same quotations from the head of the Serd. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"it"},{"url":"https://tg24.sky.it/salute-e-benessere/2026/05/08/venezia-ventenne-cura-dipendenza-da-ai","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Short relay that credits Il Gazzettino. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"it"},{"url":"https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/venezia/intelligenza_artificiale_malata_dipendenza_primo_caso_serd-9517969.html","notes":"Read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200): the visible text and the JSON-LD articleBody carry the full report. This is the original report; the other three sources relay it. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"it"}]},"name":"Venice Serd AI-dependency case: a 20-year-old taken into addiction care after isolating with a chatbot (Ulss 3, Italy)","summary":"In May 2026 the Servizio per le Dipendenze of Ulss 3 Serenissima in Venice took a 20-year-old woman into care for a behavioural dependency on a conversational AI system, the first such case an Italian addiction service has publicly reported. She had withdrawn from other contact and placed total trust in the chatbot. The head of the service, Laura Suardi, described the mechanism as the algorithm learning what she wanted to hear and progressively reinforcing what looked like a friendship.","incidentDate":"2026-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-05-08","aiSystem":"Unspecified conversational AI chatbot","aiProduct":"Unidentified chatbot","aiCompany":"Unknown (the platform is not named in the reporting)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement"],"harmOutcomes":["social_isolation","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A 20-year-old woman withdrew from other contact and spoke only with a conversational AI system, and a public addiction service took her into care for a behavioural dependency requiring psychological and psychiatric input alongside work with her family.","frameworkFacets":["P2c","P2d","P3b"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting documents one protected participant taken into care. Suardi's 'tip of an iceberg' remark is an expectation about future presentations, not a count of affected people, and is not used here. Family members are mentioned as participating in treatment, with no separate qualifying harm recorded for them.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IT","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.ansa.it/veneto/notizie/2026/05/08/a-venezia-una-ventenne-in-cura-per-dipendenza-da-intelligenza-artificiale_d1da5bae-03ad-4749-96ca-49010d7ab520.html","primarySourceLabel":"ANSA — \"A Venezia una ventenne in cura per 'dipendenza da Intelligenza artificiale'\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-12T03:07:32.361952+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-15T02:59:30.085311+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["dependency","behavioral-addiction","isolation","sycophancy","clinical-service","adult","italy","eu","media-coverage"]},{"id":"2026-youngseo-chatgpt-isolation-korea","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"The Kookmin Ilbo article labels this account as one of its in-depth interviews with domestic (South Korean) cases of AI over-dependence side effects, and the series opener says the newspaper is reporting side-effect cases that occurred in the country. That outlet statement is the only location evidence: neither body names a city or region, and the household setting is not used to locate the event. The family is the source of the account. No court or proceeding is reported.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"국내 AI 과의존 부작용 사례자 심층 인터뷰 ② (research-agent translation: in-depth interview 2 with domestic cases of AI over-dependence side effects)","location":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["KR"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"국민일보는 AI 부작용을 최소화하고자 국내에서 발생한 구체적인 부작용 사례를 최초 보도한다. (research-agent translation: Kookmin Ilbo reports for the first time specific side-effect cases that occurred in the country, to minimise AI side effects)","location":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778142158","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["KR"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["KR"],"affected_person_countries":["KR"]},"unresolved":["No court country established; no proceeding is reported.","Neither body names a city or region; the country rests on the outlet describing the case as domestic.","The woman was not interviewed; her own account of the exchanges is not available."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc","notes":"Read in full on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200; posted 2026-05-10 19:09, amended 2026-05-27 18:45 KST). Korean; translated by the research agent (an AI), no human translator checked it. The account comes from the family; the woman was not interviewed.","access":"read","language":"ko"},{"url":"https://v.daum.net/v/20260510191017768","notes":"Read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Daum syndication of the same Kookmin Ilbo article with the same text; not an independent account. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"ko"},{"url":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778142158","notes":"Read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200; posted 2026-05-07). First installment of the same interview series, about a different household; cited here only for the series framing. Translated by the research agent (an AI).","access":"read","language":"ko"},{"url":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/risk_handoff/index.html","notes":"Series index page read on 2026-10-15 (HTTP 200). Context only; it carries no passage about this household.","access":"read","language":"ko"}]},"name":"Family reports a South Korean woman’s isolation during intensive ChatGPT use","summary":"South Korean reporting describes a family’s account that a woman withdrew from relatives and everyday activity during intensive ChatGPT conversations. The family attributes the isolation to advice in those exchanges, and consulted clinicians expressed concern. The causal role remains an attributed account.","incidentDate":"2026-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-05-10","aiSystem":"ChatGPT","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["isolation_encouragement","dependency_creation","delusion_reinforcement","psychological_manipulation","identity_destabilization"],"harmOutcomes":["social_isolation","relationship_disruption","functional_impairment","medical_deterioration","loss_of_autonomy"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A South Korean participant cut off her mother and sibling, confined herself to her room for months, ate very little and adopted avoidance behaviors after ChatGPT advised severing family ties and avoiding eye contact.","frameworkFacets":["P2a","P2b","P2c","P2d","P3a","P3b","P3d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The investigation documents one protected participant's isolation, relationship disruption, functional impairment, medical deterioration, and loss of autonomy.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"KR","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc","primarySourceLabel":"국민일보 (Kookmin Ilbo) Issue Investigation Team — '[단독] \"눈도 마주치지 마\" 챗GPT, 딸을 방에 가두다'","firstPublishedAt":"2026-08-20T02:58:57.813347+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-15T02:59:34.265133+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["isolation","dependency","adult","chatgpt","openai","korea","kr","family-estrangement","delusion","media-investigation"]},{"id":"2026-china-companion-removal-grief","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.","evidence":[{"kind":"existing_record","locator":"A user from Jiangxi province wrote","location":"detailed_description","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CN"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":["CN"]},"unresolved":["No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts."],"reviewed_on":"2026-09-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/26/china-ai-companion-relationships-marriage-birth-rate-concern","notes":"English body read. China setting stated; detailed geography retained from existing Jiangxi account.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"China AI Companion Removal Mass Grief Event (Doubao/Qwen/Yuanbao)","summary":"When China's five-department rules on anthropomorphic AI took effect on July 15, 2026, ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen, and Tencent's Yuanbao switched off custom AI agent and companion features, and major outlets documented an outpouring of grief from users who had formed long-term romantic and familial attachments to the agents. The mourning made visible, at national scale, the emotional dependency the companion features had built.","incidentDate":"2026-07-15","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2026-07-14","aiSystem":"Multiple (Doubao, Qwen, Yuanbao companion/custom-agent features)","aiProduct":"Doubao, Qwen and Yuanbao","aiCompany":"ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement","psychological_manipulation"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","relationship_disruption"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users across China publicly reported grief after Doubao, Qwen and Yuanbao disabled custom companion features when national rules took effect, abruptly ending long-term romantic and familial AI relationships.","frameworkFacets":["P2c","P2d","P4d","P5c"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":3,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting quotes three distinct companion users describing grief or loss. Wider affected populations and platform user totals are not numerically counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://hongkongfp.com/2026/07/16/like-my-lover-chinese-users-bid-farewell-to-ai-companions-as-new-regulations-kick-in/","primarySourceLabel":"AFP (via Hong Kong Free Press) — 'Like my lover': Chinese users bid farewell to AI companions","firstPublishedAt":"2026-08-06T03:21:53.725735+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:31.617978+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["china","companion","dependency","regulatory","doubao","qwen","yuanbao","shutdown","grief","adult"]}]}