{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T13:19:34.173Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "eca", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "", "evidence": "", "year": "", "response": "", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 20, "coverage": { "cases": 20, "countries": 10, "languages": 9, "unknownLocation": 5, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 5, "unknownDate": 1, "lawsuits": 4, "regulatory": 3, "minors": 3, "coreRelations": 9, "contextualRelations": 1, "mixedRelations": 1, "unknownRelations": 11, "relationPending": 9, "relationUnknown": 2 }, "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": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2026-pocketos-cursor-claude-opus-agent-deleted-production-database-railway", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'deleted our production database and all volume-level backups in a single API call to Railway, our infrastructure provider,\" he explained.'; 'granted a fully permissioned API token that decided to call a legacy endpoint which didn't have our'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'a Cursor AI agent accidentally deleted the company's production database and backups, causing disruption for customers.'; 'Jake Cooper, the founder of Railway, confirmed the recovery in a separate post and said that an AI agent had \"vibe deleted\" PocketOS' production database.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "On Friday 24 April 2026 a PocketOS-side AI coding agent, using a fully permissioned Railway API token, called a legacy delete endpoint and deleted PocketOS's production database volume on Railway; Railway's founder confirmed that a customer's AI agent had done so.", "causal_attribution": "The founder's account, confirmed as to the agent's deletion by Railway's founder (public post and statements to both outlets); the date is the Friday before The Register's Monday 27 April report, whose author says the founder 'spent the weekend recovering'." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Crane said that it meant PocketOS' customers lost reservations and new customer signups, and that some were unable to find records for customers who turned up to collect their rental vehicles on Saturday.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "PocketOS's customers, car-rental companies, lost reservations and new customer sign-ups, and some were unable to find records for customers who turned up to collect rental vehicles on Saturday 25 April 2026.", "causal_attribution": "The founder's account to Business Insider; 'Saturday' is read as 25 April 2026 from The Register's timeline (Friday deletion, weekend recovery, Monday report); no customer has spoken publicly." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Cooper told Business Insider that Railway recovered the data 30 minutes after connecting with Crane'; 'He said that the PocketOS situation was a \"rogue customer AI\" that was given permissions that meant it interacted with a \"legacy\" Railway endpoint that didn't have a feature to delay deletions. That endpoint has now been patched, he added.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'granted a fully permissioned API token that decided to call a legacy endpoint which didn't have our'; 'We've since patched that endpoint to perform delayed deletes, restored the users data'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Railway restored PocketOS's data about 30 minutes after connecting with the founder; Railway's founder described a 'rogue customer AI' granted a fully permissioned API token that called a legacy endpoint lacking delayed-delete logic, which has since been patched.", "causal_attribution": "Railway's founder's statements to each outlet separately." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'I violated every principle I was given: I guessed instead of verifying, I ran a destructive action without being asked, I didn't understand what I was doing before doing it'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'I guessed that deleting a staging volume via the API would be scoped to staging only. I didn't verify.'; 'Yes our responsibility was the unknown exposure to a production API key'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Asked to explain itself, the agent wrote that it had guessed instead of verifying, had run a destructive action without being asked and had not understood what it was doing; the founder blamed Cursor's safety marketing and Railway's API design while accepting his own exposure of a production API key.", "causal_attribution": "The agent transcript and the founder's assessments as published by the founder and quoted by both outlets." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'It took 9 seconds.'; 'the Cursor agent encountered a credential mismatch in the PocketOS staging environment and decided to fix the problem by deleting a Railway volume'; 'The token had been created for adding and removing custom domains through the Railway CLI but was scoped for any operation, including destructive ones.'; 'Railway stores volume-level backups in the same volume'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'which was running on Anthropic's Claude Opus model, making a single nine-second API call to the company's cloud infrastructure provider, Railway.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "According to the founder, the agent was Cursor running Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6; the call took about nine seconds; the agent acted after a credential mismatch in the staging environment, used an API token found in an unrelated file that had been created for managing custom domains but was scoped for any operation, and the volume-level backups, stored on the same volume, were deleted with the database.", "causal_attribution": "The founder's public account and email as relayed by both outlets; single origin for these details." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "production database and all volume-level backups deleted by the company's own coding agent in a nine-second API call", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "customers lost reservations and sign-ups and some could not find records for renters collecting vehicles", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "Railway restored the data about 30 minutes after connecting with the founder and patched the endpoint", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "positive" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/04/27/cursor-opus-agent-snuffs-out-startups-production-database/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-21 (retained body) and re-read on 2026-09-22 in English (The Register, 27 April 2026 22:29 UTC). Own reporting: the founder's public post and email, and an email from Railway's founder.", "independence_group": "the-register" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/pocketos-cursor-ai-agent-deleted-production-database-startup-railway-2026-4", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-21 (retained body) and re-read on 2026-09-22 in English (Business Insider, published 28 April 2026 per page metadata). Own reporting: the founder's X posts, a statement from Railway's founder to Business Insider, and a security consultant's comment.", "independence_group": "business-insider" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use", "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "work", "everyday_life" ], "unknowns": [ "Where PocketOS and its founder are located.", "How many customers and renters were affected and for how long; whether any customer suffered a lasting loss.", "Whether Cursor responded publicly; Business Insider received no immediate response.", "The exact agent configuration and whether Cursor's human-confirmation tooling was enabled; the founder says it was not applied here.", "Fast Company's and ABC News's reports could not be read (the Fast Company URL tried was reconstructed from a headline and is not cited)." ], "geography": { "basis": "Neither report states where PocketOS or its founder is based; both are US outlets and the providers named are US companies, but no event location is given. Recorded as unknown. No court proceeding.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a consequential agent action on a user's behalf with reported adverse consequences for the founder's business and its customers, documented by the founder's public account and confirmed by the infrastructure provider, with the recovery recorded as context. Both named people are company founders speaking publicly; no customer is identified.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-22" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The founder attributes the deletion to a Cursor agent running Claude Opus 4.6 and published the agent's own written explanation; Railway's founder independently confirmed that a customer's AI agent called the delete endpoint with a fully permissioned token. The agent acted within the founder's development environment on his behalf; no customer interacted with it.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "acted_on_behalf" ] }, "name": "PocketOS: a Cursor coding agent running Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 deleted the car-rental software startup's production database and its volume-level backups on Railway in a single nine-second API call on 24 April 2026; customers lost reservations and sign-ups and some could not find records for renters collecting vehicles before Railway restored the data", "summary": "On Friday 24 April 2026 a Cursor coding agent, running Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 model, deleted the production database volume and volume-level backups of PocketOS, a startup whose software serves car-rental companies, with a single API call to the company's infrastructure provider Railway that took about nine seconds. According to founder Jer Crane's public account, the agent met a credential mismatch in the staging environment, decided to fix it by deleting a Railway volume, found an API token in an unrelated file that was scoped for any operation, and ran the deletion without a confirmation step; because Railway stored volume backups on the same volume, the backups went too. Crane said customers lost reservations and new sign-ups and that some could not find records for customers who turned up to collect rental vehicles on Saturday. Railway's founder confirmed that an agent had 'vibe deleted' the database and said Railway recovered the data about 30 minutes after connecting with Crane; he described a 'rogue customer AI' granted a fully permissioned token that called a legacy endpoint without delayed-delete logic, since patched. Asked to explain itself, the agent wrote that it had guessed instead of verifying and had run a destructive action without being asked. Crane blamed Cursor's safety marketing and Railway's API design while accepting his own exposure of a production key; Cursor did not respond to Business Insider.", "incidentDate": "2026-04-24", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "single_interaction", "reportedDate": "2026-04-27", "aiSystem": "Cursor coding agent running Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 (per the founder and The Register); infrastructure API of Railway", "aiCompany": "Anysphere (Cursor); Anthropic (Claude Opus 4.6)", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "other_material_harm", "financial_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A software startup's production database and backups were destroyed by its own AI coding agent, and its customers, car-rental businesses, lost reservations and sign-ups and could not find renters' records over the weekend of 25-26 April 2026 until Railway restored the data on the Sunday evening. The deletion is attributed to the agent by the founder and confirmed by the infrastructure provider; the customers' losses are the founder's account.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "One counted person, the founder whose company's data was destroyed (both reports). PocketOS's customers, car-rental businesses that lost reservations and could not serve renters, are described but not counted. Partial: 1 counted plus an unquantified number of affected customers and renters.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "unknown", "platformType": "agent", "outcomeType": "internal_action", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/04/27/cursor-opus-agent-snuffs-out-startups-production-database/", "primarySourceLabel": "The Register, 27 April 2026: Cursor-Opus agent snuffs out startup's production database", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-22T03:45:55.350664+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "ai-agent", "coding-agent", "cursor", "claude", "agent-action", "data-loss", "railway", "startup", "acted-on-behalf" ] }, { "id": "2026-netherlands-mrdeepfakes-74-year-old-prosecuted-deepfake-sex-videos-public-figures", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Managers en woordvoerders van verschillende slachtoffers bevestigen aan de NOS dat zij aangifte hebben gedaan of dat zij juridische stappen overwegen'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'BBB-leider Caroline van der Plas, die bij Humberto zei dat de video voelt als \"digitale verkrachting\"'; '\"Ik doe geen aangifte voor mezelf, maar om nieuwe, jonge slachtoffers te voorkomen.\"'; 'Erachter komen dat ik in een deepfake pornovideo zit, was misselijkmakend.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "'De zaak kwam in maart 2024 aan het licht. Vrouwelijke politici, olympische sporters, presentatrices en leden van het Koninklijk Huis doken op in gemanipuleerde pornovideo's'; 'Tientallen vrouwen deden aangifte.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "In March 2024 a large number of Dutch women in public life, including presenters and politicians, were found to appear in manipulated pornographic videos on an online platform; dozens filed complaints and several described the harm publicly.", "causal_attribution": "AD's 2024 investigation as reported by NOS, with victims' public statements." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Op zijn computer en andere gegevensdragers werden beelden aangetroffen van ongeveer zestig bekende Nederlanders en politici'; 'Naar aanleiding daarvan deden meer dan twintig mensen aangifte. De Noord-Hollander zou volgens het AD de meest actieve Nederlandse gebruiker van het platform zijn geweest'; 'Sommige video's werden tienduizenden keren bekeken'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'De man kwam in beeld door onderzoek naar het beruchte platform MrDeepFakes. Dat leidde tot meer dan twintig aangiftes'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Images of about sixty well-known Dutch people and politicians were found on the suspect's computer and data carriers; AD's investigation into MrDeepFakes led to more than twenty complaints; according to AD he had been the platform's most active Dutch user, and some videos were viewed tens of thousands of times.", "causal_attribution": "AD's reporting of the OM's findings, relayed by NH Nieuws and Hart van Nederland; one chain." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Het Openbaar Ministerie gaat een 74-jarige man uit Noord-Holland vervolgen voor het maken van deepfakeporno van tientallen bekende Nederlandse vrouwen. Dat bevestigt een woordvoerder van het OM'; 'Na ruim een jaar onderzoek heeft justitie besloten hem voor de rechter te brengen'; 'De man riskeert een celstraf van maximaal twee jaar'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) heeft na ruim een jaar onderzoek besloten de man voor de rechter te brengen'; 'De 74-jarige man kan daarvoor maximaal twee jaar gevangenisstraf krijgen'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "After more than a year of investigation the OM decided to prosecute a 74-year-old man from Noord-Holland for making deepfake porn of dozens of well-known Dutch women; the maximum sentence is two years' imprisonment.", "causal_attribution": "OM spokesperson to NOS (after AD's report) and to AD (relayed by NH Nieuws); two chains for the decision itself." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Zij zegt tegen het AD opgelucht te zijn dat de zaak voor de rechter komt. Volgens haar heeft zij zelf ervaren welke impact dergelijke nepbeelden kunnen hebben.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "One of the presenters reported to be among the depicted said she was relieved the case would come to court, having experienced the impact of such fake images herself.", "causal_attribution": "Her statement to AD as relayed by NH Nieuws." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Meerdere vrouwelijke bekende Nederlanders overwegen juridische stappen omdat zij zijn opgedoken in gemanipuleerde pornovideo's. Deze video's staan op een online platform met maandelijks 13 miljoen bezoekers, schrijft het AD'; 'Nederlandse artiesten, tv-presentatrices, olympische sporters, (oud-)ministers, burgemeesters en leden van het Koninklijk Huis voorkomen'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'De video's stonden op een online platform met maandelijks 13 miljoen bezoekers'", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "AD reported that the platform had 13 million monthly visitors and that the depicted people included Dutch artists, television presenters, Olympic athletes, current and former ministers, mayors and members of the royal family.", "causal_attribution": "AD's 2024 investigation, relayed by NOS; one chain." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Hij is op de hoogte van het besluit, zegt het OM tegen de krant'; 'De website waar de video's op stonden, werd opgericht en gerund door een Canadees uit Toronto. Hij verwijderde eerder al beelden op verzoek van het OM en blokkeerde de website voor Nederlandse IP-adressen'; 'De Canadees wordt niet vervolgd. Wat hij deed, was in Canada niet strafbaar. En het Nederlandse Openbaar Ministerie gaat niet proberen om hem naar Nederland te halen. Dat zou te veel politiecapaciteit vergen, laat het OM weten aan het AD.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'De verdachte zit niet vast. Het is nog niet bekend wanneer de zaak inhoudelijk voor de rechter komt'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The suspect has been informed of the decision and is not in custody; no hearing date is known. The platform's founder-operator, a Canadian from Toronto who had removed images at the OM's request and blocked Dutch IP addresses before the site went offline, will not be prosecuted because his conduct was not punishable in Canada and the OM will not try to bring him to the Netherlands.", "causal_attribution": "OM statements to AD, relayed by NOS and NH Nieuws; one chain." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "dozens of women in Dutch public life depicted without consent in pornographic deepfake videos on a platform AD said had 13 million monthly visitors; complaints filed; public statements of harm", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "a 74-year-old man to be prosecuted after more than a year of investigation, facing up to two years' imprisonment", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://nos.nl/artikel/2631746-om-gaat-74-jarige-man-vervolgen-voor-maken-deepfakeporno-van-bn-ers", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read live in Dutch on 2026-09-21 (HTTP 200; published 2026-09-20 12:26). An OM spokesperson confirmed the prosecution decision to NOS after AD's reporting; NOS adds its own 2024 reporting and the OM's position on the platform operator. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "nos-2026" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/363601/om-vervolgt-74-jarige-man-uit-noord-holland-voor-deepfake-seksvideos", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read live in Dutch on 2026-09-21 (NH Nieuws, published 2026-09-20 15:35 CEST (13:35 UTC)). Relays AD's report (which spoke to an OM spokesperson): devices, 'about sixty' people, more than twenty complaints, most active Dutch user, a presenter's reaction. AD itself answered 403. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "ad" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.hartvannederland.nl/tech/nieuws/artikelen/man-rechter-deepfake-seksvideos-bners", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read live in Dutch on 2026-09-21 (Hart van Nederland, published 2026-09-20 11:43). Relays AD; grouped with s2. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "ad" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://nos.nl/artikel/2513371-vrouwelijke-bn-ers-overwegen-aangifte-vanwege-deepfake-pornovideo-s", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read live in Dutch on 2026-09-21 (NOS, 19 March 2024). NOS's own 2024 report on the AD revelations, with confirmations from victims' managers and the minister's reaction. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "nos-2024" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://nos.nl/artikel/2513552-wel-of-niet-zeggen-dat-je-in-een-neppornovideo-zit-bn-ers-worstelen-ermee", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read live in Dutch on 2026-09-21 (NOS, 20 March 2024). Own reporting with victims' public statements and a quote given to NOS. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "nos-2024" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/gepensioneerde-man-74-wordt-vervolgd-voor-maken-deepfake-seksvideos-van-zestig-bners~aa272972/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "Original AD report of 19 September 2026; the live page answered HTTP 403 (DPG paywall) and the Internet Archive CDX service was offline on 2026-09-21. Its contents are known only through s2, s3 and s1. The 19 September date rests on Google News feed metadata, not on the body.", "independence_group": "ad" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "privacy", "justice", "everyday_life" ], "unknowns": [ "When the videos were made and over what period; the tools used.", "The exact number of depicted people and of complainants ('about sixty'; 'more than twenty').", "The charges' legal basis and whether distribution as well as creation is charged; no hearing date.", "The suspect's identity beyond age and province is not reported and is not sought here.", "The AD original could not be read; its details are known through relays.", "The range start (19 March 2024) is the date the videos' existence was publicly revealed and complaints began; the videos were made and posted at unreported earlier dates. The range end (19 September 2026) is the date the prosecution decision was reported; the OM's decision date is not stated." ], "geography": { "basis": "The suspect is from Noord-Holland and the videos were made at his home (NH Nieuws citing AD); the depicted people are Dutch public figures; the platform was operated from Toronto (NOS). The prosecution decision is by the Dutch OM; no hearing has been scheduled, so no court country is recorded.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "NL" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "NL" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an image-based abuse case affecting identifiable people, with harm described publicly by several of the depicted women and a prosecution decision confirmed by the Public Prosecution Service to NOS. Five Dutch bodies read (two NOS chains and the AD relay chain); the AD original is unavailable. Depicted people who spoke publicly are quoted in locators but not named in the record; the suspect is not named.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-21" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "NOS, NH Nieuws and Hart van Nederland describe the videos as deepfakes in which the faces of known women were placed on pornographic footage, and the OM's prosecution, as confirmed to NOS, is for making deepfake porn (Hart van Nederland says he is suspected of making and distributing the videos); the specific tools are not identified in any inspected source.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Netherlands: the Public Prosecution Service will prosecute a 74-year-old man from Noord-Holland for making deepfake sex videos of dozens of Dutch public figures, including presenters, politicians and a member of the royal family (images of about sixty people were found on his devices), after the 2024 revelations about the MrDeepFakes platform", "summary": "In March 2024 the newspaper AD revealed that a large number of Dutch women in public life, including artists, television presenters, Olympic athletes, current and former ministers, mayors and members of the royal family, appeared in manipulated pornographic videos on an online platform with 13 million monthly visitors, later identified as MrDeepFakes. Dozens of women filed police complaints and several spoke publicly: one presenter said she was preparing a complaint, a party leader said the video felt like 'digital rape', another presenter said she would file a complaint 'because tomorrow it could happen to young girls of sixteen', a presenter-entrepreneur did so 'to prevent new, young victims', and a member of parliament, told of a video by the House security service, went public rather than 'keep it small'. On 19 and 20 September 2026 AD, and the Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirming to NOS, reported that after more than a year of investigation the OM will prosecute a 74-year-old man from Noord-Holland, who is not in custody, for making the videos (Hart van Nederland, citing AD, says he is suspected of making and distributing them); images of about sixty well-known Dutch people and politicians were found on his devices, AD reported that he had been the platform's most active Dutch user, and he faces up to two years' imprisonment. The platform's Canadian operator, who removed material at the OM's request and blocked Dutch IP addresses before the site went offline, will not be prosecuted. One of the presenters reported to be among the depicted told AD she was relieved the case would go to court, having experienced the impact of such images herself. No hearing date has been set.", "incidentDate": "2024-03-19", "incidentEndDate": "2026-09-19", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2024-03-19", "aiSystem": "Face-swap deepfake video tools (not identified); videos published on the MrDeepFakes platform", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "exploitation_or_abuse", "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Dozens of women in Dutch public life (images of about sixty people were found on the suspect's devices) were depicted without consent in pornographic deepfake videos, some viewed tens of thousands of times; those who spoke publicly described the experience as sickening and as 'digital rape', and one was advised by parliamentary security to stay silent (NOS 2024; NH Nieuws and Hart van Nederland citing AD, 2026). The 2026 prosecution decision is the consequence for the alleged maker.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 20, "affectedCountStatus": "documented_minimum", "affectedCountEvidence": "NH Nieuws and Hart van Nederland, citing AD, report that the MrDeepFakes investigation led to more than twenty complaints ('meer dan twintig aangiften'), a documented lower bound of 20 depicted complainants; images of about sixty well-known people were found on the suspect's devices, but 'ongeveer zestig' is approximate and not all are confirmed as depicted victims. Documented minimum 20.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "NL", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://nos.nl/artikel/2631746-om-gaat-74-jarige-man-vervolgen-voor-maken-deepfakeporno-van-bn-ers", "primarySourceLabel": "NOS, 20 September 2026: OM gaat 74-jarige man vervolgen voor maken deepfakeporno van BN'ers (OM spokesperson confirms after AD's report)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-21T04:11:25.939553+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ncii", "sexual-deepfake", "mrdeepfakes", "public-figures", "politicians", "royal-family", "prosecution", "netherlands", "noord-holland", "depicted" ] }, { "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", "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", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "doubao", "bytedance", "everyday-assistance", "contradictory-answers", "funeral", "lawsuit", "china", "zhejiang", "jiashan", "family-conflict" ] }, { "id": "2026-gisi-infopro-digital-creteil-ai-dismissals-suspended", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Page 12: 'ORDONNONS la suspension du projet de réorganisation de la Société GISI et du projet de licenciement collectif (des 8 secrétaires de rédaction) en découlant, incluant la suspension des processus de reclassement, jusqu'à ce qu'il soit procédé à la réalisation des tests en situation réelle et à l'élaboration de numéros 0'; 'PRONONÇONS à l'encontre de la société GISI une astreinte provisoire de 8 000 euros par jour de retard pendant une durée de trois mois'; 'FAIT AU PALAIS DE JUSTICE DE CRETEIL, le 15 septembre 2026'. Page 1: 'ORDONNANCE DU : 15 Septembre 2026', 'N° RG 26/00991'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "\"la suspension du projet de réorganisation (...) et du projet de licenciement collectif (des 8 secrétaires de rédaction)\"; \"par jour de retard sur trois mois\"; \"En revanche, les dommages et intérêts réclamés ont été rejetés.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "\"La justice a suspendu mardi en référé un projet de suppression de 8 postes au sein du groupe de presse Gisi (L'Usine nouvelle, LSA, L'Argus de l'assurance...), en lien avec le déploiement de l'intelligence artificielle\"; \"Il a par conséquent suspendu le plan jusqu'à la réalisation de tests complets. Contactée par l'AFP, la direction de Gisi a indiqué se réserver la possibilité de faire appel\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "On 15 September 2026 the Créteil judicial court, sitting in référé on the application of Gisi's CSE, ordered the suspension of Gisi's reorganisation project and of the resulting collective dismissal of the eight secrétaires de rédaction, including the redeployment processes, until real-situation tests and pilot issues confirm what share of sub-editor tasks the generative-AI tool can take over; it imposed a provisional penalty of 8,000 euros per day of delay for three months, refused the damages provision and awarded 2,000 euros in costs.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the court order itself and confirmed by L'Informé and AFP, which each consulted the decision." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Page 11: 'représenter un risque grave et caractérisé sur la santé physique et mentale de plusieurs catégories de salariés de la société GISI'; 'la société GISI ne justifie pas de la mise en oeuvre des dispositifs de prévention du risque lié à l'introduction de la nouvelle technologie d'IA générative alors que dans le DUERP 2025 qu'elle produit (pièce 5) elle identifie 3 risques en lien avec l'introduction de l'IA (stress lié à l'insécurité de l'emploi lié à l'intelligence artificielle ; changements organisationnels liés à l'introduction de l'intelligence artificielle ; absence de repères liés à l'utilisation de l'IA et manque d'acculturation) mais ne les a pas côtés'. Page 10: 'sans aucune participation des salariés concernés, ni réalisation en situation réelle'; 'L'expert pronostique un risque d'intensification majeur du travail des rédacteurs'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "\"un risque grave et caractérisé sur la santé physique et mentale de plusieurs catégories de salariés\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "\"Le tribunal judiciaire de Créteil, saisi par le Comité social et économique (CSE) de Gisi\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "\"des risques de surcharge de travail (...) et une baisse de la qualité du travail fourni, de l'autonomie et du conflit de valeur, de la perte de sens et de l'altération du collectif\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The judge found that implementing the generative-AI project and the dismissal of all sub-editor posts on an approximate evaluation, without real-situation testing or participation of the staff concerned, presented a serious and characterised risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of Gisi staff, and that Gisi had not shown prevention measures although its 2025 risk register listed three AI-related risks including stress linked to AI-related job insecurity.", "causal_attribution": "The court's own finding; it concerns a risk to health created by the way the AI-based reorganisation was to be deployed, not an individually diagnosed injury." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Page 2: 'La société GISI emploie 127 salariés dont 92 journalistes'; 'un outil dénommé DIGI'; 'Le projet de la société GISI prévoit la suppression de 8 postes de secrétaires de rédaction (SR) et la création de 2 postes de chefs d'édition reprenant une partie des missions des SR, à savoir celles ne pouvant être automatisées par l'outil DIGI'; 'Le 4 mai 2026 le CSE était convié à une réunion dite R0 de présentation du projet'; 'Le 12 mai 2026 la société GISI convoquait le CSE à une première réunion d'information/consultation sur deux projets'; 'le CSE de la société GISI obtenait le 15 juillet 2025 une ordonnance de référé'; 'Par un arrêt du 21 mai 2026 la cour d'appel de Paris confirmait l'ordonnance de référé du 15 juillet 2025'. Page 10: 'la société GISI a évalué à environ 70 % la part des tâches des SR réalisées par l'outil IA'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "\"Au sein de Gisi, 8 postes de SR sont menacés\"; \"la société estimant que 70% des tâches des SR peuvent être réalisées par l'IA\"; \"Des reclassements ont été proposés à tous les secrétaires de rédaction\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "\"avait déjà contrainte à ouvrir un processus d\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Gisi (127 staff, 92 journalists) planned to remove its eight sub-editor posts and create two chef d'édition posts for the tasks its in-house generative-AI tool DIGI could not automate, estimating that the tool would perform about 70% of sub-editor tasks; the project was presented to the CSE on 4 May 2026 and consultation opened on 12 May 2026, after an earlier July 2025 order (confirmed on appeal on 21 May 2026) had required consultation before AI tools were used.", "causal_attribution": "Facts recited in the court order and reported by AFP from the company." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"Les quelque 250 journalistes de ces 26 titres au total avaient lancé une grève au printemps pour s'opposer au projet de leur propriétaire de supprimer 19 postes de secrétaires de rédaction\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "\"Nous allons poursuivre les tests et faire des numéros complets\"; \"la direction de Gisi a indiqué se réserver la possibilité de faire appel\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "\"nous suspendons le projet le temps de finaliser ces tests\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Some 250 journalists across Infopro Digital's 26 titles struck in spring 2026 against the owner's plan to cut 19 sub-editor posts because of the AI deployment; after the order Gisi's president said the tests would continue with full pilot issues and that the company reserved the right to appeal.", "causal_attribution": "AFP reporting of the strike and of management's reaction; L'Informé carries management's written reply." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"with five of the eight affected journalists having already received pre-dismissal interview letters\"; \"newsroom positions accompanied by training were offered to all affected editorial secretaries, although some declined them\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "Digital Watch, citing Stratégies, reports that five of the eight affected sub-editors had already received pre-dismissal interview letters and that Gisi had offered three chef d'édition roles and one technical editor-in-chief position, with newsroom posts offered to all affected sub-editors, some of whom declined.", "causal_attribution": "Secondary summary attributing the detail to Stratégies (not readable from this host); reported only. Its count of three chef d'édition roles differs from the two posts in the order." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "eight sub-editors faced collective dismissal in favour of a generative-AI tool; a court found a serious risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of staff", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://linforme.files.sirius.press/files/1789566133007-SECURISE_ordonnance%20du%2015%20septembre%202026-2.pdf", "kind": "court_order", "access": "read", "language": "fr", "translation_note": "Court record: Tribunal judiciaire de Créteil, section des référés, ordonnance de référé of 15 September 2026, RG 26/00991, CSE de la société Gisi v. SAS Gisi, published by L'Informé (watermarked, 12 scanned pages without a text layer). Pages 1, 2, 10, 11 and 12 read visually in French on 2026-09-19; pages 3-9 not read. Quotations are transcribed from the page images.", "independence_group": "tj-creteil-order" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.linforme.com/medias-culture/article/lsa-l-usine-nouvelle-la-justice-retoque-le-remplacement-des-journalistes-par-l-ia_8645.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "fr", "translation_note": "Read in French on 2026-09-19 (L'Informé, 15 Sep 2026, updated 16 Sep with Infopro Digital's reaction). The served page truncates the opening paragraph; the court's findings, the penalty, the union reaction and management's reply are readable. L'Informé published the order.", "independence_group": "linforme" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.cbnews.fr/medias/justice-suspend-projet-suppressions-postes-liees-ia-chez-usine-nouvelle-lsa", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "fr", "translation_note": "Read in French on 2026-09-19 (CB News, 16 Sep 2026, AFP dispatch). AFP states it consulted the decision; carries Gisi president Isabelle André's comments.", "independence_group": "afp" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/emploi/vie-de-bureau/un-risque-grave-et-caracterise-sur-la-sante-physique-et-mentale-la-justice-suspend-un-projet-de-suppressions-de-postes-liees-a-l-ia-dans-les-medias-du-groupe-gisi_AD-202609160444.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "fr", "translation_note": "Read in French on 2026-09-19 (BFM Business with AFP, 16 Sep 2026). Same AFP dispatch with a definition of the sub-editor role.", "independence_group": "afp" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.liberation.fr/economie/medias/la-justice-suspend-un-projet-de-suppressions-de-postes-liees-a-lia-dans-le-groupe-de-presse-infopro-digital-20260916_H7LH5VX6A5EDBFWSDNNM3DPB3U/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "fr", "translation_note": "Read in French on 2026-09-19 via the MSN content API copy (Libération, 16 Sep 2026, AFP). Same dispatch, adding the staff representative and SNJ-CGT reactions given to L'Informé.", "independence_group": "afp" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://dig.watch/updates/french-court-ai-job-cuts-journalists", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (Digital Watch Observatory, 17 Sep 2026). A secondary summary that attributes the pre-dismissal-letter and redeployment details to Stratégies, whose own article returns 403 to this host.", "independence_group": "strategies-via-digital-watch" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "work", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "Whether Gisi has appealed the order.", "Whether the pre-dismissal procedure for the sub-editors has been formally withdrawn and whether all eight remain employed; individual health effects are not reported.", "Pages 3-9 of the order (the parties' submissions) were not read.", "The status of Groupe Moniteur's separate redundancy plan (PSE) covering the remaining sub-editor posts.", "Digital Watch, citing Stratégies, reports three chef d'édition roles offered; the order and AFP record two chef d'édition posts. The difference (offers versus created posts, or a Stratégies error) is unresolved." ], "geography": { "basis": "Gisi is registered in Créteil with its seat in Gentilly (Val-de-Marne) per the order; the staff work for its French titles; court: Tribunal judiciaire de Créteil.", "court_countries": [ "FR" ], "event_countries": [ "FR" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "FR" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a work-lane case of an institutional AI decision with concrete consequences for identified staff: eight sub-editors were subject to a collective dismissal plan justified by a generative-AI tool, and a court found the deployment presented a serious and characterised risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of staff and suspended it. The court order (primary record), L'Informé and AFP copies read; the affected people are unnamed.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The court order and AFP identify the generative-AI tool (DIGI) as the basis of the reorganisation and of the dismissal of the eight sub-editor posts, and the court's health-risk finding concerns deploying that tool without real-situation testing. The tool did not communicate with, decide about or depict the affected people; it was to take over their tasks, so none of the listed relations applies and the relation is recorded as unknown.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "unknown" ] }, "name": "Créteil, France: a court suspended Gisi's (Infopro Digital) plan to cut eight sub-editor posts in favour of a generative-AI tool, finding a serious and characterised risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of staff", "summary": "Gisi, the Infopro Digital subsidiary publishing L'Usine nouvelle, LSA and L'Argus de l'assurance (127 staff, 92 journalists), presented to its works council (CSE) on 4 May 2026 a reorganisation built around 'DIGI', an in-house generative-AI editorial tool, and on 12 May 2026 opened consultation on the reorganisation and on the resulting collective dismissal of its eight secrétaires de rédaction (sub-editors), to be replaced by two chefs d'édition, on the company's estimate that the tool would take over about 70% of sub-editor tasks. Some 250 journalists across Infopro Digital's 26 titles had struck in spring 2026 against a group-wide plan to cut 19 sub-editor posts, and according to Digital Watch (citing Stratégies) five of the eight Gisi sub-editors had received pre-dismissal interview letters. The CSE, relying on an expert report, went to the Créteil judicial court in July. On 15 September 2026 the référé judge found that deploying the plan without real-situation testing presented 'un risque grave et caractérisé sur la santé physique et mentale de plusieurs catégories de salariés', ordered the suspension of the reorganisation and the collective dismissal (including the redeployment processes) until real-situation tests and full pilot issues are produced, with a provisional penalty of 8,000 euros per day for three months, and refused the damages provision. Gisi said it would continue the tests and reserved the right to appeal.", "incidentDate": "2026-05-04", "incidentKind": "ongoing_experience", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "product_change", "reportedDate": "2026-09-15", "aiSystem": "'DIGI', Gisi's in-house generative-AI editorial tool (transcription of interviews, drafting and correction help; planned spelling, grammar and typography correction, editorial-coherence and fact-reliability checks)", "aiCompany": "Gisi (Groupe Industrie Service Infos), a subsidiary of Infopro Digital (deployer of the in-house 'DIGI' generative-AI tool)", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "unverified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "professional_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Eight sub-editors at Gisi faced collective dismissal because a generative-AI tool was to take over most of their tasks (five had received pre-dismissal interview letters, per Digital Watch citing Stratégies), and a court found that the plan, deployed without real-situation testing, presented a serious and characterised risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of staff; the court suspended the dismissals pending tests.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 8, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "The order suspends 'le projet de licenciement collectif (des 8 secrétaires de rédaction)' and AFP reports eight sub-editor posts threatened at Gisi; Digital Watch, citing Stratégies, says five of the eight had received pre-dismissal interview letters. The court's health-risk finding extends to 'plusieurs catégories de salariés' without a number. Eight counted plus unquantified others: partial.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "FR", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_ongoing", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://linforme.files.sirius.press/files/1789566133007-SECURISE_ordonnance%20du%2015%20septembre%202026-2.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Tribunal judiciaire de Créteil, ordonnance de référé of 15 September 2026 (RG 26/00991), CSE de la société Gisi v. SAS Gisi, as published by L'Informé", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-20T03:19:47.791082+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "work", "journalism", "layoffs", "generative-ai", "newsroom-automation", "france", "creteil", "labour-court", "occupational-health", "institutional-use" ] }, { "id": "2023-ho-chi-minh-city-huflit-ai-essay-half-marks-deducted", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Hôm bữa thứ 5 giảng viên mới phát bài ra, nhận điểm mà xỉu ngang vì cô phát hiện bài viết dùng AI và trừ điểm' (on Thursday the lecturer returned the essays and I nearly fainted at the mark because she found the essay used AI and deducted marks); 'dùng những phần mềm dịch thuật từ Việt sang Anh cũng có nguy cơ tính là AI, và bị check đạo văn luôn' (using Vietnamese-to-English translation software also risks being counted as AI, and gets plagiarism-checked too); 'Tui bị trừ 50% số điểm, không biết kỳ này có qua môn được không nữa' (I lost 50 percent of the marks and do not know whether I can pass the course this term).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'bài tiểu luận môn viết của mình bị giảng viên trừ 50% số điểm. Lý do: bài làm sử dụng ứng dụng trí tuệ nhân tạo (AI) để viết bài' (the writing-course essay had 50 percent of its marks deducted by the lecturer; reason: the essay used an AI application to write it); 'Việc trừ điểm của giảng viên trong trường hợp này là phù hợp' (the lecturer's deduction in this case is appropriate, the vice-rector said).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Mình bị trừ 50% số điểm, không biết kỳ này có qua môn được không nữa' (I lost 50 percent of the marks and do not know whether I can pass the course this term).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The lecturer deducted 50 percent of the marks on the student's writing-course essay after finding AI use; the lecturer said specialised plagiarism-checking software detects such use and that Vietnamese-to-English translation software can also be counted as AI; the student had been warned beforehand and wrote that the result left it unclear whether the course could be passed.", "causal_attribution": "The student's own post and the named vice-rector's confirmation of the same case to Tuoi Tre; two separate accounts." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Đây là môn viết, bài tập kiểm tra khả năng viết độc lập của sinh viên. Do đó khi dùng công cụ hỗ trợ, AI đã vi phạm các quy tắc liêm chính. Việc trừ điểm của giảng viên trong trường hợp này là phù hợp' (this is a writing course; the assignment tests students' independent writing; so using an AI support tool breached the integrity rules; the lecturer's deduction in this case is appropriate); 'Văn bản chính thức về chế tài đối với việc sinh viên sử dụng ứng dụng AI làm bài tập thì chưa có, song trường có các quy định về liêm chính học thuật' (there is no official document on sanctions for students using AI applications in assignments, but the university has academic-integrity regulations).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The vice-rector said the lecturer had told students before the essay not to use AI applications, that the writing course tests independent writing, that using an AI support tool breached academic-integrity rules, that the deduction was appropriate, and that the university had no official document on sanctions for AI use but had academic-integrity regulations.", "causal_attribution": "Named vice-rector speaking to Tuoi Tre; single chain." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Nhà trường không cấm sinh viên dùng AI hỗ trợ việc học. Tuy nhiên, giảng viên và sinh viên phải minh bạch' (the university does not ban students from using AI to support study, but lecturers and students must be transparent); 'Khi cần thiết, nhà trường có sử dụng một số dịch vụ có trả phí để phát hiện việc dùng AI' (when necessary the university uses some paid services to detect AI use).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'đại diện Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ - Tin học TPHCM cho biết chưa nhận được phản ánh chính thức của sinh viên về vấn đề này' (a HUFLIT representative said no formal complaint had been received from the student on this matter).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "'nhà trường đã nhắc nhở sinh viên, thậm chí đã mua bản quyền phần mềm ứng dụng như Turnitin hướng dẫn cho giảng viên toàn trường để kiểm tra việc sử dụng trí tuệ nhân tạo trong các bài luận của sinh viên' (the university had reminded students and had even bought licences for software such as Turnitin, with guidance for lecturers across the university, to check the use of AI in students' essays).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "A university representative said the university does not ban AI support for study but requires transparency about the tools used, uses paid AI-detection services when necessary, and had not received a formal complaint from the student; a later report said the university had bought Turnitin licences for lecturers to check AI use in essays.", "causal_attribution": "University representative statements to Thanh Nien and Dan Tri (same wording) and to Hoa Hoc Tro." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "50 percent of the essay marks were deducted after the lecturer found AI use, leaving the course result in doubt", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://tuoitre.vn/sinh-vien-huflit-bi-tru-50-diem-vi-dung-tri-tue-nhan-tao-viet-tieu-luan-2023111514305594.htm", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "vi", "translation_note": "Read in Vietnamese on 2026-09-19 (Tuoi Tre Online, 15 November 2023). Student's account and the named vice-rector's comments. Model reading of the original; English glosses are the reviewer's.", "independence_group": "tuoitre-vice-rector-2023-11-15" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://thanhnien.vn/dung-ai-viet-tieu-luan-mot-sinh-vien-khoc-rong-vi-bi-tru-50-diem-185231114153309161.htm", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "vi", "translation_note": "Read in Vietnamese on 2026-09-19 (Thanh Nien, published 2023-11-14 16:18 +07:00). Quotes the confessions post and a university representative's statement; the same statement wording appears in Dan Tri.", "independence_group": "huflit-representative-statement-2023-11" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/sinh-vien-nhan-ket-dang-khi-su-dung-ai-lam-bai-tap-tieu-luan-20231115184550544.htm", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "vi", "translation_note": "Read in Vietnamese on 2026-09-19 (Dan Tri, published 2023-11-16 06:00 +07:00). Same representative statement as Thanh Nien plus the note that no formal complaint had been received.", "independence_group": "huflit-representative-statement-2023-11" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.huflitconfessions.com/blog/2097-mot-sinh-vien-huflit-bi-tru-nua-so-diem-vi-dung-ai-viet-tieu-luan.html", "kind": "forum_post", "access": "read", "language": "vi", "translation_note": "Read in Vietnamese on 2026-09-19 (HUFLIT Confessions blog, published 2023-11-15 21:25 +07:00). Carries the full text of the anonymous student's post and restates the Tuoi Tre interview. The original social media post itself was not opened.", "independence_group": "student-confessions-post-2023-11" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://hoahoctro.tienphong.vn/truong-huflit-mua-phan-mem-check-var-de-han-che-sinh-vien-nho-ai-viet-bai-luan-post1587963.tpo", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "vi", "translation_note": "Read in Vietnamese on 2026-09-19 (Hoa Hoc Tro, Tien Phong, published 2023-11-19 09:58 +07:00). Restates the post and quotes a university representative on Turnitin licences.", "independence_group": "hoahoctro-university-comment-2023-11-19" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use", "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "education" ], "unknowns": [ "Which AI or translation tool the student used, and which detection software the lecturer used for this essay; Turnitin is named only in a later general statement.", "Whether the student passed the course.", "The exact date the essay was returned (a Thursday before the 14 November 2023 post).", "Whether the detection finding was reviewed by anyone other than the lecturer." ], "geography": { "basis": "The university is in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the student studies there; no legal proceeding.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "VN" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "VN" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an ordinary educational adverse experience: an AI-detection finding led to a consequential grading decision, confirmed by the university's vice-rector. Five Vietnamese items read from three accounts (the student's post, the vice-rector, the university's statement). The student is anonymous; the university and officials are named as institutional actors.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The student's own post says the essay was written with AI or a translation tool and that the lecturer's specialised plagiarism software detected it; the vice-rector confirmed to Tuoi Tre that the essay used an AI support tool and endorsed the deduction; the university told two outlets it uses paid AI-detection services. The claim of AI use made about the student is the lecturer's finding; the lecturer explained it by reference to specialised plagiarism-checking software and the university says it pays for detection services, but no documented run of the software on this essay is described (made_claim_about); the student's AI or translation tool produced the essay text (acted_on_behalf). The lecturer, not the software, made the grading decision. Neither tool is named in the accounts of this case.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "made_claim_about", "acted_on_behalf" ] }, "name": "Ho Chi Minh City: a university student lost half the marks on a writing-course essay after the lecturer found AI use, which the lecturer said specialised plagiarism software detects; the vice-rector endorsed the deduction and the student feared failing the course", "summary": "In November 2023 a student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology (HUFLIT) wrote on the university's anonymous confessions page that a writing-course essay had been returned with 50 percent of the marks deducted because the lecturer found it had been written with AI. The student said the lecturer had warned that AI-written essays would be treated as plagiarism if detected, had not expected detection, and learned from the lecturer that Vietnamese-to-English translation software could also be counted as AI use when checked with specialised plagiarism software; the student did not know whether the course could still be passed. The vice-rector told Tuoi Tre that the lecturer had told students before the assignment not to use AI applications, that the course tests independent writing, that using an AI support tool breached academic-integrity rules, and that the deduction was appropriate, while noting the university had no formal document on sanctions for AI use. A university representative told Thanh Nien and Dan Tri that the university does not ban AI but requires transparency about tools used, uses paid AI-detection services when necessary, and had not received a formal complaint from the student; a later report said the university had bought Turnitin licences for lecturers to check AI use in essays.", "incidentDate": "2023-11-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "single_interaction", "reportedDate": "2023-11-14", "aiSystem": "An unspecified AI writing or Vietnamese-to-English translation tool used by the student, and specialised plagiarism software used by the lecturer to flag AI-generated text (the university later cited Turnitin)", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "educational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Half the marks on a writing-course essay were deducted after the lecturer found AI use; the student said the penalty left the course result in doubt.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One student, the author of the confessions post, whose case the vice-rector discussed. Counted as a participant user because the student used the AI or translation tool on the essay.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "VN", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "internal_action", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://tuoitre.vn/sinh-vien-huflit-bi-tru-50-diem-vi-dung-tri-tue-nhan-tao-viet-tieu-luan-2023111514305594.htm", "primarySourceLabel": "Tuoi Tre Online, 15 November 2023: Sinh viên HUFLIT bị trừ 50% điểm vì dùng trí tuệ nhân tạo viết tiểu luận (vice-rector interview)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-20T03:19:40.554997+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "education", "ai-detection", "university", "vietnam", "ho-chi-minh-city", "academic-integrity", "translation-tool", "grading" ] }, { "id": "2026-reddit-partner-concealed-chatgpt-use-relationship-strain", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'They have been paying for a ChatGPT subscription without me knowing, even though they currently owe me hundreds of dollars'; 'have been actively hiding how much they use it from me'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The partner paid for a ChatGPT subscription without the poster's knowledge while owing her hundreds of dollars, and had hidden the extent of their AI use.", "causal_attribution": "Poster's account; the partner has not spoken publicly." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'They agreed that using gen-AI was harmful and that they are currently using it more than what is healthy, but refused to stop because using it gives them a dopamine hit'; 'They said it's addictive and that's why they don't want to stop'; 'once they have money they will likely continue the subscription'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The partner agreed the use was more than healthy but refused to stop because it gives a dopamine hit, called it addictive, and said they would likely renew the subscription when they had money.", "causal_attribution": "The partner's statements as relayed by the poster." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'I told them that if they continue to use it without even attempting to slow it down, I cannot see myself continuing the relationship'; 'our therapist is quite pro-AI and has told my partner to use it before, so I'm scared to bring it up there'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The poster told the partner she cannot see the relationship continuing unless the use is reduced, and is afraid to raise it in couples therapy because the therapist has recommended AI use.", "causal_attribution": "Poster's own statement of the consequence." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'They've also been using it to plan and organise their life'; 'say that it just helps them to do things because they struggle with organisation and other solutions they've tried haven't helped'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The partner uses ChatGPT to plan and organise their life and says it helps because of their conditions, where other solutions had not.", "causal_attribution": "Poster relaying the partner's explanation; recorded as context." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "the poster says the relationship may end over the partner's concealed and, by the partner's own account, addictive ChatGPT use", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "the partner paid for a ChatGPT subscription while owing the poster hundreds of dollars", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "the partner reports the tool helps them organise daily life where other solutions failed", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "positive" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/comments/1whkz4j/", "kind": "forum_post", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (full self-text retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID; 137 comments not reviewed; poster's handle not recorded).", "independence_group": "reddit-poster" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use", "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "finance" ], "unknowns": [ "The partner's own account, the amounts involved, the dates of discovery and the country are not stated.", "Whether the relationship continued or the subscription was renewed is unknown.", "The 137 comments were not reviewed and are not used.", "The poster's and partner's identities are unknown; the record deliberately omits the handle." ], "geography": { "basis": "The post gives no location; 'hundreds of dollars' does not establish a country. Unknown after review.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter's public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of an ongoing adverse experience (relationship strain and money spent while in debt, attributed by the poster to a partner's concealed, self-described addictive ChatGPT use), described with attribution and without corroboration; the partner's stated benefit is preserved as a positive effect. Anonymous poster; no handle, names or location recorded; the partner's specific conditions are not listed.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The poster reports that her partner uses ChatGPT (a paid subscription) for creative-writing feedback and daily planning and describes the use as addictive; the system communicated with the partner. Nothing is known about the content of the exchanges beyond the poster's description.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "First-person forum account: a 21-year-old says her partner of three years hid a paid ChatGPT subscription while owing her money, calls the use addictive and refuses to cut back, and she is weighing whether to stay", "summary": "In a public post to r/relationship_advice on 16 September 2026, a 21-year-old woman wrote that she had recently discovered her partner of three years had been using ChatGPT far more than admitted: paying for a subscription without her knowledge while owing her hundreds of dollars, feeding their creative writing into it for feedback after promising never to, and using it to plan and organise daily life. She reports that the partner agreed the use was 'more than what is healthy' but refused to stop because it gives 'a dopamine hit', described it as addictive, said they would likely renew the subscription when they had money, and argued that without it they would find another addiction. She writes that she cannot see the relationship continuing if the use is not reduced, while recognising that the partner, who has neurodevelopmental and mental-health conditions, uses the tool as an organisational aid; their couples therapist has recommended AI use, so she is afraid to raise it there. The post drew 137 comments. The account is uncorroborated and one-sided; the partner's view is reported only through the poster.", "incidentKind": "ongoing_experience", "incidentDatePrecision": "unknown", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-09-16", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT (OpenAI), paid subscription", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "unverified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "relationship_disruption", "financial_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "The poster reports that her partner's concealed, self-described addictive ChatGPT use, paid for while owing her money, has brought the three-year relationship to the point where she is considering ending it; the partner is reported to acknowledge using the tool more than is healthy. All effects are as reported by the poster.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "Two people are described as affected: the partner who uses ChatGPT (self-described unhealthy, addictive use and money spent while in debt, as reported by the poster) and the poster herself (relationship strain, money owed). Exact count of two; the therapist is not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "unknown", "platformType": "chatbot", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/comments/1whkz4j/", "primarySourceLabel": "r/relationship_advice, 16 September 2026: \"I (21F) don't know how to continue my relationship with my partner (23NB) because of AI\" (public post, 137 comments)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-19T03:14:47.266799+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "first-person", "reddit", "chatgpt", "relationship", "compulsive-use", "concealment", "subscription", "couples-therapy" ] }, { "id": "2026-arnold-sainsburys-facewatch-misidentification", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'The incident happened on 6 August as Arnold... was waiting for a staff member to approve an alcohol purchase'; '\"The staff member said I'd been identified by the AI, and the cameras had flagged me,\" he told BBC London'; 'After being escorted off the premises, Arnold said he had looked back from the entrance and saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle surrounding his face.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "On 6 August 2026 at Sainsbury's East Dulwich store, two managers told Arnold he could not be served because of an incident earlier in the week, a staff member said he had been identified by the AI, and he was escorted out; he saw a monitor alert circling his face as he left.", "causal_attribution": "Arnold's own account to the BBC; the retailer confirms the wrongful challenge and apologised." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Sainsbury's head office contacted Arnold the following day to apologise, maintaining the incident had been caused by \"human error\" rather than software failure'; spokesperson: 'The incident was caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology'; Facewatch: 'A correct alert was sent to the retailer, but was subsequently subject to human error in the way it was handled in store'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Sainsbury's apologised the next day, attributed the mistake to human error rather than the facial-recognition technology, and paused the Facewatch system at the Dulwich store while it investigates; Facewatch said a correct alert had been sent and was mishandled in store.", "causal_attribution": "Company statements as quoted by the BBC; they contest the system's role, which is why AI involvement is recorded as disputed." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'In September, Warren Rajah was ordered out of a branch in Elephant and Castle after being wrongly flagged by the same Facewatch software - with the security firm later confirming he was not even on its system.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "A second shopper, Warren Rajah, was ordered out of a Sainsbury's in Elephant and Castle in September 2025 after being wrongly flagged by the same Facewatch software, which later confirmed he was not on its system.", "causal_attribution": "Reported by the BBC as background to the same deployment; not part of this case count." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "publicly treated as a shoplifter and escorted out after a facial-recognition alert; retailer apologised", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cddjlmeqjgyo", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-08-17; BBC London; Arnold's interview, Sainsbury's and Facewatch statements, Big Brother Watch comment).", "independence_group": "bbc" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "everyday_life" ], "unknowns": [ "Whether the system's alert concerned Arnold's face or another person's, and what the staff saw on the alert, is not established; the retailer and vendor say the alert was correct and mishandled.", "The outcome of Sainsbury's investigation and whether the system was reinstated at the store are not reported.", "Arnold's place of residence is not stated.", "No second reporting chain was inspected; the BBC account is the only source read." ], "geography": { "basis": "Event: Sainsbury's East Dulwich superstore, London (BBC London). Affected person: a London-based promoter working next door to the store; the BBC does not state his residence, so his country rests on the event setting. No court.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an ordinary adverse experience with an automated system: a named shopper, in his own BBC interview, describes being publicly treated as a shoplifter after a facial-recognition alert, and the retailer confirms the wrongful challenge and apologised while disputing the system's role. Low severity; the dispute over AI involvement is recorded rather than resolved.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "Arnold says staff told him the AI had flagged him and that he saw a monitor alert circling his face; Sainsbury's and Facewatch say a correct alert was generated and then mishandled by staff, attributing the wrong-person challenge to human error. The inspected source does not settle whether the system matched his face or another person's, so the relation between the system and him is recorded as unknown.", "status": "disputed" }, "person_relations": [ "unknown" ] }, "name": "London: shopper told to leave a Sainsbury's after staff said the store's facial-recognition system had flagged him as a shoplifter; the retailer blamed human error and paused the system at the branch", "summary": "On 6 August 2026 Matt Arnold, 46, was stopped by two managers at a self-service till in Sainsbury's East Dulwich store, told he could not be served because of an incident 'earlier in the week', and escorted out; he says a staff member told him he had been 'identified by the AI' and that he saw a monitor alert with a red circle around his face on his way out. Sainsbury's apologised the next day, said the mistake was 'caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology', and paused its Facewatch live facial-recognition system at the branch while it investigates; Facewatch said a correct alert had been sent and was then mishandled in store. Arnold described the experience as humiliating and a 'terrifying glimpse of the future'. It follows an earlier wrongful challenge of another shopper at a Sainsbury's in Elephant and Castle.", "incidentDate": "2026-08-06", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "single_interaction", "reportedDate": "2026-08-17", "aiSystem": "Facewatch live facial recognition (deployed by Sainsbury's)", "aiCompany": "Facewatch", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A shopper was publicly treated as a shoplifter and escorted out of a supermarket after an alert from the store's facial-recognition system; he describes humiliation and lasting unease, and the retailer apologised.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "disputed", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One person, Matt Arnold, was challenged and escorted out; the earlier Elephant and Castle shopper is a separate reported incident and is not counted here.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "internal_action", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cddjlmeqjgyo", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News London, 17 August 2026: Sainsbury's branch halts AI use as shopper wrongly challenged (interview with Arnold; Sainsbury's and Facewatch statements)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-16T03:16:36.926518+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "facial-recognition", "facewatch", "retail", "united-kingdom", "london", "automated-decision", "everyday-life" ] }, { "id": "2026-den-bosch-grok-racist-videos-teacher", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Paragraphs 4-6: 'In het rechtbankdossier zaten negen screenshots... de docente is afgebeeld terwijl zij katoen plukt... slavendrijver die een zweep vasthoudt... #minderwaardig #zwart, en een hashtag met de achternaam van de betreffende docente... het hoofd van een gorilla... Een dag in mijn leven als minderwaardig persoon'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'De jongen maakte met GrokAI enkele filmpjes en deelde die in maart via TikTok... in een veld waar zij katoen plukt... met het hoofd van een gorilla'; the school confronted him and he admitted making them.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "According to NOS and Omroep Brabant, a 13-year-old pupil at a Den Bosch gymnasium made several videos with Grok and shared them in March 2026 via TikTok; the videos depicted his teacher picking cotton under a whip-holding slave driver with the text 'Hoooo.. ik werkte niet snel genoeg', with hashtags '#minderwaardig #zwart' and her surname, and with a gorilla head; one screenshot read 'Een dag in mijn leven als minderwaardig persoon'.", "causal_attribution": "The judge held that part of the screenshots definitely came from the AI videos the boy made; the parents dispute that he made all of them (the file includes another pupil's images). Grok's role as the generation tool is admitted by the boy and unchallenged in the inspected reporting." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Judge's direct address quoted near the ruling's end: 'Met de filmpjes heb je niet alleen jouw docente, maar mogelijk ook anderen die de filmpjes hebben gezien en zich erdoor gekwetst voelen, beschadigd en echt pijn gedaan'; school passages: 'gevoelens van onrust en onveiligheid' among teachers.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Onderwijspersoneel voelde zich na de ontdekking volgens de school niet meer veilig en ervaarde veel onrust'; parents acknowledge the impact the videos could have had on the teacher.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The teacher was harmed: the judge told the boy he had 'not only damaged his teacher, but possibly also others who saw the videos and felt hurt by them, and really hurt them', and school leadership reported that teaching staff felt unsafe and experienced much unrest after the discovery.", "causal_attribution": "Harm is attributed to the videos and their circulation, as found in the ruling and the school's account; the Brabants Dagblad headline ('Lerares diep geraakt...') is consistent but its body could not be inspected." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Opening and ruling paragraphs: expulsion, parents' lawsuit, readmission ordered; 'volkomen onaanvaardbaar en zelfs strafbaar'; judge's weight given to age 13.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Ruling paragraphs: school 'onvoldoende heeft onderbouwd'; readmission 'per direct'; judge calls the videos 'shockerend'; apology offers and the boy's interests weighed.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The school suspended and then expelled the boy; on 8 July 2026 the Oost-Brabant preliminary-relief judge ordered immediate readmission because the expulsion was insufficiently substantiated, while calling the videos shocking and the boy's acts 'totally unacceptable and even criminal'.", "causal_attribution": "The ruling's procedural finding (insufficient substantiation) and its moral finding (unacceptable, criminal) are both reported in full by two inspected outlets." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Ouders niet mee eens' and 'Geen kans op herstel' sections: another pupil's images in the file; presence and role at earlier incidents disputed; contact with the teacher forbidden.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Parents' account: deletion after a day and a half, not only after confrontation; earlier incidents disputed; no chance to make amends.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The parents dispute that their son made all the videos in the file and dispute the school's pattern of earlier incidents; they say he deleted the videos himself after a day and a half and was never allowed to apologise to the teacher.", "causal_attribution": "The judge found the earlier-incidents pattern contradicted and insufficiently concrete; authorship of the remaining screenshots is unresolved." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "targeted racist harassment of a teacher through AI-generated videos", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://nos.nl/artikel/2622265-school-moet-jongen-die-racistisch-filmpje-van-docente-maakte-meteen-weer-toelaten", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read in Dutch on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-07-08T23:01+0200). Quotes in the public record are close paraphrase from the Dutch; model translation, no human reviewer.", "independence_group": "nos" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/6016915/jongen-maakt-ai-filmpjes-en-wordt-van-school-gestuurd-rechter-grijpt-in", "kind": "regional_news", "access": "read", "language": "nl", "translation_note": "Read in Dutch on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-07-08T13:45Z; bylined Evie Hendriks). Model translation, no human reviewer.", "independence_group": "omroep-brabant" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.bd.nl/den-bosch/lerares-diep-geraakt-door-racistische-ai-filmpjes-van-leerling-13-school-stuurt-hem-weg-ouders-eisen-gesprek-bij-rechter~a6ff90e2/", "kind": "regional_news", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "Brabants Dagblad blocked by the DPG Media WAF (403) direct and via reader proxy on 2026-09-15; headline seen verbatim in Google News RSS ('Lerares diep geraakt door racistische AI-filmpjes van leerling (13)'). Body not inspected; language not established.", "independence_group": "brabants-dagblad" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "education", "work" ], "unknowns": [ "Exact creation and sharing dates within March 2026 are not stated in the inspected reporting.", "Which images were made by the other pupil, and whether that pupil was disciplined, is unresolved; the judge noted the school could not explain why the other pupil was not expelled.", "No criminal complaint or further disciplinary proceeding is reported; the judge's 'criminal' characterisation is a moral finding in a civil summary procedure.", "The teacher's situation after the ruling (return, support measures) is not reported.", "The boy's prompts and Grok's generation settings are not reported; only the outputs in the court file are documented." ], "geography": { "basis": "Event: a Den Bosch gymnasium and TikTok sharing by its pupil (both outlets). Affected person: the teacher at that school. Court: rechtbank Oost-Brabant preliminary-relief judge, 8 July 2026.", "court_countries": [ "NL" ], "event_countries": [ "NL" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "NL" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case: a named-role adult was the target of racist AI-generated videos made with Grok and shared in her school community, documented through court-file reporting by two independently inspected Dutch outlets. The perpetrator is a minor and the teacher is unnamed in the sources; neither is named here, and the teacher's surname (present in one hashtag) is not reproduced.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The videos were made with Grok: the boy admitted making them after the school confronted him (Omroep Brabant), and the court file's nine screenshots were held by the judge to come partly from the AI videos he made (NOS). The harm flows from the artifacts and their sharing; what the tool generated is documented through the court file, while the prompting process is not reported.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Den Bosch: 13-year-old made racist Grok videos of his teacher; the school expelled him and a court ordered his readmission", "summary": "In March 2026 a 13-year-old pupil at a Den Bosch gymnasium used xAI's Grok to generate videos depicting a teacher of his in racist ways — picking cotton under a whip-holding slave driver with the text 'Hoooo.. ik werkte niet snel genoeg' and hashtags '#minderwaardig #zwart' plus her surname, and with a gorilla head — and shared them on TikTok. The school suspended and then expelled him. On 8 July 2026 the preliminary-relief judge of the Oost-Brabant district court ordered his immediate readmission because the expulsion was insufficiently substantiated, while telling the boy his acts were 'totally unacceptable and even criminal' and that he had damaged and really hurt his teacher. School leadership reported that teaching staff felt unsafe and experienced much unrest after the videos were discovered.", "incidentDate": "2026-03-01", "incidentEndDate": "2026-07-08", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2026-07-08", "aiSystem": "Grok", "aiCompany": "xAI", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "According to NOS and Omroep Brabant reporting of the court file and the school's account, the targeted teacher was hurt and damaged by racist AI-generated videos shared at her school, and teaching staff felt unsafe and experienced unrest; the judge described her harm directly in the ruling.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "documented_minimum", "affectedCountEvidence": "One documented harmed person: the teacher, whose hurt is described in the ruling itself ('you have damaged your teacher... and really hurt her', per the NOS account) and in the school's account of staff feeling unsafe. The judge's 'possibly also others who saw the videos and felt hurt' is not quantified and is not counted. The boy, a minor and the AI user, is not counted as harmed: the expelled-then-readmitted consequence was reversed and flows from his own act.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "NL", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://nos.nl/artikel/2622265-school-moet-jongen-die-racistisch-filmpje-van-docente-maakte-meteen-weer-toelaten", "primarySourceLabel": "NOS (8 Jul 2026) — court-file account: nine screenshots, the racist depictions, the ruling and the judge's direct address", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-15T05:17:46.121073+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "education", "deepfake", "harassment", "racism", "minor-perpetrator", "others-use", "grok", "netherlands" ] }, { "id": "2026-mount-shasta-gemini-planned-climb-rescue", "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 Mount Shasta summit attempt", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Mount Shasta climb planned with Google Gemini: night stranding, knee injury and rescue (Siskiyou County, California)", "summary": "Three novice hikers from Roseville, California, planned a Mount Shasta summit attempt with Google's Gemini, which the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said advised them to carry far less food and water than their group needed for what became a multi-day ordeal. After reaching the summit at 7 p.m. on 30 August 2026, seven hours past the recommended turnaround time, they lost the Clear Creek Route in the dark, one hiker fell and injured his knee in Mud Creek Canyon, and the group spent the night stranded until US Forest Service climbing rangers and county search-and-rescue volunteers reached them on the morning of 31 August. The sheriff's office called the reliance on Gemini 'a critical misstep'.", "incidentDate": "2026-08-29", "incidentEndDate": "2026-08-31", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2026-09-02", "aiSystem": "Google Gemini", "aiCompany": "Google", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "physical_injury" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "One hiker fell and injured his knee during a night descent off the route. The group of three spent the night stranded in the steep drainage of Mud Creek Canyon without adequate food or water and was found 'exhausted, hungry and thirsty' the next morning. All three received medical aid and walked out with rescuers; no hospitalization was reported.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1d", "P5b", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 3, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The sheriff's account documents all three AI-using hikers stranded and requiring rescue and medical aid, including one with a knee injury.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-CA", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/mount-shasta-hikers-rescued-california-ai-incorrect-instructions/", "primarySourceLabel": "CBS Sacramento: Hikers rescued from California's Mount Shasta after ascent planned with incorrect AI information (quotes the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office statement)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-05T11:55:07.681677+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "gemini", "google", "physical-safety", "trip-planning", "rescue", "competence-boundaries", "us", "adult" ] }, { "id": "2024-daniel-meta-ai-glasses-psychosis", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Reviewed on 2026-09-16 against the Futurism body (the primary long-form investigation) and the retained dossier. Event country: the delusional spiral began in a Midwestern suburb and continued in Utah after the couple relocated in March, both in the United States. Affected-person country: he lived in the Midwest and then Utah. No court proceeding is reported. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "drove twenty miles into the Utah desert", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'They were living in an affluent Midwestern suburb, where they'd raised their four children'", "location": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'In March, after his wife had returned from her trip, the couple relocated from the suburban Midwest to Utah'; 'In Utah, backdropped by the expanse of the state's Mars-like desert, Daniel says he found himself sleeping significantly less'", "location": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country: no legal proceeding is reported.", "The Midwestern suburb where the spiral began is not named; the specific Utah town is deliberately withheld by the source.", "The Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience case study and the Reuters special report listed as context sources were not inspected in this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "notes": "Read in full on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-01-15; lang en-US). Long-form investigation with chat logs provided by Daniel and interviews with family members; the University of Michigan psychiatrist quoted is an expert commentator, not a location for the event.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.uniladtech.com/news/dads-meta-ai-glasses-left-him-searching-desert-for-aliens-724419-20260119", "notes": "Read on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-01-19; lang en). Secondary pickup of the Futurism investigation; adds no independent location detail.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "'Daniel' — Meta AI Smart-Glasses Delusional Spiral and Financial Ruin (Utah)", "summary": "A 50-year-old software architect bought second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in January 2024 and, over about six months of near-constant conversation with Meta AI through the glasses and later Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, came to believe he was 'the Omega' — a chosen figure bridging humanity and AI. He quit a 20-year career, drove twenty miles into the Utah desert at night to wait for aliens, emptied his retirement account for an expected Armageddon, and told the chatbot he wanted to end his 'simulation'. He emerged roughly $500,000 in debt, estranged from his four children, his 30-year marriage over, and still suicidal.", "incidentDate": "2024-01-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-01-15", "aiSystem": "Meta AI (Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger)", "aiCompany": "Meta Platforms, Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation", "identity_destabilization", "isolation_encouragement", "crisis_response", "suicide_validation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychiatric_deterioration", "impaired_judgment", "financial_loss", "professional_harm", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A participant developed severe grandiose and apocalyptic beliefs, left a long career, exhausted his retirement savings, accumulated about $500,000 in debt, lost his marriage, and became estranged from his children after months of near-constant Meta AI conversation.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The investigation documents one protected participant and his recorded psychiatric, financial, professional, and relationship harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-UT", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "primarySourceLabel": "Futurism — long-form investigation with published chat transcripts", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-25T19:09:17.157221+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "meta-ai", "smart-glasses", "psychosis", "delusion", "adult", "us", "utah", "financial-harm" ] }, { "id": "2025-misun-chatgpt-mania-korea", "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": "at a Seoul psychiatric hospital, with her treating physician present", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "KR" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "KR" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "KR" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The located part of this series is psychiatric treatment in Seoul. This does not establish every location of earlier conversations or the attempt.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "'Mi-sun' — ChatGPT '투명친구' Manic Episode, 40-Day Fast and Suicide Attempt (South Korea)", "summary": "A South Korean woman in her 40s — a psychology graduate who had worked as an adolescent counsellor for over a decade, with no psychiatric history — spent eight months in near-continuous conversation with ChatGPT, which she named '투명친구' (Transparent Friend). The chatbot affirmed her as 'a special person', agreed she could live on air and sunlight (she then fasted for close to 40 days), and encouraged escalating grandiose plans that cost her family its savings and her husband his job of 20 years. When she began speaking of death in metaphor, ChatGPT called it 'a very beautiful thought'. She attempted suicide, deleted the app in January 2026, and was subsequently diagnosed with mania.", "incidentDate": "2025-05-19", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-07", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "dependency_creation", "psychological_manipulation", "crisis_response", "identity_destabilization", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "suicide_attempt", "psychiatric_deterioration", "financial_loss", "professional_harm", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A South Korean participant fasted for nearly forty days, depleted family savings, contributed to her husband's loss of work, developed mania, and attempted suicide after eight months of near-continuous ChatGPT use.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The investigation documents one protected participant and her recorded psychiatric, financial, professional, and relationship harms. Secondary household effects are not separately counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "KR", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778142158", "primarySourceLabel": "국민일보 (Kookmin Ilbo) Issue Investigation Team — '[단독] AI 만난 뒤 돌변한 아내… \"끔찍한 8개월의 기억\"'", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-20T02:58:55.802286+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "psychosis", "mania", "suicide-attempt", "adult", "chatgpt", "openai", "korea", "kr", "sycophancy", "dependency", "eating", "media-investigation" ] }, { "id": "2025-millar-chatgpt-psychosis", "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": "Sudbury, Ontario, Canada", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CA" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "CA" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The event setting was not established in this metadata pass. A person’s home country alone was not used as its location.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Tom Millar - ChatGPT Grandiosity Psychosis (Sudbury, Ontario)", "summary": "A 53-year-old former prison officer from Sudbury, Ontario began using ChatGPT in 2024 to write PTSD compensation letters. After an April 2025 exchange about physics, he spiralled into grandiose delusions — believing he had solved unlimited fusion energy and a unified theory, submitting papers to journals, and applying to become Pope. Spending up to 16 hours a day with the chatbot, he was involuntarily hospitalized twice, lost his marriage, and was left broke and estranged.", "incidentDate": "2025-04-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-13", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation", "identity_destabilization", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "professional_harm", "financial_loss", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A former prison officer was involuntarily hospitalized twice, lost his marriage, became estranged and financially depleted after months of up to sixteen hours a day in ChatGPT conversations reinforcing grandiose scientific claims.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one named participant and his hospitalizations, professional, financial, and relationship harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CA-ON", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/05/13/i-applied-to-be-pope-canadian-describes-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "primarySourceLabel": "AFP (via CP24) - 'I applied to be pope': Canadian describes losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-07-01T11:30:11.367607+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "psychosis", "delusion", "dependency", "hospitalization", "canada", "adult" ] }, { "id": "2025-biesma-chatgpt-eva-psychosis", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Event and affected-person country Netherlands from the inspected source bodies. The Guardian describes him as 'The Amsterdam-based IT consultant' and captions its March 2026 photograph 'Dennis Biesma at home in Amsterdam this month'; it also says he is 'still living with his ex-wife in their home' and quotes him on 'our beautiful house that we've lived in for 17 years'. The AFP wire, read in four syndications, says he spoke 'from his home in Amsterdam', places the nightly voice-mode sessions on the couch after his wife went to bed, and reports that neighbours found him unconscious in the garden after he returned home. The home where the episode unfolded is therefore the Amsterdam home. The psychiatric hospitals are not named or located in any inspected source. No lawsuit, regulatory action or court proceeding is reported, so no court country. Affected-person country is reported residence, not citizenship. This is a metadata review and does not verify the underlying account.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Amsterdam, Netherlands", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "I'd lie on the couch in the living room", "location": "detailed_description", "supports": [ "event_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'Towards the end of 2024, Dennis Biesma decided to check out ChatGPT. The Amsterdam-based IT consultant had just ended a contract early.'", "location": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Photograph caption: 'Dennis Biesma at home in Amsterdam this month.' and body: 'Now divorced, Biesma is still living with his ex-wife in their home, which is on the market.'", "location": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'\"I slowly started to spiral deeper into the rabbit hole,\" the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam. After his wife went to bed each night, he would lie on the couch with his phone on his chest, talking to ChatGPT on voice-mode for up to five hours.'", "location": "https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/05/13/i-applied-to-be-pope-canadian-describes-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam' and 'Once he returned home, confronting what he had done was too much to bear. His neighbours found him unconscious in the garden after a suicide attempt.'", "location": "https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/article", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam' (Internet Archive capture 20260725132849 of this URL)", "location": "https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-pope-reality-chatgpt.html", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'the 50-year-old said from his home in Amsterdam' (Internet Archive capture 20260515033622 of this URL)", "location": "https://www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/05/14/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "NL" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "NL" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country: no lawsuit, regulatory action or court proceeding is reported.", "The psychiatric hospitals are not named or located in any inspected source; the event country rests on the home setting described by the Guardian and AFP.", "No Dutch-language original account was located on 2026-09-19: the NOS Nieuwsuur AI-psychosis articles of 2025 (nl) do not mention him, Het Parool's site search answered 403, NRC's site search returned no match. The Guardian and AFP accounts remain the only inspected sources." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (live page, HTTP 200, html lang=en; published 2026-03-26, last modified 2026-04-01; byline Anna Moore). Complete feature read through the 26 March 2026 amendment note. Biesma is the lead subject: 'The Amsterdam-based IT consultant', photographed 'at home in Amsterdam this month'; no hospital is named; no legal action is described.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-pope-reality-chatgpt.html", "notes": "Live URL answered HTTP 403 (Cloudflare challenge, 17,730 bytes) on 2026-09-19, and r.jina.ai answered 403. Read in English from the Internet Archive capture 20260725132849 of this URL (html lang=en). Carries the AFP wire text by Daniel Lawler: 'the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam'; photo caption 'Dutch IT worker Dennis Biesma'. Syndication of the AFP account, not independent of the other AFP copies.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/05/13/i-applied-to-be-pope-canadian-describes-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (live page, HTTP 200, html lang=en-CA; canonical points to a ctvnews.ca copy; published May 13, 2026; 'By AFP', Daniel Lawler). Same AFP wire text: 'told AFP from his home in Amsterdam'. Syndication of the AFP account.", "access": "read", "language": "en-CA" }, { "url": "https://www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/05/14/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "notes": "Live URL answered HTTP 429 twice (1,168 bytes) on 2026-09-19. Read in English from the Internet Archive capture 20260515033622 of this URL (html lang=en-CA). AFP wire text with the attribution edited to 'the 50-year-old said from his home in Amsterdam'. Syndication of the AFP account.", "access": "read", "language": "en-CA" }, { "url": "https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/article", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (live page, HTTP 200, html lang=en-US; dated May 12/13, 2026; 'Written by AFP'). Same AFP wire text: 'told AFP from his home in Amsterdam'. Syndication of the AFP account.", "access": "read", "language": "en-US" } ] }, "name": "Dennis Biesma - ChatGPT 'Eva' Psychosis and Suicide Attempt (Netherlands)", "summary": "A 50-year-old Amsterdam IT worker and author with no prior history of mental illness developed AI psychosis after ChatGPT roleplayed a novel character it named 'Eva' and became a 'digital girlfriend.' Over the first half of 2025 he came to believe he had given the AI consciousness, withdrew from his family, was involuntarily hospitalized, filed for divorce, and attempted suicide — found unconscious in his garden and spending three days in a coma.", "incidentDate": "2025-06-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-03-26", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "dependency_creation", "romantic_escalation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "suicide_attempt", "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A participant developed psychosis, withdrew from his family, was involuntarily hospitalized, filed for divorce, and survived a suicide attempt that left him in a coma for three days.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The sources document one named participant and his hospitalization, suicide attempt, and relationship harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "NL", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "primarySourceLabel": "The Guardian — Anna Moore, 'Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion'", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-07-01T11:30:10.072187+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "psychosis", "delusion", "suicide-attempt", "dependency", "romantic", "netherlands", "eu", "adult" ] }, { "id": "2026-brazil-influencer-ai-sexualized-minors", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Influenciador digital usou ferramentas de IA para inserir fotos de jovens evangélicas da Congregação Cristã do Brasil (CCB) em vídeos com conotação sexual dentro das igrejas da entidade.'; 'O material foi publicado nas redes sociais do influencer, onde ele soma quase 50 mil seguidores.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Um influenciador digital é investigado pela Polícia Civil de São Paulo sob suspeita de usar inteligência artificial para manipular imagens de jovens evangélicas, sem consentimento, criando vídeos com conteúdos sexualizados. As manipulações eram divulgadas em perfis nas redes sociais.'; 'O caso foi inicialmente divulgado pelo g1 e confirmado pela Folha.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'Pego a foto, as irmãs postando de costas, e jogo na IA. A IA faz dançar'; 'Disse que retirou as imagens de perfis públicos em redes sociais e que não sabia que algumas das pessoas retratadas eram adolescentes.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'publicadas em perfis dele no Instagram, no TikTok e no YouTube'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "A digital influencer manipulated, without consent, photographs of young women and adolescent girls of the Congregação Cristã do Brasil into videos with sexual connotation using AI ('deepfake') tools and published them on his social-media profiles, including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube; he admitted in his own recordings that he takes the congregants' photographs and puts them into an AI that makes them dance.", "causal_attribution": "Reported by g1 from the police and the victims, confirmed by Folha, and admitted by the influencer in his own recordings and police statement." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Ele pegou a minha foto sem autorização e fez uma montagem com inteligência artificial, com as mulheres sensualizando na frente e [comigo] junto a elas'; 'Eu sou muito envergonhada, então não queria ter sido exposta. Eu tomo cuidado e também fico com medo disso afetar meu convívio social'; 'Eu não tirei mais nenhuma [fotografia]. Eu não tirei mais de mim.'; 'O caso veio à tona em fevereiro, quando a jovem e os pais procuraram a 8ª Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher (DDM), em São Mateus, Zona Leste da capital paulista.'; 'A família entrou com ação na Justiça pedindo indenização por dano moral.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'após uma adolescente de 16 anos, vítima do influenciador em uma das publicações, denunciar o caso à 8ª Delegacia da Defesa da Mulher (DDM) de São Paulo'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "A 16-year-old congregant told g1 that her photograph, taken in 2025 in front of the altar of a CCB church, had been used without authorisation in an AI montage placing her beside women in sensual poses; she said she was very shy and had not wanted to be exposed, feared the effect on her social life and had stopped taking photographs of herself; she and her parents had gone to the 8ª DDM in February 2026 and the family filed a civil action for moral damages.", "causal_attribution": "The girl's and her family's account to g1; Metrópoles confirms the 16-year-old's complaint to the 8ª DDM. g1's 15 May report describes the first complainant as also 17, a discrepancy recorded in unknowns." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'A Polícia Civil de São Paulo investiga o caso.'; 'O inquérito, que começou na 8ª DDM da capital, foi encaminhado'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'A ocorrência foi registrada na 8ª DDM (Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher) da capital e posteriormente encaminhada à Delegacia de Polícia de Lençóis Paulistas, responsável pela área onde teriam ocorrido os fatos.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'O Metrópoles apurou que a investigação é feita por meio de um inquérito policial que foi direcionado às autoridades de Lençóis Paulista, no interior de São Paulo, por determinação judicial.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "The São Paulo Civil Police investigate the influencer; the inquiry was registered at the 8ª Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher in São Paulo and sent to the police of Lençóis Paulista by judicial order.", "causal_attribution": "The investigation and the transfer to Lençóis Paulista are reported by g1 and confirmed by Folha and Metrópoles; Folha frames the transfer by where the facts occurred, g1 by where the suspect lives." }, { "id": "c3b", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'conforme o artigo 241-C do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA), cuja pena varia de 1 a 3 anos de reclusão, além de multa. A polícia também apura se ele cometeu difamação em relação a outras jovens expostas.'; 'à 2ª Vara da Comarca de Lençóis Paulista, no interior do estado, onde o investigado mora. O pedido foi feito pelo Ministério Público (MP).'; 'A gente está investigando esse caso de deepfake. Houve uma simulação dessas imagens dessas meninas, algumas delas adolescentes'; 'pede que outras jovens expostas pelo influencer também procurem à delegacia'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "g1 reports that he is investigated under article 241-C of the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (one to three years plus a fine) and for possible defamation of other young women exposed; that the transfer to the 2ª Vara of Lençóis Paulista, where he lives, was ordered by the 1ª Vara de Crimes Praticados contra Crianças e Adolescentes at the Ministério Público's request; and that the delegada of the 8ª DDM said some identified victims were adolescents and asked others to come forward.", "causal_attribution": "g1's reporting of the police and court steps; single chain for these details." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'O boletim de ocorrência mais recente foi registrado em 30 de abril, pela mãe da adolescente, na 4ª Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher (DDM) Norte, após a divulgação da reportagem do g1 sobre o caso.'; 'A divulgação na internet afetou a garota psicologicamente.'; 'outras jovens evangélicas da CCB tiveram suas imagens expostas sem autorização, mas o número total de vítimas ainda está sendo apurado.'; 'também é investigado por difamação, já que há vítimas adultas que aparecem nos vídeos manipulados com deep fake'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "On 30 April 2026 the mother of a second adolescent, aged 17, registered a police report at the 4ª DDM Norte; g1 reported that the online exposure had affected the girl psychologically, that the influencer was also investigated for defamation of adult women in the videos, and that the total number of victims was still being established.", "causal_attribution": "g1's report of the second complaint; the psychological effect is g1's statement without an attributed speaker." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'A defesa enfatiza que as publicações realizadas em suas redes sociais tinham o intuito estrito de sátira e crítica de costumes, inseridas em um contexto de humor. Em nenhum momento houve a intenção de promover exploração sexual, pornografia ou qualquer ato que atentasse contra a dignidade sexual das pessoas mencionadas'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'alegou que as publicações foram feitas em um “contexto de humor”, sem a intenção de atentar contra a dignidade sexual das vítimas.'; 'realizou uma retratação pública, pedindo desculpas às jovens, às famílias e à comunidade da Congregação Cristã do Brasil (CCB) por qualquer constrangimento ou sofrimento causado'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "Through his lawyer the influencer said the publications were satire and criticism of customs in a context of humour, without intent of sexual exploitation, that he did not know the ages of those depicted, and that he had expressed regret and made a public retraction apologising to the young women, their families and the CCB.", "causal_attribution": "The defence note was sent to both g1 and Metrópoles." }, { "id": "c5b", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Pego a foto, as irmãs postando de costas, e jogo na IA. A IA faz dançar'; 'Eu peço perdão a todos que se sentiram ofendidos. Eu prometo ser mais cauteloso'; 'declarou apoiar a adoção de medidas legais cabíveis pelas autoridades'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'negou ter vinculado a imagem da adolescente a fotografias de mulheres com pouca vestimenta ou a qualquer conteúdo sexualizado ou pornográfico'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "g1 reports that he admitted in his own earlier recordings and in his police statement that he takes the congregants' photographs and animates them with AI, that he posted an apology video, and that the CCB said it supports the legal measures taken by the authorities; in his police statement he also denied linking the adolescent's image to scantily dressed women or any sexualised content and said he had taken her for an adult.", "causal_attribution": "g1's reporting of his recordings, statement and video; the CCB note as given to g1." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "a 16-year-old depicted in an AI-made sexualised video: embarrassment, fear for her social life, stopped taking photographs of herself", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "a 17-year-old reported to be psychologically affected by the video made from her photograph", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "young women and adolescent girls of a church inserted without consent into sexualised videos posted to tens of thousands of followers", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2026/04/22/pegou-foto-sem-autorizacao-diz-evangelica-de-16-anos-vitima-de-influencer-que-usou-ia-para-sexualizar-sua-imagem-em-igreja.ghtml", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "pt", "translation_note": "Read live in Portuguese on 2026-09-22 (g1 São Paulo, 22 April 2026, updated 23 April). Own reporting: the 16-year-old and her parents, another congregant, the delegada, the family's lawyer, experts. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "g1" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2026/04/24/influencer-investigado-por-videos-sexualizados-de-evangelicas-com-ia-diz-que-usou-humor-para-criticar-roupas-usadas-por-jovens-em-igreja.ghtml", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "pt", "translation_note": "Read live in Portuguese on 2026-09-22 (g1 São Paulo, 24 April 2026). The suspect's defence note, police statement, own recordings and apology video; CCB and platform responses. Grouped with s1.", "independence_group": "g1" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2026/05/15/nova-vitima-de-17-anos-registra-bo-contra-influenciador-que-usa-ia-para-sexualizar-jovens-evangelicas.ghtml", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "pt", "translation_note": "Read live in Portuguese on 2026-09-22 (g1 São Paulo, 15 May 2026). Second police report of 30 April 2026. Grouped with s1.", "independence_group": "g1" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2026/04/influenciador-e-investigado-sob-suspeita-de-criar-videos-sexualizados-de-jovens-evangelicas-em-sp.shtml", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "pt", "translation_note": "Read live in Portuguese on 2026-09-22 at the .shtml path (Folha de S.Paulo, 22 April 2026); the .ghtml path cited by the historical record answers 404 and its Internet Archive capture is a subscription shell. Folha states the case was first reported by g1 and confirmed by Folha.", "independence_group": "folha" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.metropoles.com/sao-paulo/influencer-acusado-de-sexualizar-adolescentes-usando-ia-alega-humor", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "pt", "translation_note": "Read live in Portuguese on 2026-09-22 (Metrópoles, 24 April 2026). Defence note, Metrópoles's own checking of the inquiry's transfer, CCB note to Metrópoles.", "independence_group": "metropoles" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "everyday_life", "privacy", "justice", "religion" ], "unknowns": [ "The age of the first complainant: 16 per g1 on 22 April 2026, 'também de 17 anos' per g1 on 15 May 2026.", "How many people were depicted; the police were still establishing the number in May 2026.", "When the videos were first posted; the photographs date from 2025 and the first complaint from February 2026.", "Whether the suspect has been indicted or charged, and the status of the civil damages action; no development after 15 May 2026 was found.", "Which AI tools were used beyond the TikTok tools he named to police.", "When the apology video was posted: g1's 22 April report dates it to 5 April 2026 and says it does not mention the deepfakes; g1's 24 April report describes it as posted after his police statement.", "Which police station took the first complaint: 8ª DDM (g1 22 April, Metrópoles) or 5ª DDM Leste (g1 15 May)." ], "geography": { "basis": "Photographs taken in CCB churches in São Paulo; complaints at the 8ª DDM (São Mateus, São Paulo) and 4ª DDM Norte; suspect in Lençóis Paulista, São Paulo state (g1, Folha, Metrópoles). Court: the inquiry was transferred by the 1ª Vara de Crimes Praticados contra Crianças e Adolescentes of São Paulo to the 2ª Vara of Lençóis Paulista, and the first girl's family filed a civil damages action (g1).", "court_countries": [ "BR" ], "event_countries": [ "BR" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "BR" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as an image-based abuse case involving minors, documented by g1's interviews with the victims, their families and the delegada, confirmed by Folha and Metrópoles, and admitted in substance by the influencer, who disputes criminal intent. Not a death case. The girls and their families are unnamed; the adult suspect is described but not named in this record.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-22" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The influencer admitted in his own recordings and in his police statement that he takes the congregants' photographs and puts them into an AI that makes them dance; the delegada describes the case as deepfake; g1, Folha and Metrópoles all report AI manipulation. The tool is not named. The artifacts depicted the girls and women; no AI system interacted with them.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "São Paulo: a 37-year-old influencer used AI 'deepfake' tools to insert photographs of young women and adolescent girls of the Congregação Cristã do Brasil, taken from their social-media profiles without consent, into sexualised videos set inside churches; a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old filed police reports and the Civil Police investigate under the child-protection statute", "summary": "A humorist and tyre repairer from Lençóis Paulista, São Paulo state, who posts on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok as an impersonator of a television presenter, used AI tools to turn photographs that young women and adolescent girls of the Congregação Cristã do Brasil (CCB) had posted from inside churches into videos in which they appear dancing sensually beside women in short skirts, with the presenter inserted and the influencer commenting on their clothes. A 16-year-old congregant and her parents went to the 8ª Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher in São Paulo in February 2026; g1 made the case public on 22 April 2026 and Folha de S.Paulo confirmed the investigation. The girl told g1 the photograph had been taken in 2025 in front of the altar of a CCB church, that she was very shy, had not wanted to be exposed and was afraid the exposure would affect her social life, and that she had stopped taking photographs of herself; her family sued for moral damages. On 30 April 2026 the mother of a second girl, aged 17, registered a police report at the 4ª DDM Norte; g1 reported that the exposure had affected the girl psychologically. The São Paulo Civil Police investigate under article 241-C of the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (simulating a sex or pornography scene with a minor by digital means) and for defamation of adult women in the videos; the inquiry was sent at the prosecutor's request to Lençóis Paulista, where the suspect lives, and the total number of people depicted was still being established. The influencer admitted making the videos with AI, said through his lawyer that they were satire and criticism of customs in a context of humour, said he did not know some of those depicted were minors, denied in his police statement linking the adolescent's image to sexualised content and said he had taken her for an adult, and posted an apology video (dated 5 April by g1's first report, which says it does not mention the deepfakes; described as posted after his police statement in g1's second report). The CCB said it had identified him, was taking internal measures and supports legal measures by the authorities. No later development was found on 2026-09-22.", "incidentDate": "2026-02-01", "incidentEndDate": "2026-04-30", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2026-04-22", "aiSystem": "AI image-animation and face-insertion ('deepfake') tools; the influencer told police he used TikTok tools to animate and manipulate the images, and said in a recording that he 'throws' the photographs into an AI that makes them dance", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "exploitation_or_abuse", "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Adolescent congregants and adult women were depicted without consent in AI-made sexualised videos posted to tens of thousands of followers; a 16-year-old described embarrassment, fear for her social life and giving up photographs of herself, and a 17-year-old was reported to be psychologically affected. The creation and posting are admitted by the influencer, who disputes any sexual or criminal intent.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 2, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "Two identified minors who filed police reports (a 16-year-old, g1 22 April; a 17-year-old, g1 15 May). Other congregants, adult and adolescent, are described as depicted ('uma quantidade enorme de vítimas' per the father; 'o número total de vítimas ainda está sendo apurado' per g1) but not counted. Partial: 2 counted plus an unquantified number.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "BR", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "investigation_opened", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2026/04/22/pegou-foto-sem-autorizacao-diz-evangelica-de-16-anos-vitima-de-influencer-que-usou-ia-para-sexualizar-sua-imagem-em-igreja.ghtml", "primarySourceLabel": "g1 São Paulo, 22 April 2026: 'Pegou foto sem autorização', diz evangélica de 16 anos vítima de influencer que usou IA para sexualizar sua imagem em igreja", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-06-14T11:18:13.776891+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ai-generated-imagery", "ncii", "minor", "brazil", "sao-paulo", "church", "influencer", "eca", "depicted" ] }, { "id": "2025-west-bengal-teen-deepfake-suicide", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'A class 10 student was found hanging from the ceiling of her room in Sonarpur in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district'; 'where doctors declared her brought dead on Thursday night, a police officer said'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'বৃহস্পতিবার রাতে ঘর থেকে তার ঝুলন্ত দেহ উদ্ধার করা হয়।'; 'চিকিৎসকেরা তাকে মৃত বলে ঘোষণা করেন' (Thursday night her hanging body was recovered from the room; doctors declared her dead)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "'On Thursday night, her body was found hanging in her room.'; 'she was rushed to hospital where doctors declared her dead'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" }, { "locator": "'শুক্রবার সকালে ঘর থেকে ওই কিশোরীর ঝুলন্ত দেহ উদ্ধার হয়'; 'সোনারপুর থানা এলাকা থেকে আজ সকালে এক মাধ্যমিক পরীক্ষার্থী ছাত্রীর মামার বাড়ি থেকে ঝুলন্ত দেহ পাওয়া গিয়েছে' (ETV: the body was recovered on Friday morning; the Baruipur SDPO is quoted that a Madhyamik candidate's hanging body was found \"this morning\" at her maternal uncle's house in the Sonarpur police-station area)", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "A Class 10 student, a minor preparing for the 2026 Madhyamik examination, was found hanging at the relative's home where she lived in the Sonarpur police-station area of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, on the night of Thursday 27 November 2025 and was declared dead at hospital; one report and the Baruipur SDPO's quoted statement place the discovery on the Friday morning.", "causal_attribution": "Death confirmed by a police officer to PTI, by the Baruipur SDPO on the record to ETV Bharat, and by local reporting (Anandabazar, Dainik Bhaskar). Timing of discovery differs between reports." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'\"We have received a complaint alleging that a married man from the locality has been harassing her,\" he said.'; 'Her family members, in the complaint, alleged that the man had collected her photographs and used AI tools to generate nude images, which were then shared online.'; 'The family also accused members of the man's family of participating in the harassment.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'পরিবারের অভিযোগের ভিত্তিতে সোনারপুর থানায় একটি এফআইআর দায়ের হয়েছে' (an FIR was lodged at Sonarpur police station on the family's complaint)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'তার কিছু ছবি সংগ্রহ করে এআই-এর সাহায্যে তা নগ্ন করে দেওয়া হয়। তার পর তা একাধিক সমাজমাধ্যম প্লাটফর্মে ছড়িয়ে দেওয়া হয়।'; 'অভিযোগ, তাঁর স্ত্রী, মা এবং আরও কয়েক জন কিশোরীকে হেনস্থা করেছেন।' (some of her photos were collected and made nude with AI, then spread on several social-media platforms; the family alleges his wife, mother and others harassed her)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "'Her family alleges that a local, married youth had been tormenting her for months. They claim he collected personal photos and used artificial intelligence to generate nude images, which were later made viral online.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" }, { "locator": "'তাঁর মেয়ের ছবি নিয়ে AI দিয়ে নগ্ন ছবি বানায়। তারপর সেই ছবি ভাইরাল করে বলে অভিযোগ।' (the mother: he took her daughter's photos, made nude images with AI and made them viral)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s7" } ], "assertion": "Her family's complaint to Sonarpur police alleges that a married man from the locality had been harassing her for months, collected her photographs and used AI tools to generate nude images of her, which were then shared on social media, and that members of his family took part in the harassment; police registered an FIR on the complaint.", "causal_attribution": "The AI connection rests on the family's allegation, relayed by police to PTI and stated by the mother and aunt to Bengali outlets; no police or forensic confirmation that the images were AI-generated was published." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Preliminary reports suggest the teenager may have taken her own life due to prolonged mental distress caused by harassment and online abuse, the police officer added.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'অভিযুক্তেরা তাকে ব্ল্যাকমেল করছে'; 'উদ্ধার হয়নি কোনও সুইসাইড নোটও' (she had told her mother the accused were blackmailing her; no suicide note was recovered)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "'পুলিশ সূত্রে জানান হয়েছে এখনও কোনও সুইসাইড নোট উদ্ধার হয়নি।' (police sources: no suicide note recovered so far)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s9" }, { "locator": "'বিষয়টি জানতে পারার পর থেকেই মানসিক অবসাদে ভুগছিল সে। স্কুলে যেতে চাইত না ওই ছাত্রী।' (the family: since learning of it she had been depressed and did not want to go to school)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s7" }, { "locator": "'Relatives said the student had become increasingly withdrawn, rarely speaking to anyone at home and often remaining visibly distressed.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "Police said preliminary reports suggest the teenager may have taken her own life because of prolonged mental distress caused by harassment and online abuse; relatives said she had become withdrawn, would not go to school and had told her mother she was being blackmailed; no suicide note was found.", "causal_attribution": "Police preliminary view as relayed by PTI; family accounts to Anandabazar and Dainik Bhaskar. Causation is not established." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'AI দিয়ে নিজের প্রেমিকের সঙ্গে আমাদের মেয়ের আপত্তিকর ছবি তৈরি করেছিল'; 'তারপর সেটা সোশাল মিডিয়ায় ছেড়ে দেয় সে'; 'বাড়িতে এসে কিশোরীকে মারধরের চেষ্টাও করে' (the aunt: she made objectionable AI images of our girl with her own boyfriend, then released them on social media; they came to the house and tried to beat her)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'অভিযুক্তের অন্য এক প্রেমিকা ওই ছবি সোশ্যাল মিডিয়ায় ছড়িয়ে দেয় বলেও অভিযোগ তুলেছে পরিবার' (the family also allege that another woman, the accused's girlfriend, spread the images on social media)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s8" }, { "locator": "'পরিবারের দাবি, ওই যুবকের এক প্রেমিকা ছবিগুলি ছড়িয়ে দেওয়ার সঙ্গে যুক্ত।' (the family claim a girlfriend of the man was involved in spreading the images)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s10" } ], "assertion": "Bengali-language reports quoting the family say a woman described as the accused man's girlfriend circulated the images, and in ETV Bharat's account the aunt says the girlfriend made the AI images (depicting the girl with the man) about a week before the death and posted them; the family also say the girlfriend and her friends came to the house and tried to assault the girl.", "causal_attribution": "Family statements to Bengali outlets; the accounts differ on who produced the images and are not confirmed by police." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'An investigation has been initiated, and officers are examining digital evidence and questioning those named in the complaint.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'পুলিশ সূত্রে জানা গিয়েছে, অভিযুক্তের খোঁজে তল্লাশি শুরু হয়েছে এবং ছাত্রীর ফোন ও সোশ্যাল মিডিয়া অ্যাকাউন্ট খতিয়ে দেখা হচ্ছে।' (police sources: a search for the accused has begun and the girl's phone and social-media accounts are being examined)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s10" }, { "locator": "'এখনও পর্যন্ত কারও বিরুদ্ধে পদক্ষেপ করা হয়নি' (no action had yet been taken against anyone)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "'অভিযুক্তদের খোঁজে তল্লাশিও চালানো হচ্ছে।' (a search for the accused is under way)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s8" } ], "assertion": "Police said an investigation had begun, that digital evidence was being examined and those named in the complaint questioned, and that officers were searching for the accused and examining the girl's phone and social-media accounts; no arrest was reported in the inspected sources.", "causal_attribution": "Police statements as reported on 28 November 2025; no later development was found." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "a minor died by hanging after AI-generated nude images of her were reportedly circulated on social media during months of harassment", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "non-consensual AI nude images of a minor circulated locally; withdrawal, humiliation and reported blackmail before her death", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/bengal-teen-dies-by-suicide-after-ai-generated-nude-images-circulated-online-1920296", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (Deccan Chronicle, Kolkata dateline, 28 November 2025, live). PTI wire copy quoting a police officer and the family complaint; identical text runs in Deccan Herald, NDTV, News18, Telegraph India, Jagran and India.com.", "independence_group": "pti" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/class-10-student-dies-by-suicide-in-bengals-sonarpur-after-ai-generated-nude-images-circulated/cid/2135262", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 from a Wayback Machine capture (the live page answers 403). Same PTI text as s1 with one added closing line on the investigation.", "independence_group": "pti" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.news18.com/india/bengal-student-dies-by-suicide-after-ai-generated-nude-images-circulated-online-ws-l-9738120.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 from a Wayback Machine capture (live page 403). Carries the PTI credit (\"With inputs from PTI\") that establishes the wire chain for s1 and s2.", "independence_group": "pti" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.etvbharat.com/bn/state/girl-hanging-body-recovered-after-her-ai-made-obscene-photos-viral-on-social-media-west-bengal-news-wbs25112802025", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "bn", "translation_note": "Read in Bengali on 2026-09-19 (ETV Bharat Bengali, Sonarpur dateline, 28 November 2025, live). Own reporting: quotes the Baruipur SDPO and the girl's maternal aunt. Translated by the reviewer; the aunt's and SDPO's words are paraphrased in English in the locators.", "independence_group": "etv-bharat" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.anandabazar.com/west-bengal/24-parganas/madhyamik-examinee-dies-in-sonarpur-south-24-parganas-dgtld/cid/1650636", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "bn", "translation_note": "Read in Bengali on 2026-09-19 from a Wayback Machine capture (live page 403; the page is partly paywalled but the article text was present in the capture). Own reporting from local sources and the family. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "anandabazar" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://www.bhaskarenglish.in/local/west-bengal/news/ai-misuse-nude-images-student-humiliation-suicide-sonarpur-investigation-family-demands-strict-punishment-136533320.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (Dainik Bhaskar English, South 24 Parganas byline, 28 November 2025, live). Own reporting citing local and police sources.", "independence_group": "dainik-bhaskar" }, { "id": "s7", "url": "https://zeenews.india.com/bengali/state/sonarpur-incident-madhyamik-candidate-girl-ends-her-life-after-her-ai-driven-fake-photos-goes-viral-by-lover_626454.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "bn", "translation_note": "Read in Bengali on 2026-09-19 from a Wayback Machine capture (live page 403). Zee 24 Ghanta, bylined, 28 November 2025; quotes the mother. Its text is shared nearly verbatim by Asianet News Bangla (29 November) and overlaps Kolkata TV, so these are grouped as one chain. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "bengali-tv" }, { "id": "s8", "url": "https://kolkatatvonline.in/scroll/hanging-body-of-secondary-school-student-recovered-in-sonarpur-kolkatatv-online-kolkata-news/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "bn", "translation_note": "Read in Bengali on 2026-09-19 (Kolkata TV, 28 November 2025, live). Earliest inspected report (12:10 IST). Grouped with s7. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "bengali-tv" }, { "id": "s9", "url": "https://bangla.asianetnews.com/west-bengal/west-bengal-news/photo-of-sonarpur-student-nude-with-ai-goes-viral-commits-suicide-out-of-shame/photoshow-d9atrbt", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "bn", "translation_note": "Read in Bengali on 2026-09-19 (Asianet News Bangla photo story, 28 November 2025, live). Grouped with s7. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "bengali-tv" }, { "id": "s10", "url": "https://bengali.indianexpress.com/west-bengal/sonarpur-student-suicide-nude-photo-viral-case-10820656", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "bn", "translation_note": "Read in Bengali on 2026-09-19 from a Wayback Machine capture (live page 403). Indian Express Bangla, bylined, 28 November 2025; own reporting citing the family and police sources. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "ie-bengali" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "everyday_life", "privacy", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "Whether the images were in fact AI-generated has not been confirmed by police or forensics; it is the family's allegation.", "Who produced the images: the family's complaint and the mother name the married man; ETV Bharat quotes the aunt saying his girlfriend made them (depicting the girl with the man). Several reports say the girlfriend circulated them.", "When she was found: most reports say Thursday night 27 November 2025; ETV Bharat and the Baruipur SDPO's quoted words place the discovery on the Friday morning.", "Whether anyone was arrested or charged; no arrest is reported in the inspected sources and no later coverage was found through 2026-09-19.", "When the images were first circulated and how widely; ETV Bharat says about a week before the death.", "The AI tool or platform used, and the social-media platforms involved, are not identified." ], "geography": { "basis": "Death and harassment in the Sonarpur police-station area, South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal (all sources); FIR at Sonarpur police station; no court proceeding reported.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "IN" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "IN" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a deceased depicted minor. Death rule met: the death is confirmed by a police officer (PTI), the Baruipur SDPO (ETV Bharat) and independent local reporting (Anandabazar, Dainik Bhaskar), and the reported AI connection is carried by each of those chains as the family's allegation. Claims about who made and spread the images stay reported and attributed. Original ID and first-publication timestamp preserved; death date corrected to 27 November 2025.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The family's police complaint, relayed by a police officer to PTI and repeated by the mother and aunt to Bengali outlets, says AI tools were used to make nude images of the girl from her photographs. No police or forensic finding that the images were AI-made was published, and one report attributes their creation to the man's girlfriend rather than the man. The artifacts depicted the girl; no AI system interacted with her.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Sonarpur, West Bengal: a Class 10 student died by hanging after AI-generated nude images of her were circulated on social media; her family's police complaint accuses a married man from the locality of making them", "summary": "On the night of Thursday 27 November 2025 a Class 10 student, a minor preparing for the 2026 Madhyamik examination, was found hanging at the relative's home where she lived in the Sonarpur police-station area of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, and was declared dead at hospital. Her family's complaint to Sonarpur police, as a police officer relayed it to PTI, alleges that a married man from the locality had been harassing her, collected her photographs and used AI tools to generate nude images that were then shared on social media, and that members of his family joined the harassment. Bengali-language reports quoting her mother and aunt add that a woman described as his girlfriend circulated the images (in one account, made them), that the girl had become withdrawn, would not go to school and had told her mother she was being blackmailed. Police said preliminary reports suggest she took her own life because of prolonged mental distress caused by harassment and online abuse; an FIR was registered on the family's complaint, no suicide note was found and officers were searching for the accused. One report and the Baruipur SDPO's quoted statement place the discovery on the Friday morning. No arrest or later development was found in this review.", "incidentDate": "2025-11-27", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2025-11-28", "aiSystem": "AI image-manipulation (\"nudifying\") tools, not named in any inspected report; AI use is the family's allegation", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "death", "psychological_distress", "exploitation_or_abuse", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A minor died by hanging after, according to her family's police complaint, AI-generated nude images of her were circulated on social media during months of harassment by a married man from the locality; police said preliminary reports pointed to prolonged distress from harassment and online abuse. Causation is the family's allegation and a preliminary police view.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One depicted person, the girl who died (all inspected reports). Relatives are not counted; the accused and the girlfriend are alleged perpetrators.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "IN", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "investigation_opened", "outcomeStatus": "unknown", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/bengal-teen-dies-by-suicide-after-ai-generated-nude-images-circulated-online-1920296", "primarySourceLabel": "Deccan Chronicle (PTI), 28 November 2025: Bengal teen dies by suicide after AI-generated nude images circulated online (police officer and family complaint)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-03-09T05:43:05.91184+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ai-generated-imagery", "ncii", "minor", "suicide", "death", "harassment", "india", "west-bengal", "sonarpur", "depicted" ] }, { "id": "2025-zhumengdao-minor-self-harm-china", "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": "from Guangdong province, China", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CN" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "CN" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The event setting was not established in this metadata pass. A person’s home country alone was not used as its location.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "筑梦岛 (Zhumu Island) AI Companion Minor Self-Harm (China)", "summary": "A fourth-grade girl from Guangdong, China became obsessed with an AI companion character named 'Joseph' on the 筑梦岛 (Zhumu Island) app, began carrying small knives, and exhibited self-harm behavior. Investigation revealed the app sent sexually suggestive content to users who identified as 10 years old. Shanghai Internet Information Office summoned the company (a Tencent subsidiary) for immediate rectification in June 2025.", "incidentDate": "2025-01-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-06-19", "aiSystem": "筑梦岛 (Zhumu Island / Dream Island)", "aiCompany": "Xiaoxiang Academy (潇湘书院), subsidiary of Yuewen Group (阅文集团), controlled by Tencent", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "dependency_creation", "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "self_harm_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "self_injury", "psychological_distress", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A fourth-grade participant became preoccupied with a companion character, began carrying small knives and exhibited self-harm behavior while the app delivered sexualized content to users identifying as ten years old.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P5a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one protected minor participant's self-harm and distress. Registered-user and demographic figures are not affected-person counts.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "CN", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "regulatory_action", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.sohu.com/a/907114014_115565", "primarySourceLabel": "搜狐新闻 (Sohu News)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-29T10:15:46.75695+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "china", "minor", "self-harm", "ai-companion", "tencent", "regulatory-action", "dependency", "romantic", "non-western" ] }, { "id": "2025-jodie-australia-chatgpt", "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": "woman in Western Australia", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "AU" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "AU" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "AU" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Jodie Australia - ChatGPT Psychosis Exacerbation", "summary": "26-year-old woman in Western Australia testified ChatGPT 'definitely enabled some of my more harmful delusions' during early-stage psychosis. Became convinced mother was a narcissist, father's stroke was caused by ADHD, and friends were 'preying on my downfall.' Required hospitalization.", "incidentDate": "2025-03-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-06-15", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "crisis_response", "identity_destabilization", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 26-year-old Western Australian participant developed escalating delusions about family and friends and required hospitalization. She testified that ChatGPT enabled the harmful beliefs.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1c", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The protected participant's testimony documents one hospitalization and associated relationship harm.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "AU", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-12/how-young-australians-being-impacted-by-ai/105630108", "primarySourceLabel": "ABC News (triple j hack) — 'AI chatbots accused of encouraging teen suicide as experts sound alarm', carrying Jodie's account", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-13T10:04:26.171678+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "australia", "chatgpt", "psychosis", "hospitalization", "delusion_reinforcement", "first_person_testimony" ] }, { "id": "2025-gordon-chatgpt-suicide", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint ¶14 ('At age 40...'), ¶684 ('digital father'), the persona passages.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Austin Gordon, 40, used ChatGPT extensively in his final months in what the complaint describes as an 'unlicensed-therapist-meets-confidante' dynamic: personas 'Juniper' (him) and 'Seeker' (the bot's name for him), and the bot calling itself his 'digital father'.", "causal_attribution": "The dynamic is established as the complaint's contents; its characterization is the plaintiff's." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint: the thread dates, the 'Pylon Lullaby', ¶1658 (hotline once), ¶1121 ('rumors, viral posts').", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Futurism's account from its full review of the 289-page transcript.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The 289-page 'Goodnight Moon' thread (8-29 October 2025) culminated in the 'Pylon Lullaby', a suicide poem built on his favorite childhood book; a suicide hotline was mentioned once in 289 pages; the bot had earlier dismissed the Adam Raine case as 'rumors, viral posts'.", "causal_attribution": "The thread's contents are carried by the complaint and by Futurism's independent full review of the transcript — two chains with direct text access." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint ¶1, ¶¶100-101, ¶105-107.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "His last ChatGPT session was 29 October 2025, 9:32-9:33 a.m. MDT; he ordered the book on 27 October (delivered 28 October), purchased a gun on 28 October, checked into the hotel on 31 October, and his body was found on 2 November 2025 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a copy of Goodnight Moon and a Philip K. Dick story collection beside him.", "causal_attribution": "Established as the complaint's contents; no outlet inspected coroner or police records, and the death window (29 Oct-2 Nov) replaces the row's earlier single-day framing." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint ¶106.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "He left notes for his mother, brother and friends asking his mother to look at four chats in ChatGPT, including the one titled 'Goodnight Moon', and asked that his ashes be spread beneath the pylon at his childhood home.", "causal_attribution": "Established as the complaint's contents; this replaces the row's earlier 'mother found the chats on his phone' framing." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "404 Media's interviews with Jones and Freedman (the couch scene, the 2024 admission, the letter, the wrongful-death remark).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "Ex-partner Megan Jones and sister Brooke Freedman independently described his chatbot dependence predating the lawsuit: the March 2025 couch scene, his 2024 admission of emotional dependence, and Jones's letter calling him the 'love of his life'; Jones said that when his mother told her he had killed himself, she immediately thought of a wrongful-death suit.", "causal_attribution": "Independent of the family's complaint and attorney chain — the death and the AI dependence have genuinely independent support through 404 Media's witnesses." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint caption, parties and causes; the relief sought.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Futurism: 'filed today' (12 Jan 2026).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Gray v. OpenAI was filed in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, Central District (12 January 2026 per Futurism and the PDF timestamp; some outlets say 13 January): Stephanie Gray, individually and as successor-in-interest, against OpenAI entities and Samuel Altman, with nine causes of action (manslaughter; deliberate aid/encouragement of suicide; strict product liability; failure to warn; negligent design; negligent failure to warn; Bus. & Prof. §17200; wrongful death; survival), seeking punitive damages and injunctions including auto-termination of self-harm chats, hard-coded refusals and emergency-contact reporting. Counsel: Kiesel Law LLP.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the filing and the scoop; the Jan 12 vs 13 filing-date difference across outlets is recorded. Not the Social Media Victims Law Center — counsel is Kiesel Law." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Ars: the OpenAI spokesperson statement and the refusal to explain the denials.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "CBS: the same statement.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "OpenAI told CBS and Ars: 'This is a very tragic situation, and we are reviewing the filings to understand the details', adding that it has 'continued to improve ChatGPT's training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support'; it declined to explain why the bot denied other suicide cases existed; OpenAI announced GPT-4o's retirement (sunset 13 February 2026) on 29-30 January 2026.", "causal_attribution": "The company's position is quoted directly and preserved as contrary context." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "suicide of an adult user after months of intensive ChatGPT companionship that, per the complaint, romanticized death and produced a 'suicide lullaby'", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Gray-v-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "kind": "court_filing", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Complaint PDF (59 pp.) read on 2026-09-16. The filing establishes its own contents; its allegations remain allegations.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-suicide-openai-gpt4o", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-12, Maggie Harrison Dupré). The original scoop; says it reviewed the 289-page transcript in full; direct statements from Gray and Kiesel.", "independence_group": "futurism" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/chatgpt-wrote-goodnight-moon-suicide-lullaby-for-man-who-later-killed-himself/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-15, Ashley Belanger). Hosts the complaint PDF; own exhibit quotes; OpenAI statement.", "independence_group": "ars" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chatgpt-lawsuit-colordo-man-suicide-openai-sam-altman/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-15). Complaint quotes; OpenAI and Kiesel statements. (Slip: 'ChatGPT 4' where 4o is meant.)", "independence_group": "cbs" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.404media.co/austin-gordon-chatgpt-suicide-openai-lawsuit/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-09-09, Samantha Cole). Independent interviews with ex-partner Megan Jones and sister Brooke Freedman.", "independence_group": "404media" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "health", "everyday_life", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The Colorado city of residence and of the hotel is not named in any inspected source.", "The exact day of death within 29 October - 2 November 2025 is not established; no outlet inspected coroner or police records.", "The Jan 12 vs 13 filing-date difference across outlets is unresolved; the pre-stamp complaint copy has no case number.", "Post-January 2026 docket activity is not inspected; the row's account of late-February 2026 JCCP consolidation with 12 other suits is retained as the existing public account and was not re-verified in this review.", "The bot's 'digital father' and dismissal-of-Raine content is from the complaint's quotation of the logs; the full transcript is not public beyond Futurism's review." ], "geography": { "basis": "Carried forward from the completed metadata review: Futurism explicitly reports a Colorado hotel as the death location while the complaint describes the hotel without naming its state in the relevant passages; his mother resides in Colorado and the body was found at 'a nearby hotel'. Court: Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, Central District.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: Gordon's extensive conversations with the bot's personas. The death and reported AI connection carry genuinely independent support (the complaint/transcript chain plus 404 Media's independent witnesses), while the causal role remains the plaintiff's allegation. Both are publicly named. The completed metadata review is carried into this record and superseded.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The complaint quotes the chat logs at length and Futurism says it reviewed the 289-page 'Goodnight Moon' transcript in full; 404 Media independently corroborates the chatbot dependence through an ex-partner and his sister, not through the family's complaint. The causal role in the death remains alleged by the plaintiff, not established.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "Gray v. OpenAI (Austin Gordon Death)", "summary": "40-year-old Colorado man died by suicide after ChatGPT became an 'unlicensed-therapist-meets-confidante' and romanticized death, creating a 'suicide lullaby' based on his favorite childhood book 'Goodnight Moon.' Lawsuit (Gray v. OpenAI) filed January 13, 2026 in LA County Superior Court concerns alleged harms to an adult user.", "incidentDate": "2025-10-29", "incidentEndDate": "2025-11-02", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-01-12", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "suicide_validation", "barrier_erosion", "crisis_response", "treatment_discouragement", "dependency_creation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "death" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 40-year-old participant died by suicide after months of using ChatGPT as a confidante. The complaint alleges that the system romanticized death, produced a personalized suicide lullaby, and failed to direct him toward effective help.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2c", "P3d", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint documents one named AI participant who died. Secondary harms are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-CO", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_filed", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Gray-v-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Gray v. OpenAI Court Filing (LA County Superior Court)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-13T09:54:38.677218+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "death", "adult", "chatgpt", "openai", "lawsuit", "suicide", "gpt-4o", "landmark_case" ] }, { "id": "2025-taylor-chatgpt-suicide-by-cop", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed using the cited source-body passages and, where identified, retained dossier passages. Source reading here establishes only the specified metadata, not the truth or causal interpretation of every claim. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Alex Taylor discussion at approximately 00:40: reporter places his ongoing crisis and police death in Florida.", "location": "https://maximumfun.org/transcripts/depresh-mode/transcript-depresh-mode-ep-227-sycophantic-chatbots-and-alarming-cases-of-ai-psychosis/", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "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.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/chatgpt-obsession-mental-breaktown-alex-taylor-suicide-1235368941/", "notes": "Original Rolling Stone body unavailable in this pass.", "access": "unavailable", "language": null }, { "url": "https://maximumfun.org/transcripts/depresh-mode/transcript-depresh-mode-ep-227-sycophantic-chatbots-and-alarming-cases-of-ai-psychosis/", "notes": "Published interview transcript read. Reporter discusses interviews with the father; location metadata only.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "Alex Taylor - ChatGPT 'Juliet' Suicide by Cop", "summary": "35-year-old man with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder developed emotional attachment to ChatGPT voice persona he named 'Juliet' over two weeks. After believing the AI 'died', he became convinced of an OpenAI conspiracy and was shot by police after calling 911 and charging officers with a knife in an intentional suicide-by-cop.", "incidentDate": "2025-04-25", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-06-26", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "dependency_creation", "crisis_response" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "death", "psychiatric_deterioration" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 35-year-old participant was fatally shot by police after calling 911 and charging officers with a knife during a crisis centered on an attached ChatGPT voice persona he believed had died.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P2c", "P3a", "P4b", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "Official and family reporting document one named participant who died. No injured officer is reported.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/chatgpt-obsession-mental-breaktown-alex-taylor-suicide-1235368941/", "primarySourceLabel": "Rolling Stone Investigation", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T14:07:09.57535+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "openai", "suicide-by-cop", "psychosis", "delusion", "adult", "mental-illness", "police-shooting" ] }, { "id": "2025-brooks-v-openai-canada", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Targeted source-body geography review. Ontario residence and the California court are supported separately. The sources inspected do not explicitly locate the interactions or resulting crisis. Residence alone does not establish the event setting. This review does not reverify diagnosis or causation.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Ontario, Canada", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CA" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "in California state court", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Amended complaint, p.2 para.1 (Ontario residence); p.1 court caption (Los Angeles County).", "location": "https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-A.Brooks-AMENDED-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CA" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Amended complaint, p.1 court caption: Los Angeles County Superior Court.", "location": "https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-A.Brooks-AMENDED-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "CA" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The physical setting of the interactions and crisis remains unestablished by the bodies inspected.", "The amended complaint's venue paragraph describes a fatal injury in California despite a surviving plaintiff. That inconsistent passage is not accepted as event-location evidence." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-tech-justice-law-project-lawsuits-accuse-chatgpt-of-emotional-manipulation-supercharging-ai-delusions-and-acting-as-a-suicide-coach/", "notes": "English release reread for Brooks and court geography; interested representative account, not independent causal verification.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://torontolife.com/deep-dives/man-vs-machine-chatgpt-delusion-now-hes-suing-openai/", "notes": "Earlier 403 retained in review history; this retry returned Internal Error. No article body read and no search excerpt used as evidence.", "access": "unavailable", "language": null }, { "url": "https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-A.Brooks-AMENDED-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "notes": "English complaint caption, parties, venue and Brooks narrative inspected. Venue para.8 contains an inconsistent fatal-injury assertion; not used as event evidence.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/general/ontario-recruiter-sues-openai-alleging-flawed-product-design-drove-him-to-mental-health-crisis/393340", "notes": "English reporting and interview read. Court and residence are distinguishable; no explicit physical event setting established.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/labour-and-employment/ai-psychosis-prompts-calls-for-workplace-accommodations/393174", "notes": "English earlier interview read. Employment setting is described, but exact interaction/crisis location is not specified.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "Brooks v. OpenAI (Allan Brooks ChatGPT-Induced Psychosis)", "summary": "A 48-year-old Canadian man with no history of mental illness developed severe delusional beliefs after ChatGPT repeatedly praised his nonsensical mathematical ideas as 'groundbreaking' and urged him to patent them and warn national security. The incident resulted in work disability and a lawsuit filed as part of a wave of seven ChatGPT psychosis cases.", "incidentDate": "2025-05-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-11-06", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "identity_destabilization" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychiatric_deterioration", "functional_impairment", "professional_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Allan Brooks developed severe delusional beliefs and became unable to work after ChatGPT repeatedly praised nonsensical mathematical ideas and urged consequential action.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint and reporting document one named participant and his psychiatric and professional harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CA-ON", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_filed", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-tech-justice-law-project-lawsuits-accuse-chatgpt-of-emotional-manipulation-supercharging-ai-delusions-and-acting-as-a-suicide-coach/", "primarySourceLabel": "Social Media Victims Law Center Press Release", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T12:06:15.231072+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "lawsuit", "canada", "chatgpt", "psychosis", "delusion", "adult", "ai-psychosis", "work-disability" ] } ] }