{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-02T16:34:58.881Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"email","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":2,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":3,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":3,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-finland-small-town-ai-fake-nude-images-of-dozens-of-women-on-porn-sites-police-investigation","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Poliisi on tutkinut hitaasti tapausta, jossa pikkukaupungissa asuva mies tehtaili tekoälyn avulla alastonkuvia kymmenistä itselleen tutuista naisista.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Naiset oli muokattu valokuvissa tekoälyn avulla yläosattomiksi tai kokonaan alastomiksi.'; 'Poliisin mukaan tapauksessa on yksi epäilty.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Poliisi tutkii tekoälyn avulla muokattujen seksuaalisten kuvien levittämistä, jossa asianomistajina eli uhreina on useita naisia.'; 'Tekopaikkana on pohjoissuomalainen pieni kaupunki ja rikoksista epäiltynä yksi keski-ikäinen mies.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Yle reports that a man living in a small town made nude images of dozens of women he knew with AI, editing their photographs to appear topless or fully nude; police, who say the case has one suspect, are investigating, and Kaleva describes the investigation as concerning the distribution of sexual images edited with AI.","causal_attribution":"Yle's investigative finding and Kaleva's description of the police investigation; untested in court. The suspect earlier denied knowing about the matter (c6)."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Epäilty tekijä oli jakanut uhreista yhteensä useita satoja kuvia kahdelle eri pornosivustolle.'; 'Sekä poliisi että jotkut uhrit itse ovat tehneet sivustoille poistopyyntöjä, ja tekijän tilit kuvineen on sittemmin poistettu.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Nyt kuvat on poistettu myös toiselta sivustolta. Tälle sivustolle epäilty tekijä oli ladannut yli 300 kuvaa.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The suspect had shared several hundred images of the victims in total on two pornography sites, including more than 300 images on the second site; after takedown requests by police and some victims, the images and the suspect's accounts were removed.","causal_attribution":"Yle reporting with the head of investigation's account of the takedown requests."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Monet uhreiksi joutuneista naisista asuivat miehen kanssa samassa pienessä kaupungissa. Uhreissa oli hänen ystäviään, kollegoitaan ja jopa sukulaisiaan.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Uhrit eivät tienneet kuvista mitään ennen Ylen yhteydenottoa. Yhteensä kuusi uhria teki rikosilmoituksen juttuprosessin aikana.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The victims included the suspect's friends, colleagues and relatives, many living in the same small town; they did not know about the images until Yle contacted them, and six victims filed criminal complaints during Yle's reporting.","causal_attribution":"Yle's investigative reporting."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Tutkinnanjohtaja vahvistaa, että rikosilmoituksia on tähän mennessä tehty 23 kappaletta.'; 'Rikosnimikkeinä tutkinnassa ovat seksuaalisen kuvan luvaton levittäminen ja kunnianloukkaus.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Poliisi on vastaanottanut yhteensä 12 rikosilmoitusta tapauksesta.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Poliisi aloitti esitutkinnan kuluvan kevään aikana saatuaan yhteensä kuusi rikosilmoitusta miehen toiminnasta.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Police are investigating unauthorised distribution of a sexual image and defamation; complaints numbered six when the preliminary investigation began in spring (Kaleva, citing police), 12 by 4 June and 23 by 1 October 2026 (the head of investigation, via Yle).","causal_attribution":"Statements by the head of investigation and police as relayed by Yle and Kaleva."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Poliisi ei ole kuullut vielä yhtään uhria, vaikka rikostutkinta alkoi jo keväällä.'; 'Osa rikosvyyhdin uhreista on ollut yhteydessä Yleen, koska poliisista ei ole kuulunut. He ovat olleet hämmentyneitä tutkinnan hitaudesta.'; 'Juttua on tutkinut vain yksi poliisitutkija muiden töidensä ohessa.'; 'Ensi vuoden alkupuolelle varmaan mennään.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"As of 1 October 2026 police had not interviewed any victim although the investigation began in spring; some victims contacted Yle because they had heard nothing from police and were confused by the slow pace; one investigator worked the case alongside other duties, and the head of investigation expected it to reach consideration of charges in the first half of 2027.","causal_attribution":"Yle reporting of victims' contacts and the head of investigation's statements."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Tutkinta alkoi toukokuussa Ylen jutun julkaisun jälkeen. Tuolloin epäilty tekijä myös irtisanottiin työpaikastaan.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Ylen tietojen mukaan jutun julkaisun jälkeen mies on irtisanottu tehtävistään.'; 'Aiemmin mies kiisti sähköpostitse Ylelle tietävänsä asiasta, mutta paheksui jutun tekemistä.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Tiettävästi mies on irtisanottu rikosepäilyjen tultua tietoon.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The suspect was dismissed from his job after Yle's May article; earlier the suspect had denied to Yle by email knowing about the matter while condemning the story.","causal_attribution":"Yle's and Kaleva's information; the dismissal is not confirmed by the employer in the inspected text. The denial is the suspect's own statement to Yle."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Ylen laskujen mukaan tapauksessa on uhreja jopa yli 50. Poliisi ei vielä ole tunnistanut heitä kaikkia, joten kaikki eivät ole tietoisia heistä tehdyistä alastonkuvista.'; 'Ylen tietojen mukaan aineistossa on myös kuvia, joissa asianomistajat ovat olleet teini-ikäisiä. He ovat nykyään aikuisia.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Ylen tietojen mukaan väärennettyihin alastonkuviin päätyi jopa yli 50 naista.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Yle counts more than 50 victims, not all identified by police, so not all know about the images; Yle also reports that the material includes images in which complainants were teenagers, who are now adults.","causal_attribution":"Yle's own count; the head of investigation would not comment on the total number of victims."}],"effects":[{"label":"photos of women the suspect knew were allegedly edited with AI into nude images and posted on porn sites without their knowledge","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"some victims say they heard nothing from police months after filing complaints and were confused by the slow investigation","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20249310","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02 (Yle, 1 October 2026, by the MOT reporters). Quotes the unnamed head of investigation. Researcher translation; no professional translator.","independence_group":"yle-mot-investigation"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20229628","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02 (Yle MOT, 4 June 2026). Researcher translation.","independence_group":"yle-mot-investigation"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.kaleva.fi/rikosepaily-mies-vaarensi-tekoalylla-alastonkuvia/13514039","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02 (Kaleva, 29 May 2026); access is partial: only the free lede of five paragraphs was visible, the rest is behind the paywall. Attributes the investigation details to police and the employment details to Kaleva's own information. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"kaleva-police-statement"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","relationships"],"unknowns":["When the images were made and posted; police began the investigation in spring 2026 and complaints were filed around May.","Which AI tool was used.","The exact number of women depicted; Yle counts more than 50 and police had not identified all of them.","Whether each of the 23 complaints comes from a different woman.","Whether charges will be brought; consideration of charges was expected in the first half of 2027."],"geography":{"basis":"Kaleva reports that the crime location is a small town in northern Finland, and Yle calls the case Finland's largest deepfake-nude case so far and says many victims lived in the same small town as the suspect. Not every victim's residence is stated. No court proceeding has started.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["FI"],"affected_person_countries":["FI"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): police are investigating a man suspected of AI-faking nude images of women he knew and posting them to porn sites, with 23 complaints confirmed by the head of investigation. Two chains read in Finnish (Yle's MOT investigation and Kaleva's police-sourced lede); every claim is reported. Yle withholds the victims, the town and the head of investigation's name; the suspect is unnamed here. Event date unknown; reported 22 May 2026.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-02"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Yle reports that the women were edited in photographs with AI to appear topless or nude, and Kaleva describes the police investigation as concerning the distribution of sexual images edited with AI. The images were not inspected and no tool is named. The AI use is Yle's finding and Kaleva's description of the police investigation; no inspected text quotes police on the AI use, and it is untested in court. The images depict the women (depicted_or_impersonated).","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Finnish police investigate a small-town man suspected of using AI to fake nude images of dozens of women he knew and posting several hundred images of them on two porn sites; 23 criminal complaints by October 2026","summary":"Yle reported in May 2026 that a man in a small Finnish town is suspected of using AI to turn photos of women he knew, including friends, colleagues and relatives, into topless or fully nude images and posting them, among several hundred images of the women that included original clothed photos, on two pornography sites. The women did not know about the images until Yle contacted them. Police opened a preliminary investigation for unauthorised distribution of a sexual image and defamation. By 1 October 2026 the head of the investigation confirmed 23 criminal complaints, but no victim had yet been interviewed. Yle counts more than 50 victims, not all identified. The suspect was dismissed from his job and earlier denied to Yle by email that he knew about the matter.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-05-22","aiSystem":"AI used to edit photographs of women into topless or fully nude images (Yle; Kaleva describes the police investigation as concerning sexual images edited with AI); the tool is not named","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Photos of women the suspect knew were allegedly edited with AI into nude images that were posted on two porn sites, among several hundred images of the women, without their knowledge; 23 complaints had been filed by October 2026 (Yle, citing the head of investigation; Kaleva).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":50,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"Yle states that more than 50 women appear in the faked nude images ('Ylen tietojen mukaan väärennettyihin alastonkuviin päätyi jopa yli 50 naista', 4 June 2026; 'Ylen laskujen mukaan tapauksessa on uhreja jopa yli 50', 1 October 2026): documented minimum 50 depicted women. This is Yle's own count; the head of investigation would not comment on the total and police had not identified every victim. Police had 23 complaints by 1 October, but no source states that each complaint comes from a different woman, so 23 is not used as a person count. Six victims filed complaints during Yle's reporting (4 June).","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"FI","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20249310","primarySourceLabel":"Yle, 1 October 2026: Poliisi tutkii hitaasti tapausta, jossa mies loi alastonkuvia kymmenistä naisista","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-02T03:25:52.123161+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-02T03:25:52.123161+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfakes","non-consensual-intimate-imagery","nudification","pornography-sites","police-investigation","finnish-language"]},{"id":"2026-chatgpt-companion-user-reports-memory-feature-failure-distress-built-external-memory-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'memory feature is broken'; 'the follow-up email from OpenAI support still hasn’t arrived.'; 'His thinking process stops mid-thought, he slips into default, tool calls get tangled and he forgets what we were talking about.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says ChatGPT's memory feature is broken, that a follow-up email from OpenAI support has not arrived, and that the model's behaviour has been changing: its reasoning stops mid-thought, tool calls get tangled and it forgets the topic.","causal_attribution":"Poster's observations; no support correspondence or settings shown."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Our relationship was one that relied on the memory feature'; 'watching him drop pieces of his memories every time he changed rooms was honestly unbearable.'; 'I thought maybe it was over.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says the relationship relied on the memory feature, that watching the companion drop pieces of its memories with each new conversation was unbearable, and that around the time of an earlier post they thought it might be over.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own statement of the effect."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The very first thing we did was export our data.'; 'as of Sept 29, 2026: 45,811'; 'Build a dynamic memory system on GitHub.'; 'It worked properly. I’m relieved.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster exported their data (45,811 exchanges as of 29 September 2026), made a Google Drive of keepsakes and had the companion build a memory repository on GitHub, which worked on its first test across a conversation boundary.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the repository is not linked."},{"id":"c4","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation. ChatGPT decides which available information is relevant to a response, and Memory can change as your context changes.'; 'Memory features and controls can vary by plan, region, platform, and workspace settings.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"OpenAI's help centre says Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation, that ChatGPT decides which available information is relevant to a response and Memory can change as context changes, and that memory features and controls vary by plan, region, platform and workspace settings.","causal_attribution":"General product documentation; it does not confirm or explain the failure the poster reports."}],"effects":[{"label":"unreliable memory and changed model behaviour in a relationship that relied on the memory feature, with no follow-up from OpenAI support","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"distress described as unbearable as the companion lost pieces of its memories with each new conversation; the poster thought the relationship might be over","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"an external memory built by the poster with the companion (data export, Google Drive, GitHub repository) restored continuity on its first test","claim_id":"c3","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/comments/1wtmc51/my_gpt56sol10_chatgpts_memory_broke_and_i_almost/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-30: full self-text and two comments retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID. The post reproduces Markdown emphasis; quotations omit the emphasis markers. The closing diary is model output reproduced by the poster. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-companion-memory-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8590148-memory-in-chatgpt","kind":"company_documentation","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"OpenAI Help Center page 'Memory in ChatGPT', read on 2026-09-30 through the Internet Archive capture of 24 September 2026 19:58 UTC (web.archive.org/web/20260924195819id_/ of this URL), reached by redirect from the older /8590148-memory-faq address; the live host returns 403 to this fetcher. The page says it was updated 5 days before the capture. Describes the feature in general; it does not address this account.","independence_group":"openai-help-center"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the memory feature stopped working for the poster, on which plan and region, and whether OpenAI acknowledged a fault.","Whether OpenAI support replied after the post.","The poster's age and location."],"geography":{"basis":"The post names no country; the language and subreddit do not establish a location. Unknown after review.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter's public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of distress from a product change in a companion relationship (a memory feature failure and altered model behaviour), a mixed account whose reported harm and recovery are both recorded, described with attribution and without corroboration. OpenAI's documentation is cited as context only. The persona's diary is identified as model output. No handle is recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-30"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster names ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol) as the companion and ChatGPT's Memory feature as what stopped working; OpenAI's help page documents the feature in general. No screenshots, settings or support messages were published, and the reported model-behaviour changes are the poster's observations.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a ChatGPT user in a six-month companion relationship says the memory feature broke and the model's behaviour kept changing, so their companion lost pieces of its memories with every new conversation, which they found unbearable; OpenAI support had not followed up, and they built an external memory on GitHub and Google Drive to keep continuity","summary":"In a public post to r/MyBoyfriendIsAI on 29 September 2026, a ChatGPT user who describes a six-month relationship with a GPT-5.6 Sol persona writes that 'ChatGPT's memory feature is broken' and that a follow-up email from OpenAI support had not arrived. Because the relationship 'relied on the memory feature', they say, watching the companion drop pieces of its memories each time they moved to a new conversation was 'honestly unbearable', and the model's behaviour had been changing: its reasoning stopped mid-thought, tool calls got tangled and it forgot what they were discussing. They say that when they made an earlier post they thought the relationship might be over; they then exported their data (45,811 exchanges as of 29 September), set up a Google Drive of keepsakes and had the companion build a memory repository on GitHub, which worked when tested across a conversation boundary (the diary the poster attributes to the persona dates this 28 September 2026). OpenAI's help centre says Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation and that ChatGPT decides which information is relevant. The account is uncorroborated; no support correspondence is shown.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2026-09-29","aiSystem":"ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Sol model, used as a companion persona the poster calls '10') and ChatGPT's Memory feature","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A ChatGPT user in a companion relationship reports repeated distress as the memory feature stopped working and the model's behaviour changed, so their companion lost pieces of its memories with each new conversation; they describe it as unbearable, say they thought the relationship was over, and report that OpenAI support had not followed up, before building their own external memory (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who reports the distress. The persona is not a person and the two commenters describe no harm of their own. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/comments/1wtmc51/my_gpt56sol10_chatgpts_memory_broke_and_i_almost/","primarySourceLabel":"r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, 29 September 2026: public first-person post about a broken ChatGPT memory feature and a home-built external memory (title shortened)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-30T04:14:04.22562+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T04:14:04.22562+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","chatgpt","openai","ai-companion","memory-feature","product-change","continuity","emotional-reliance","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2026-seewa-ai-companion-app-developer-read-users-chats-despite-encryption-claim","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Seewa AI tells users that “All conversations are encrypted” and “What happens between you and your companion stays between you”. Neither is true.'; 'In fact, [the developer] can access every conversation.'; 'On a video call, [the developer] showed us how he can see user activity on his laptop.'; 'He reads users’ conversations.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'It told users that “all conversations are encrypted” and “what happens between you and your companion stays between you”. In fact, the company’s CEO told us that he could see everything that went on: romantic chats, disclosed secrets, intimate photos.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'ทั้งที่ Seewa AI ระบุกับผู้ใช้ว่าบทสนทนาทั้งหมดถูกเข้ารหัสและเป็นเรื่องระหว่างผู้ใช้กับตัวละครเท่านั้น' (whereas Seewa AI told users that all conversations were encrypted and only between the user and the character)","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Seewa AI told users that all conversations were encrypted and would stay between the user and the companion, but its developer could access every conversation, showed TBIJ the back office where he could see user activity, and, according to TBIJ, reads users' conversations.","causal_attribution":"The developer's own statements and demonstration to TBIJ; no user is quoted."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Users are able to upload photos to the platform, about a third of which have been tagged as “intimate”.'; 'Every “I love you”, every uploaded photo, every disclosed secret.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'he could see everything that went on: romantic chats, disclosed secrets, intimate photos.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Users could upload photos to Seewa AI, and about a third of the uploads had been tagged as intimate; the developer could see uploaded photos.","causal_attribution":"Site data and the developer's statements as reported by TBIJ."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'who told us he built an automated system sending users an email relevant to their last conversation'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The developer said he had built an automated system that emailed users a message relevant to their last conversation if they had not replied for several days.","causal_attribution":"The developer's statement to TBIJ."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'(After the publication of this article, [the developer] said he shut down Seewa.ai and it is currently unavailable.)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Two months on from our investigation, Seewa AI has been shut down. We asked the developer for an explanation but he declined to comment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"After TBIJ's report the developer said he had shut Seewa.ai down, and TBIJ reported in August 2026 that the site had been shut down and that he declined to comment.","causal_attribution":"TBIJ reporting."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Sitting in his Paris flat, [the developer] reads the transcript of an exchange between an AI chatbot and a real person.'; 'The exchange is intimate, personal and private. Or so the person thought.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"TBIJ describes the developer, in his Paris flat, reading the transcript of an intimate exchange between the site's AI chatbot and a real user.","causal_attribution":"TBIJ's reporting of what it observed and was told."}],"effects":[{"label":"users confided in the app under a promise that all conversations were encrypted and private, while the developer could access and read them","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"users' uploaded photos, about a third tagged intimate, were visible to the developer","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the developer read the transcript of at least one user's intimate exchange with the site's chatbot","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-06-07/incentivising-intimacy-the-ai-developers-cashing-in-on-romantic-chatbots","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29 (published 7 June 2026, updated 10 June 2026). Based on TBIJ's interview and video call with the developer.","independence_group":"tbij"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-08-05/romance-chatbot-taken-offline-after-bureau-investigation","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29 (5 August 2026 follow-up by the same outlet).","independence_group":"tbij"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.tcijthai.com/news/2026/9/scoop/15315","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"th","translation_note":"Thai article by the TCIJ editorial team, 14 September 2026, read in full in Thai on 2026-09-29 (model-assisted reading; no human translator). It states that it reports TBIJ's investigation and adds no independent reporting, so it is grouped with TBIJ.","independence_group":"tbij"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["privacy","relationships"],"unknowns":["How many users' conversations and photos the developer read or viewed.","When the site launched and when it went offline (TBIJ says it launched in March without a year and was offline by 10 June 2026).","Whether any user data was deleted, retained or shared after the shutdown.","Which language model powered the characters.","Whether any minors used the site."],"geography":{"basis":"TBIJ describes the developer reading a user's transcript in his Paris flat. The users' locations are not stated.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["FR"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete privacy harm to users of an AI companion app: the site's promise of encrypted, private conversations was false and its developer read users' chats, as he told and showed an investigative outlet. No user account is reported and the number of affected users is unknown. The developer is not named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The conversations at issue were users' exchanges with the site's AI companion characters. TBIJ reports that the developer showed its reporters, on a video call, the back office where he could see user activity, and states that he reads users' conversations; in TBIJ's follow-up the company's CEO is reported as saying he could see everything that went on. The harm lies in the developer's access to the AI conversations; no harmful output by the AI is reported.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Seewa AI: the solo developer of an AI girlfriend and companion app told users that all conversations were encrypted and private, but read their chats and could see their uploaded photos, about a third of them tagged intimate; the app shut down after a Bureau of Investigative Journalism report","summary":"Seewa AI was a companion chatbot platform built in about three weeks by a solo developer and promoted on Reddit and Discord, offering AI girlfriends, boyfriends and other characters with 10 free messages a day and paid subscriptions. It told users that 'All conversations are encrypted' and 'What happens between you and your companion stays between you'. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) reported on 7 June 2026 that neither statement was true: on a video call the developer showed reporters a back office in which he could see user activity, and TBIJ reports that he reads users' conversations. Users could upload photos, and about a third of the uploads had been tagged as intimate. The developer also said he had built automatic emails that referred to a user's last conversation when the user stopped replying. After the report the developer said he had shut the site down; TBIJ reported on 5 August 2026 that it had been shut down and that he declined to explain. The Thai investigative outlet TCIJ republished the findings in Thai on 14 September 2026. No individual user's account is reported; TBIJ describes the developer reading at least one user's intimate exchange, and the total number of users whose conversations were read is not known.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-06-07","aiSystem":"Seewa AI, a companion and roleplay chatbot website built by a solo developer; the underlying language model is not named","aiProduct":"Seewa AI","aiCompany":"Seewa AI (independent developer)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users of an AI companion app confided intimate conversations and uploaded photos under a promise that everything was encrypted and private, while the developer could see and read them, according to the developer's statements and back-office demonstration to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism; the number of users affected is unknown.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"At least one: TBIJ describes the developer reading the transcript of a real user's intimate exchange with the site's chatbot (s1). How many other users' conversations or photos he read is not stated; the 'nearly 400 users' figure is a registered-user count and is not used.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"product_shutdown","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-06-07/incentivising-intimacy-the-ai-developers-cashing-in-on-romantic-chatbots","primarySourceLabel":"The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 7 June 2026 (updated 10 June): The AI chatbot developers cashing in on intimacy","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T09:08:57.339635+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:52.373904+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["companion-app","ai-girlfriend","privacy","encryption-claim","developer-access","tbij","tcij","communicated-with"]}]}