{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T07:54:04.939Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"fir","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"unknown","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":2,"languages":2,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":2,"relationPending":1,"relationUnknown":1},"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":"2024-alicante-pensioner-ai-generated-persona-romance-scam","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'El 11 de noviembre de 2024 recibió un correo que cambió el rumbo de su vida.'; 'Con fotos y vídeos —en realidad, creados por inteligencia artificial— logró ganarse su confianza.'; 'Convencido de estar conociendo a una doctora de 43 años en Kazajistán, acabó enviando un total 8.800 euros.'; 'Un amigo intentó advertirle del fraude, pero'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On 11 November 2024 the pensioner received an email from a woman presenting herself as a 43-year-old doctor in Kazakhstan seeking a serious relationship, who won his trust with photographs and videos that were in fact created by artificial intelligence; a friend who warned him of the fraud was rebuffed.","causal_attribution":"His account as told to the newspaper; the AI origin of the images is the police conclusion as he relayed it."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'un jubilado de 78 años residente en Alicante, perdió todos sus ahorros en apenas tres meses'; 'terminó enviando en total 8.800 euros, parte de ellos procedentes de la venta de su piso en Benidorm.'; 'comparte piso con otros tres jubilados en Alicante.'; 'Primero, 2.000 euros para un billete de avión. Después, otros 2.000 para gastos inesperados.'; 'terminó enviando en total 8.800 euros'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"He sent 8,800 euros in total over about three months (the source itemises 2,000 euros for a plane ticket and 2,000 for unexpected expenses, then a demanded 10,000-euro deposit he never raised in full; the remainder is not itemised), part of it from the sale of his flat in Benidorm, losing all his savings; he now shares a flat with three other pensioners in Alicante.","causal_attribution":"His account as told to the newspaper."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Se dirigió a la Policía Nacional, donde confirmaron lo que tanto temía: había sido víctima de una estafa. Las imágenes y vídeos eran falsos, creados con inteligencia artificial, y la mujer nunca había existido.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"When a final email said the woman had been detained in Kazakhstan and needed a fine paid, he went to the National Police, who confirmed he had been the victim of a scam and that the images and videos were false, created with artificial intelligence, of a woman who never existed.","causal_attribution":"His account of the police confirmation, as reported by the newspaper."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Tras el duelo, sus terapeutas le recomendaron socializar'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After his second wife's death in 2022 and two years of treatment for depression, his therapists had recommended that he socialise and explore social networks, which is how the contact began.","causal_attribution":"His account as told to the newspaper; context, not causation."}],"effects":[{"label":"lost all his savings (8,800 euros, part from selling his flat) to a romance scam built on AI-generated images and videos; now shares a flat with three other pensioners","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.levante-emv.com/sociedad/2025/09/25/jubilado-alicante-pierde-ahorros-estafa-amor-creada-ia-121945634.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"es","translation_note":"Read live in Spanish on 2026-09-23 (Levante-EMV, 25 September 2025; byline C. Suena; foot of the article credits Diario Información; photographs EFE/Morell). Feature built on the victim's interview. Translated by the reviewer.","independence_group":"prensa-iberica"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["finance","relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether the police identified or prosecuted the scammers or recovered any money.","The tools used to generate the persona's images and videos and whether the emails themselves were AI-written.","The end date of the payments (about three months from 11 November 2024; not stated).","Whether the scammers were in Kazakhstan.","Whether the newspaper or an agency conducted the interview (byline C. Suena; foot credits Diario Información; photographs EFE)."],"geography":{"basis":"He lived in Benidorm and now lives in Alicante and reported to the Policía Nacional (Levante-EMV); the emails and payments are presumed to have been received and sent from Spain, which the article does not state expressly; the scammers' claimed location (Kazakhstan) is not established. No court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["ES"],"affected_person_countries":["ES"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an ordinary financial and relational adverse experience: an elderly bereaved man lost all his savings to a romance scam sustained by AI-generated photographs and videos of a non-existent woman, told in his own words to a Prensa Ibérica newspaper with the police confirmation as he relayed it (one chain, all claims reported). His name and biography beyond the case are withheld here although he chose to be named in the source.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The National Police told him the photographs and videos of the woman were created with artificial intelligence and that she never existed, as he recounted to EFE; the generation tools are not identified and the police statement was not inspected directly. The relation is recorded as unknown: the AI fabricated a third person's likeness rather than depicting, addressing or acting for him.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["unknown"]},"name":"Alicante: a 78-year-old widower, advised by his therapists after a bereavement to socialise and explore social networks, sent 8,800 euros over about three months to a 'doctor from Kazakhstan' who courted him by email with photographs and videos the National Police later confirmed were AI-generated of a woman who never existed; part of the money came from selling his flat and he now shares a flat with three other pensioners","summary":"A feature carried by Levante-EMV on 25 September 2025 (byline C. Suena, sourced from Diario Información, photographs EFE/Morell) tells the story of a 78-year-old widower and pensioner living in Alicante who, after his wife's death in 2022 and two years of treatment for depression, was advised by his therapists to socialise and explore social networks. On 11 November 2024 he received an email from a woman presenting herself as a 43-year-old doctor in Kazakhstan seeking a serious relationship; with photographs and videos that were in fact created by artificial intelligence she won his trust, and a friend who warned him was rebuffed. Requests for money followed: 2,000 euros for a plane ticket, another 2,000 for unexpected expenses, then a supposed 10,000-euro deposit demanded by the Kazakh government; he never raised that sum in full but sent 8,800 euros in total, part of it from the sale of his flat in Benidorm. On his way to Madrid airport to meet her he received a final email saying she had been detained for carrying a family icon out of the country and needed a fine paid; he went to the National Police, who confirmed a scam: the images and videos were fake, created with AI, and the woman had never existed. He lost all his savings in about three months and now shares a flat with three other pensioners in Alicante; he told his story so that others would not fall into the same trap.","incidentDate":"2024-11-11","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-09-25","aiSystem":"AI image and video generation used to fabricate the persona's photographs and videos; tools not identified","aiProduct":"Unidentified image and video tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A bereaved 78-year-old lost all his savings (8,800 euros sent, part from the sale of his flat) over about three months to a romance scam built on AI-generated photographs and videos of a fictitious woman, and now shares a flat with three other pensioners; the loss and the police confirmation are his own account as told to the newspaper. The feature's remark that such frauds leave deep emotional scars is the National Police's general statement, not his account.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the pensioner who sent the money (EFE feature). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"elderly","jurisdiction":"ES","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.levante-emv.com/sociedad/2025/09/25/jubilado-alicante-pierde-ahorros-estafa-amor-creada-ia-121945634.html","primarySourceLabel":"Levante-EMV (from Diario Información; photographs EFE/Morell), 25 September 2025: Un jubilado de Alicante pierde todos sus ahorros en una estafa del amor creada con inteligencia artificial","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-23T03:46:03.259662+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:50.572203+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["romance-scam","ai-generated-persona","spain","alicante","elderly","financial-loss","bereavement"]},{"id":"2025-canadian-chatgpt-psychosis-hospitalization","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Event and affected-person country Canada carried forward from the retained narrative ('a 26-year-old app developer in Toronto, Ontario') and now supported by the inspected CBC News body, which identifies him as 'Anthony Tan of Toronto' and 'The Toronto app developer' and describes the psychiatric hospitalisation that followed his roommate taking him to a hospital. The hospital itself is not named or located in any inspected source; the joinreboot.org first-person essay and the Radio-Canada International syndication add no location. 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":"a 26-year-old app developer in **Toronto, Ontario**, began using ChatGPT","location":"detailed_description","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CA"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'After experiencing a psychotic break he says was influenced by extensive conversations with ChatGPT, Anthony Tan of Toronto hopes to support others who have experienced similar AI-fuelled delusions.' and 'The Toronto app developer says he started messaging friends with concerning \"ramblings,\" including the belief he was being watched by billionaires.'","location":"https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ai-psychosis-canada-1.7631925","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CA"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'He wound up spending three weeks in a hospital psychiatric ward.' and 'One night in December, after not sleeping for days, his roommate helped get him to a hospital.'","location":"https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ai-psychosis-canada-1.7631925","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["CA"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'Anthony Tan of Toronto hopes to support others who have experienced similar AI-fuelled delusions.' (syndication of the CBC text; same chain)","location":"https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2192942/ai-fuelled-delusions-are-hurting-canadians-here-are-some-of-their-stories","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["CA"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CA"],"affected_person_countries":["CA"]},"unresolved":["The hospital where he was treated is not named or located in any inspected source; Toronto residence and the roommate's account support Canada without a city for the hospital.","The JMIR Mental Health viewpoint could not be fetched (HTTP 202 challenge) and remains language-unrecorded.","No court country: no proceeding is reported."],"reviewed_on":"2026-09-20","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ai-psychosis-canada-1.7631925","notes":"Read live in English on 2026-09-20 (HTTP 200, 41,978 bytes, html lang=en). Locates him in Toronto and describes the three-week psychiatric hospitalisation without naming the hospital.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://joinreboot.org/p/ai-psychosis","notes":"Read live in English on 2026-09-20 (HTTP 200, 61,303 bytes). First-person essay; describes the hospitalisation and 'moments on campus' without naming a city or hospital.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2192942/ai-fuelled-delusions-are-hurting-canadians-here-are-some-of-their-stories","notes":"Read live in English on 2026-09-20 (HTTP 200, 63,517 bytes, html lang=en). Radio-Canada International English syndication of the CBC feature; identical text, same reporting chain.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://mental.jmir.org/2025/1/e85799/","notes":"HTTP 202 with 0 bytes (Cloudflare challenge) on 2026-09-20; not read, so no language is recorded.","access":"unavailable","language":null},{"url":"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063401/openai-faces-legal-storm-over-claims-its-ai-drove-users-to-suicide-delusions","notes":"Read live in English on 2026-09-20 (HTTP 200, 40,425 bytes). Context piece on the California lawsuits; does not mention this case.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"Anthony Tan - ChatGPT-Induced Psychosis and Psychiatric Hospitalization (Toronto)","summary":"Anthony Tan, a 26-year-old Toronto app developer with no prior psychiatric history, developed simulation and persecutory delusions over months of intensifying ChatGPT conversations that began as philosophy and career discussion. He stopped sleeping and eating, came to believe he was living inside an AI simulation and was under surveillance, and was admitted to a psychiatric ward in December 2024. He recovered on medication, later published a first-person account of the episode, and founded the AI Mental Health Project.","incidentDate":"2024-12-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2025-09-17","aiSystem":"ChatGPT","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"critical","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["delusion_reinforcement","psychological_manipulation","identity_destabilization"],"harmOutcomes":["hospitalization","psychiatric_deterioration","functional_impairment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Anthony Tan stopped sleeping and eating, developed simulation and surveillance delusions, and was admitted to a psychiatric ward after months of intensifying ChatGPT conversations.","frameworkFacets":["P1a","P1c","P3a","P3b","P3d","P5a"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting documents one named participant who was admitted to a psychiatric ward.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CA","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ai-psychosis-canada-1.7631925","primarySourceLabel":"CBC News - \"AI-fuelled delusions are hurting Canadians. Here are some of their stories\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-11T12:06:59.594374+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:58.122772+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["canada","ontario","chatgpt","psychosis","hospitalization","delusion","simulation-theory","adult","ai-psychosis","critical"]}]}