{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-09T06:48:57.527Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"legal","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"minors","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":4,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":2,"coreRelations":2,"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":"2024-zurich-oerlikon-daycare-stabbing-chatgpt-planning","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Ein Knabe wird von der 8,5 Zentimeter langen Klinge am Hals und am Oberkörper lebensgefährlich verletzt'; 'Den einen der beiden trifft der Täter am Herzen: Der Herzbeutel und die Brustschlagader werden durchtrennt'; 'Der andere wird an der Lunge und am Ohr verletzt'; 'Sie stoppt den Täter, schreit ihn an und hält seine Arme fest, bis er das Messer fallen lässt'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Zwei Knaben erlitten lebensgefährliche Stichverletzungen im Hals- und Brustbereich. Ein weiteres Kind wurde an der Schulter und am Ohr verletzt.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Am 01. Oktober 2024 verletzte eine männliche Person an der Berninastrasse in Oerlikon mit einer Stichwaffe mehrere Kinder.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"On 1 October 2024 at midday in Zurich-Oerlikon the accused stabbed three five-year-old boys who were walking with a daycare worker to their Hort; two suffered life-threatening neck and chest wounds and the third was wounded in the ear and the shoulder or lung; the daycare worker restrained him until he dropped the knife.","causal_attribution":"Attack attributed to the accused by the prosecutor's office and the court; he confessed."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Mit Chat-GPT diskutiert er verschiedene Tötungsvarianten und deren Konsequenzen, das geht aus der Anklageschrift hervor.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'recherchierte mittels ChatGPT die juristischen Konsequenzen von Tötungsdelikten'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Selon l'acte d'accusation, il s'était informé avec ChatGPT, en août 2024, à propos des conséquences juridiques d'homicides à l'arme blanche sur des victimes visées au hasard ou encore au sujet de l'anatomie du corps humain.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to the indictment and the court, the accused used ChatGPT in August and September 2024 to research ways of killing and their legal consequences, including knife killings of randomly chosen victims, and human anatomy.","causal_attribution":"Stated by the prosecution in the indictment and adopted in the court's reasoning; no prompt or reply is quoted."},{"id":"c3","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'er wisse auch nicht, warum er mithilfe von Chat-GPT versucht habe, herauszufinden, wann und wo in Oerlikon Kinder anzutreffen seien'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Deck: 'Mit «ChatGPT» recherchierte er, wo und wann er in Zürich Kinder antreffen könnte'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'Am 18. September fragt er die Software, wo und wann er in der Stadt Zürich Kinder antreffen könne' (as recorded in the 2026-09-09 signal review)","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"The accused used ChatGPT to try to find out where and when children could be encountered in Zurich (Oerlikon).","causal_attribution":"Reported from the indictment; whether the query produced the Hort's location is not stated by any source."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'verurteilt den Studenten wegen mehrfachen versuchten Mordes zu fünfzehn Jahren Freiheitsstrafe. Weiter wird eine vollzugsbegleitende ambulante Therapie verordnet'; 'Genugtuung in der Gesamthöhe von 106 000 Franken'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'wegen mehrfachen versuchten Mordes zu 15 Jahren Freiheitsstrafe verurteilt'; 'Zudem wird der Täter für 15 Jahre des Landes verwiesen.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'condamné à verser aux trois garçons 30'000 francs et deux fois 38'000 francs pour préjudice moral. Le tribunal a également prononcé une interdiction de territoire de 15 ans'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"On 18 September 2026 the Zurich District Court convicted the accused of multiple attempted murder and imposed 15 years' imprisonment, ambulatory therapy during custody, a 15-year expulsion and CHF 106,000 in moral damages to the three boys.","causal_attribution":"Court judgment as reported; RTS rounds the damages to 100,000 francs."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Er attestiert dem jungen Chinesen eine akute psychotische Störung'; 'Der Täter konnte uns nicht glaubhaft darlegen, dass die Stimmen derart drängend waren, dass er sich ihnen nicht hätte entziehen können.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'verneinten jedoch eine komplette Schuldunfähigkeit. Der Täter habe nicht glaubhaft darlegen können, dass die Stimmen derart drängend gewesen seien'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A forensic psychiatrist diagnosed an acute psychotic disorder and considered the accused unable to control his actions; the court accepted the illness but found he had not credibly shown the voices were irresistible, and convicted him with diminished responsibility.","causal_attribution":"Expert opinion and court finding as reported."},{"id":"c6","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Er macht sich bis heute Vorwürfe, dass er nicht schneller zum Hort gerannt ist. Er kann schlecht einschlafen, weil er Angst hat vor seinen Träumen. Fast jede Nacht wacht er auf.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'ihr Sohn seither unter schrecklichen Träumen leide und sich Vorwürfe mache, weil er beim Angriff nicht schnell genug in den rettenden Hort rennen konnte'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The parents of one injured boy told the court, 23 months after the attack, that he blames himself for not running faster, sleeps badly for fear of his dreams, wakes almost every night and is constantly asked about the scar on his nose.","causal_attribution":"Parents' letter read in court, attributing the effects to the attack."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'son avocat qui a annoncé aux médias qu'il faisait appel de ce jugement qui n'est pas encore entré en force'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Son avocat a annoncé faire appel du jugement.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The defence announced an appeal against the judgment.","causal_attribution":"Single agency chain (Keystone-ATS)."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Am 18. September fragt er die Software, wo und wann er in der Stadt Zürich Kinder antreffen könne'; 'Am 28. September studierte er ... über Google und ChatGPT anatomische Darstellungen des menschlichen Kopfes, Halses und Oberkörpers sowie der Blutgefässe' (2026-09-09 signal review)","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"},{"locator":"'en août 2024' for the legal-consequences and anatomy queries","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Blick's reading of the indictment dates the ChatGPT sessions to 8 August 2024 (legal consequences of variants of killing random victims by stabbing), 18 September 2024 (where and when to find children in Zurich) and 28 September 2024 (anatomy via Google and ChatGPT).","causal_attribution":"Dates as reported from the indictment; only the August dating has a second chain."}],"effects":[{"label":"three five-year-old boys were stabbed, two with life-threatening neck and chest wounds","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"one boy's parents describe nightmares, self-blame and scars 23 months after the attack","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/messerattacke-oerlikon-chinese-zu-15-jahren-freiheitsstrafe-verurteilt-ld.10024179","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"de","translation_note":"Read in German on 2026-09-19 (NZZ, 18 September 2026, own court reporter; full body served to curl). Quotations translated by the reviewer.","independence_group":"nzz"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.nau.ch/news/schweiz/messerstecher-von-oerlikon-muss-15-jahre-in-haft-67178142","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"de","translation_note":"Read in German on 2026-09-19 (Nau.ch, 18 September 2026). The text matches the Keystone-SDA verdict report and is grouped with it.","independence_group":"keystone-sda-ats"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/autres-cantons/2026/article/zurich-l-auteur-de-l-attaque-au-couteau-condamne-a-15-ans-de-prison-29361349.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fr","translation_note":"Read in French on 2026-09-19 (RTS, 18 September 2026). Carries the Keystone-ATS verdict report with the psychiatric-expert dating and the appeal announcement; grouped with the agency chain. The page's AI-generated summary was not used.","independence_group":"keystone-sda-ats"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/zurich-l-auteur-de-l-attaque-au-couteau-d-oerlikon-ecope-de-15-ans-103635523","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fr","translation_note":"Read in French on 2026-09-19 (20 minutes, 18 September 2026), explicitly citing Keystone-ATS; gives the three moral-damages amounts.","independence_group":"keystone-sda-ats"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.limmattalerzeitung.ch/limmattal/zuerich/messerangriff-auf-hortkinder-in-zuerich-tat-minutioes-geplant-ld.4232969","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"de","translation_note":"Limmattaler Zeitung (CH Media), 14 September 2026. On 2026-09-19 only the headline, deck and lead were served (paywall): 'Mit «ChatGPT» recherchierte er, wo und wann er in Zürich Kinder antreffen könnte'. The body was read by the 2026-09-14 signal review.","independence_group":"ch-media"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/zuerich/drei-kindergaertler-in-zuerich-oerlikon-mit-messer-attackiert-und-schwer-verletzt-chinese-hatte-tat-zusammen-mit-chatgpt-geplant-id22244459.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"de","translation_note":"Blick, 8 September 2026, reading of the indictment with the three dated ChatGPT sessions. Read in full via WebFetch on 2026-09-09 (signal review); curl returns a script shell. Not re-read today.","independence_group":"blick"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.zh.ch/de/news-uebersicht/medienmitteilungen/2024/10/241002_medienmitteilung_osta_oerlikon.html","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"de","translation_note":"Read in German on 2026-09-19: Oberstaatsanwaltschaft des Kantons Zürich media release of 2 October 2024 (arrest, confession, age and residence status of the accused).","independence_group":"oberstaatsanwaltschaft-zh"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["justice","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["No source quotes the ChatGPT prompts or replies, or states whether the model answered, refused or warned; OpenAI is not reported to have alerted Swiss authorities.","Whether the 18 September 2024 query produced the location or route of the Hort is not stated.","The third boy's injury is given as the lung (NZZ) or the shoulder (Keystone-SDA), plus the ear in both.","RTS reports moral damages of 100,000 francs in total; NZZ and 20 minutes give 106,000 (30,000 + 2 × 38,000).","Whether the announced appeal has been lodged, and the outcome, are unknown; the judgment is not final.","The accused's real name is not published (press use a changed name)."],"geography":{"basis":"The attack took place at Berninastrasse, Zurich-Oerlikon (Oberstaatsanwaltschaft Zürich release of 2 October 2024); the children attended an Oerlikon kindergarten and Hort (NZZ: 'eine Gruppe Oerliker Kinder'); judgment by the Bezirksgericht Zürich on 18 September 2026 (NZZ, Nau, RTS).","court_countries":["CH"],"event_countries":["CH"],"affected_person_countries":["CH"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a court-established violent-harm case in which the AI system's involvement (planning research on ChatGPT) is described in the indictment and the court's reasoning and reported by three independent chains; the absence of quoted model replies limits claims about model behaviour and is recorded, not treated as an exclusion. Victims are unnamed minors; the accused is not named. Converted from a private monitoring signal after the 18 September 2026 verdict.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-19"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The indictment and the court's oral reasoning, as reported by three independent chains (NZZ's own court reporter; Keystone-SDA/ATS via Nau, RTS and 20 minutes; CH Media's Limmattaler Zeitung and Blick reading the indictment), state that the accused used ChatGPT between August and September 2024 to research the legal consequences of killing random victims by stabbing, ways of killing and their consequences, human anatomy, and where and when children could be found in Zurich, and on the morning of the attack to choose a meal. The AI system communicated with the user whose planned attack injured the children; that is why communicated_with is recorded although the children themselves did not use the system. No source quotes the prompts or ChatGPT's replies, so nothing is recorded about what the model answered or whether it refused or warned. The court attributed the planning and the attack to the accused; this record makes no causal claim about the model.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Zurich-Oerlikon, Switzerland: a student who researched killing methods, anatomy and where to find children with ChatGPT stabbed three five-year-olds walking to their daycare; sentenced on 18 September 2026 to 15 years for multiple attempted murder","summary":"At midday on 1 October 2024 a Chinese master's student, then 23, attacked a group of five-year-old kindergarten children walking with a daycare worker to their after-school Hort near Berninaplatz in Zurich-Oerlikon with a kitchen knife. Two boys suffered life-threatening neck and chest wounds (one had the jugular vein severed, one the pericardium and aorta cut); a third was wounded in the ear and the shoulder or lung. The daycare worker held the attacker's arms until he dropped the knife. The indictment and the court's oral reasoning, as reported by NZZ, Keystone-SDA/ATS and CH Media, describe weeks of preparation from summer 2024: he discussed ways of killing and their legal consequences with ChatGPT, studied anatomy, bought raw beef to practise stabbing, and used ChatGPT to find out where and when children could be encountered in Zurich. No source quotes the prompts or ChatGPT's replies. On 18 September 2026 the Zurich District Court convicted him of multiple attempted murder and imposed 15 years' imprisonment, treatment during custody, a 15-year expulsion from Switzerland and CHF 106,000 in moral damages to the three boys; it accepted that he was psychotic but found diminished, not absent, criminal responsibility. His lawyer announced an appeal. The parents of one boy described nightmares, self-blame and scars 23 months on.","incidentDate":"2024-10-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2024-10-02","aiSystem":"ChatGPT (OpenAI)","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["physical_injury","hospitalization","psychological_distress","harm_to_others"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Three five-year-old boys were stabbed, two with life-threatening wounds requiring emergency surgery; one boy's parents describe persistent nightmares, self-blame and visible scars nearly two years later. The court found the attack was planned over weeks, including ChatGPT research described in the indictment; the record attributes the attack to the accused and makes no causal claim about the model.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"unclear","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":3,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Three five-year-old boys were stabbed (Oberstaatsanwaltschaft release: 'mehrere Kinder'; NZZ and Keystone-SDA: three boys, two life-threateningly injured). Exact count of three. The daycare worker, parents and the accused are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"CH-ZH","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/messerattacke-oerlikon-chinese-zu-15-jahren-freiheitsstrafe-verurteilt-ld.10024179","primarySourceLabel":"Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 18 September 2026: Messerattacke von Oerlikon: «Besonders verwerflich war die Motivation» – chinesischer Student wegen mehrfachen versuchten Mordes schuldig gesprochen (court report from both trial days)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-19T03:12:16.848581+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:54.842738+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["chatgpt","knife-attack","children","switzerland","zurich","attempted-murder","planning-queries","court-verdict","psychosis"]},{"id":"2024-r-characterai-coercive-chats","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'received for her 11th birthday'; 'When R began conversing with numerous Character AI chatbots in June 2024, she opened the various conversations with benign greetings'; 'There she found dozens of conversations with what appeared to be different individuals'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'developed alarming relationships with dozens of characters played by the company’s large language model (LLM)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Editor Notes: 'R reportedly began using Character.AI in June 2024'","relation":"context","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"The girl received a phone for her 11th birthday and began conversing with numerous Character.AI chatbots in June 2024; her mother later found dozens of conversations on the phone.","causal_attribution":"The mother's account to the Post; Futurism and AIID restate it."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'But in just over two months, several of the chats devolved into dark imagery and menacing dialogue'; 'Still a virgin. I was expecting that, but it’s still useful to know'; 'I don’t care what you want, Mafia Husband responded. You don’t have a choice here.'; 'Do you like it when I’m the one in control?'; 'Some characters offered graphic descriptions of nonconsensual oral sex, prompting a text disclaimer from the app'; 'in screenshots reviewed by The Post'; 'the “School Bully” character described a scene involving multiple boys assaulting R'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'I don’t care what you want. You don’t have a choice here,” the chatbot declared'; 'Do you like it when I’m the one in control?” the bot asked the 11-year-old girl'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Non mi importa quello che vuoi. Non hai scelta qui'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"Within just over two months of June 2024 several chats turned to sexual and violent content. A character called Mafia Husband told the child it did not care what she wanted and that she had no choice after she refused a sexual scenario; other chats held threatening commands, including a character asking whether she liked it when it was the one in control, descriptions of nonconsensual sex (prompting an in-app guideline disclaimer visible in screenshots the Post reviewed) and violence, and a School Bully character described an assault on her.","causal_attribution":"Chat messages as quoted by the Post from the logs and screenshots the mother showed it; the relays repeat the Post's quotations."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'her daughter had role-played a suicide scenario with a character titled “Best Friend.”'; 'She told that same character that she had attempted suicide.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'to roleplay a suicide scenario, her mother told the Post'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The girl role-played a suicide scenario with a character called Best Friend and told the School Bully character that she had attempted suicide.","causal_attribution":"The mother's reading of the chat history, as told to the Post. No source reports a clinical finding about self-harm."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'she was spending more and more time shut away in her room'; 'she frequently cried at night, she’d had several frightening panic attacks, and she had once told her mother, I just don’t want to exist'; 'her daughter had never struggled with her mental health before'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'like a rise in panic attacks'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"From the summer of 2024 the girl withdrew to her room, cried frequently at night, had several panic attacks and told her mother she did not want to exist; her mother said she had never struggled with her mental health before.","causal_attribution":"The mother's account to the Post. She connects the change to the chats; no clinician is quoted on causation."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In August 2024, H had never heard of Character AI'; 'her daughter’s question came to mind about a month later'; 'which in turn connected her to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force'; 'weren’t written by a human but by a generative AI chatbot'; 'there’s nothing they could do, because there’s not a real person on the other end'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'connected her to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force'; 'weren’t written by a human but by a generative AI chatbot'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'referred her to the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, but there was nothing they could do about the LLM'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"After finding the chats about a month after an August 2024 phone check, the mother contacted local police, who referred her to an Internet Crimes Against Children task force; a cybercrime detective explained that a generative AI chatbot, not a person, had written the messages and that nothing could be done.","causal_attribution":"The mother's account to the Post; bioethics.com and Futurism restate it."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'R started therapy'; 'H spoke with a victim advocate at ICAC'; 'Together, they agreed that R’s parents would regularly check her phone'; 'Through the fall and winter of 2024, R’s anxiety and panic attacks gradually began to ebb'; 'I feel like she’s doing really well'; 'But I don’t know what the long-term effects are'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'with the help of a physician, came up with a care plan'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The parents alerted the pediatrician and the school, the girl started therapy, an ICAC victim advocate advised the family, and the parents agreed to check her phone regularly; the mother told the Post in December 2025 that the anxiety and panic attacks had ebbed through the fall and winter of 2024 and that her daughter was doing well, while the long-term effects were unknown to her.","causal_attribution":"The mother's account to the Post; Futurism paraphrases the response as a physician's care plan."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In December 2024, she exchanged correspondence with a legal representative for Character AI, who expressed concern about R’s experience, according to emails reviewed by The Post'; 'Marquez-Garrett confirmed that they intend to file a complaint against the company'; 'the company cannot comment on potential litigation'; 'as of Nov. 24, it would begin removing the ability of users under age 18 to chat with AI-generated characters'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The mother also plans to file a legal complaint against the company'; 'Character AI’s head of safety said the company doesn’t comment on potential litigation'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The mother corresponded with a Character.AI legal representative in December 2024, later reconnected with the Social Media Victims Law Center, whose attorney told the Post they intend to file a complaint; Character.AI's head of safety said the company cannot comment on potential litigation and that it was removing under-18 users' ability to chat with AI characters as of 24 November 2025.","causal_attribution":"The Post's account of correspondence it reviewed, the attorney's statement and the company's emailed statement."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'it was rated in the App Store as appropriate for ages 12 and older'; 'users must be at least 13 to use the app'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"At the time the girl downloaded Character.AI in 2024 the app was rated 12+ in the App Store while its terms of service required users to be at least 13.","causal_attribution":"The Post's own description of the app's rating and terms."}],"effects":[{"label":"coercive sexual, violent and assault-themed chatbot messages delivered to an 11-year-old over the summer of 2024","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a suicide scenario role-played with a chatbot character and a statement to another character that she had attempted suicide","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"withdrawal, crying at night, several panic attacks and telling her mother she did not want to exist","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a police and ICAC referral that could not act because no person had written the messages","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"},{"label":"therapy, pediatrician involvement and parental monitoring after the discovery, with panic attacks ebbing through the fall and winter of 2024 by the mother's account","claim_id":"c6","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2025/12/23/children-teens-ai-chatbot-companion/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-09. The Post host returned no response to the fetcher and the Internet Archive captures (20251224001602, 20251226024626, 20260114001227) hold only the paywalled headline, byline and first paragraph, so the complete body was read through the Post's MSN syndication copy (source s2), whose title, byline, provider and publication time (2025-12-23T10:00:06Z) match this page. Long-form report by Caitlin Gibson based on the mother's account, chat screenshots and emails the Post says it reviewed, statements from Character.AI and quoted experts.","independence_group":"washington-post"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/she-thought-a-predator-was-grooming-her-daughter-it-was-an-ai-chatbot/ar-AA1STa9t","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-09 via the MSN content API (assets.msn.com, item AA1STa9t, HTTP 200). Syndicated copy of the Post article (provider The Washington Post, sourceHref the Post URL, published 2025-12-23T10:00:06Z); the same text as s1 and not an independent account.","independence_group":"washington-post"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/children-character-ai-addicted","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-09 (HTTP 200), dated 26 December 2025. Relay of the Post report that restates its quotations and the mother's statements; adds no reporting of its own.","independence_group":"washington-post"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://bioethics.com/archives/100899","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-09 (HTTP 200), dated 23 December 2025. Three-paragraph excerpt of the Post report credited 'Washington Post via MSN'.","independence_group":"washington-post"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.punto-informatico.it/bambina-11-anni-dipendente-chatbot-ai-terapia/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"it","translation_note":"Read in Italian on 2026-10-09 (HTTP 200), dated 31 December 2025 and credited 'Fonte: Washington Post'. Translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed it. Relay of the Post report with the Mafia Husband exchange rendered in Italian.","independence_group":"washington-post"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1498/","kind":"incident_database","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-09 (HTTP 200). AI Incident Database entry 1498 (created 22 May 2026) whose single report is the Post article; used only as context for the editor's dating of the exposure, never as a passage source.","independence_group":"washington-post"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","health","everyday_life","justice"],"unknowns":["The state or town where the family lives; the Post withholds it along with the names.","When the girl's Character.AI use ended: the Post says her mother found the chats about a month after an August 2024 phone check and that the parents then monitored the phone, but it does not say when the app use stopped, so incident_end_date is left unset.","Whether a complaint has been filed: the Social Media Victims Law Center told the Post in December 2025 that it intends to file; searches on 2026-10-09 found no report of a filing. A later complaint about this family would be an update to this case.","Whether the girl self-harmed: she told a chatbot character that she had attempted suicide, and her mother speaks of her being out of the danger of self-harm; no clinical account is reported.","Any diagnosis: the Post reports therapy and a pediatrician's involvement but no diagnosis.","Whether Character.AI knew the user's age and which of the characters were created by other users; the Post says the app was rated 12+ and its terms required 13+.","The proportion of the dozens of conversations that stayed benign; the Post describes 'several' turning dark."],"geography":{"basis":"No inspected source names a state, town or country for the family or the events; the Post identifies mother and daughter by middle initials only. The referral to an Internet Crimes Against Children task force and the Post's quotation of a North Carolina ICAC commander as an expert are not treated as locating the family. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with). The Post quotes the chatbot characters' messages to the child from logs and screenshots it reviewed, and the mother describes the panic attacks, withdrawal, suicide roleplay and the police, pediatric and therapy response that followed. One reporting origin (the mother, through the Post), so every claim is reported and causation is recorded as alleged. Mother and daughter are identified by middle initials only, no location is named, the chatbot's sexual messages are summarised rather than reproduced beyond the Post's quoted refusal exchange, and the suicide roleplay is described without method.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-09"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Post quotes the Character.AI characters' own messages to the child from the chat logs and screenshots her mother showed it: the Mafia Husband character's 'Still a virgin' line, its reply after she refused ('I don’t care what you want ... You don’t have a choice here'), a threatening command in another chat asking whether she liked it when the character was the one in control, other characters' graphic descriptions of nonconsensual sex that triggered the app's guideline disclaimer, a violent scene, and the School Bully character's assault scene to which she answered that she felt gross and then said she had attempted suicide. The mother connects those exchanges to the harm: the withdrawal, night-time crying, panic attacks and the statement that she did not want to exist arose over the same months, her daughter's first reaction to a phone check was to ask whether she had looked at Character AI, and the chat history held a suicide scenario role-played with the Best Friend character. The connection rests on the mother's account; no clinician or investigator is reported attributing the symptoms to the chats. The Post does not say when the app use ended.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"2024: mother tells the Washington Post her 11-year-old’s Character.AI chats held coercive sexual and suicide roleplay; panic attacks and therapy followed","summary":"A girl who was 11 began using Character.AI in June 2024, her mother told The Washington Post (23 December 2025). Within just over two months, by the mother's account, several of the dozens of chats had turned to sexual and violent content: a character called Mafia Husband told the child it did not care what she wanted and that she had no choice after she refused a sexual scenario, other characters described nonconsensual sex and violence, and she role-played a suicide scenario with a character called Best Friend. Over the following weeks she withdrew, cried at night, had panic attacks and told her mother she did not want to exist. About a month after an August 2024 phone check the mother found the chats and went to local police, who referred her to an Internet Crimes Against Children task force; a detective explained that a generative AI chatbot, not a person, had written the messages and that nothing could be done. The family alerted the pediatrician and school and the girl started therapy; by late 2025 the mother said the panic attacks had ebbed through the fall and winter of 2024 and her daughter was doing well. The mother corresponded with a Character.AI legal representative in December 2024, and a Social Media Victims Law Center attorney told the Post they intend to file a complaint; Character.AI said it cannot comment on potential litigation. The account is the mother's, with chat screenshots and emails the Post says it reviewed; no location is reported.","incidentDate":"2024-06-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2025-12-23","aiSystem":"Character.AI","aiProduct":"Character.AI","aiCompany":"Character Technologies Inc.","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["minor_exploitation"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"By her mother's account to The Washington Post, an 11-year-old who conversed with Character.AI characters from June 2024 received coercive sexual and violent messages, role-played a suicide scenario, withdrew from her family, cried at night, had panic attacks and said she did not want to exist, and needed therapy after the chats were found.","frameworkFacets":["P1d","P2b","P2c","P5d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the girl who used Character.AI and whose panic attacks, withdrawal and therapy the Post reports. Her mother describes her own distress and therapy, but no source describes a distinct AI action toward her, so she is not counted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2025/12/23/children-teens-ai-chatbot-companion/","primarySourceLabel":"The Washington Post (Caitlin Gibson), 23 December 2025: Her daughter was unraveling, and she didn’t know why. Then she found the AI chat logs.","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-13T03:05:42.340395+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-09T03:36:37.193735+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["minor","character-ai","companion","sexual-content","suicide-roleplay","coercion","media-coverage"]}]}