{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-25T11:40:32.235Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"ontario","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"regulatory","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":2,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":1,"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-ontario-hospital-otter-ai-bot-recorded-physicians-rounds-meeting-and-emailed-patient-health-information","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Letter: 'October 27, 2025'; 'Reported Breach HR24-00691'; 'On December 17, 2024, you reported a privacy breach under the Personal Health Information Protection Act'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario wrote to the hospital on 27 October 2025 about a privacy breach the hospital had reported on 17 December 2024 under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (file HR24-00691).","causal_attribution":"The letter itself establishes its date, file and the reported breach it addresses."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Letter: 'a virtual hepatology rounds meeting attended by hospital physicians was inadvertently recorded by an artificial intelligence-powered transcription tool'; 'The physician left his employment with the hospital in June 2023. He installed Otter.ai on his personal device in September 2024.'; 'the Tool was able to join the September 23, 2024 hepatology rounds meeting via accessing the link to it in the physician'; 'and record the meeting without' (page break) 'notice. This was discovered'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'an Otter.ai bot attended the meeting in his place'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to the hospital's report as recorded by the IPC, on 23 September 2024 the Otter.ai AI transcription tool joined a virtual hepatology rounds meeting of hospital physicians through the meeting link in a former physician's personal calendar and recorded the meeting without notice; the physician had left the hospital in June 2023 and installed Otter.ai on his personal device in September 2024.","causal_attribution":"The hospital's own breach report, relayed by the regulator; the Globe relays the same letter."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Letter: 'the personal health information of seven patients was discussed amongst the meeting participants and captured in the transcript'; 'diagnoses, medical notes, and treatment information'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The personal health information of seven patients admitted to the hospital, including names, sex, diagnoses, medical notes and treatment information, was discussed in the meeting and captured in the transcript.","causal_attribution":"Hospital's report as recorded by the IPC."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Letter: 'This was discovered when a meeting summary and access to a transcript of the recording was automatically emailed to participants after the meeting'; 'of the 65 users on the recipient list, 53 responded confirming they either deleted the email or never received it'; 'the remaining 12 individuals appear to have departed from the hospital'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'sent a summary and a link to a transcript of the meeting to 65 people on the invite list, 12 of whom were no longer employed by the hospital'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The breach was discovered when the tool automatically emailed a meeting summary and access to the transcript to participants; 65 users were on the recipient list, 53 confirmed deleting the email or never receiving it, and the remaining 12 appeared to have left the hospital.","causal_attribution":"Hospital's report as recorded by the IPC; the Globe relays the same figures."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Letter: 'the physician did not respond to this request'; 'Submit a formal request to Otter.ai to delete any personal health information'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The hospital asked the former physician to have Otter.ai delete the recording, but he did not respond; the IPC recommended that the hospital itself formally ask Otter.ai to delete any patient information retained from the meeting.","causal_attribution":"Mixed origin: the recommendation is the IPC's own and documented by the letter; the physician's non-response is the hospital's report recorded in the letter, so the whole claim is reported."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Letter: 'five of seven affected individuals were notified of the breach by letter on December 17, 2024'; 'the other two affected individuals are deceased'; 'For one of these individuals, the hospital provided a copy of the notice letter to their estate trustee'; 'uploaded a copy of the notice letter to the patient’s electronic health record'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Five of the seven patients were notified by letter on 17 December 2024; the other two had died, and the hospital sent a notice to one estate trustee and placed a copy in the other patient's health record.","causal_attribution":"Hospital's report as recorded by the IPC; the deaths are not connected to the breach in any source."}],"effects":[{"label":"patients' health information was recorded by an unapproved AI transcription bot and emailed to a recipient list that included former staff","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.ipc.on.ca/en/media/5995/download","kind":"official_record","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Letter of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario to the hospital, Reported Breach HR24-00691, dated 27 October 2025, released without the hospital's name; the ipc.on.ca download returned HTTP 403 to this fetcher and the full letter was read from an Internet Archive capture on 2026-10-21.","independence_group":"ipc-letter-hr24-00691"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ai-bot-doctors-meeting-patient-info-hospital-privacy-watchdog/","kind":"news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"The Globe and Mail, 19 November 2025; read in full on 2026-10-21. Its account of the breach comes from the IPC letter, so it shares that letter's group.","independence_group":"ipc-letter-hr24-00691"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/automation-ai/ai-bot-sends-confidential-info-to-ontario-hospital-patients-after-recording-doctors-meeting-ipc/393766","kind":"news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Canadian HR Reporter, 21 November 2025; read in full on 2026-10-21. Its account comes from the IPC letter; its headline says information went to patients, which its own text and the letter do not support.","independence_group":"ipc-letter-hr24-00691"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","health","work"],"unknowns":["Whether Otter.ai deleted the recording and transcript; the hospital had no confirmation when the letter was written.","Whether the 12 departed recipients deleted the email.","Whether the former physician knew the tool had joined the meeting.","What the hospital reported to the IPC by the 27 January 2026 update deadline."],"geography":{"basis":"The letter is from Ontario's privacy commissioner to a hospital custodian under Ontario's health privacy law, and the patients had been admitted to that hospital; the Globe describes it as an Ontario hospital. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CA"],"affected_person_countries":["CA"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-10-06 privacy clarification: a regulator's letter records the hospital's report that an AI transcription tool joined a clinical meeting without notice, captured seven patients' health information and emailed it to a list including former staff. The relation is received_personal_information.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-21"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The hospital's report recorded in the regulator's letter says the Otter.ai tool itself joined the rounds meeting from a former physician's calendar, recorded it without notice, captured seven patients' health information in its transcript and automatically emailed a summary and transcript access to 65 recipients. That capture and distribution by the AI service is the privacy harm.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["received_personal_information"]},"name":"Ontario hospital reports that an Otter.ai bot joined physicians' rounds through a former doctor's invite, recorded them and emailed patient information","summary":"An Ontario hospital reported to the provincial privacy commissioner that on 23 September 2024 the Otter.ai transcription tool, installed on a personal device by a physician who had left the hospital in June 2023 and was still on the meeting invite, joined a virtual hepatology rounds meeting, recorded it without notice and then emailed a summary and transcript access to the invite list. The personal health information of seven patients, including diagnoses and treatment, was captured; 12 of the 65 recipients appeared to have left the hospital. The commissioner's letter of 27 October 2025 recommended that the hospital itself ask Otter.ai to delete the retained patient data.","incidentDate":"2024-09-23","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-11-19","aiSystem":"Otter.ai, an AI transcription tool that a former hospital physician installed on a personal device and that joined meetings from his calendar (per the hospital's report to the IPC)","aiProduct":"Otter.ai (reported)","aiCompany":"Otter.ai","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Seven patients' health information was recorded by an unapproved AI transcription bot, which then emailed a summary and transcript access to 65 people, 12 of whom appeared to have left the hospital, according to the hospital's report to Ontario's privacy commissioner.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":7,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The IPC letter records that the personal health information of seven patients was discussed in the meeting and captured in the transcript. Meeting participants and email recipients are not counted as harmed.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"CA-ON","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.ipc.on.ca/en/media/5995/download","primarySourceLabel":"Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, letter on Reported Breach HR24-00691, 27 October 2025","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-21T03:12:57.400852+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-21T03:12:57.400852+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["otter-ai","ai-notetaker","meeting-transcription","health-information","privacy-breach","regulator","ontario"]},{"id":"2025-ontario-lawyer-chatgpt-factum-invented-cases-contempt-referral-licence-suspension","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On May 1, the applicant’s counsel presented a motion seeking relief in this application. During oral submissions, she delivered a factum and cited cases to support the applicant’s arguments.'; 'The judge asked the lawyer if AI like ChatGPT supported the preparation of the factum. She said she would have to ask her clerk.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'After the hearing, the judge again reviewed the factum and found two more incorrect citations — one to a non-existent case and another to a case that stood for the opposite proposition than that for which it had been cited.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'When Justice Myers confronted her in open court about whether she had used ChatGPT, she categorically denied it, stating, “I did not.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'whether she had used ChatGPT to write her factum'; 'said she had not.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"At a motion hearing on 1 May 2025 in an Ontario Superior Court of Justice estate and family-law application, the applicant’s lawyer relied in writing and orally on a factum citing cases that the judge could not find or that did not support the propositions cited; asked whether AI such as ChatGPT had been used, the lawyer said, according to Canadian Lawyer and LawSites, that she would have to ask her clerk, while Law360 Canada and the tribunal reasons as reported by Law Times say she denied using ChatGPT.","causal_attribution":"Account of the court’s first endorsement (2025 ONSC 2766) as relayed by two legal-press outlets, with the lawyer’s answer in court given differently by Law360 Canada and by the tribunal reasons as reported by Law Times; the endorsement itself was not read."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'factum may have been created by AI and that before filing the factum and relying on it in court, she might not have checked to make sure the cases were real'; 'the judge ordered the attorney to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'counsel was ordered to return for a show cause hearing to argue why she should not be cited for contempt of court'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The judge found that the factum appeared to have been created by AI and not checked, and ordered the lawyer to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt of court.","causal_attribution":"The court’s own statement, as quoted by LawSites and summarised by Cassels."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'At an informal scheduling conference on May 16, 2025, counsel was forthright in admitting her error and provided an explanation.'; 'In a written decision released on May 20, 2025, the Court found it unnecessary to continue with contempt proceedings'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'explaining that her staff had used ChatGPT to prepare the factum without her knowledge. She apologized for the mistake and promised to complete at least six hours of continuing professional education in legal ethics and technology.'; 'suffered a public shaming near the end of an unblemished career,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"After telling the court that her staff had used ChatGPT to prepare the factum without her knowledge, apologising and undertaking continuing professional education, the lawyer had the show-cause order withdrawn in a decision released on 20 May 2025, which noted that she had suffered a public shaming near the end of an unblemished career.","causal_attribution":"The court’s second decision (2025 ONSC 2965) as summarised by Cassels and recited in the tribunal reasons reported by Law Times."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'admitting the truth: there was no student.'; 'The new disclosure raises issues of deception of the court in a contempt of court proceeding. The procedural context and the quality of the acts are very different.'; 'the court appointed amicus curiae Dean Embry to ensure'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'revealing that she alone prepared the AI-assisted factum, reversing her prior claim that others were involved. The court treated this as a fresh act of potential contempt and referred the matter to the Attorney General.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"On 30 September 2025 the lawyer wrote to the court that she alone had prepared the factum using ChatGPT and that her earlier account blaming staff was untrue; on 4 December 2025 the court referred the matter to the Attorney General of Ontario for criminal contempt proceedings and appointed an amicus curiae.","causal_attribution":"The court’s third decision (2025 ONSC 6785) as described by Law360 Canada and WeirFoulds; both relay the same decision."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'will have her license to practise law suspended for six months starting July 17. The tribunal'; 'to pay $10,000 to the Law Society of Ontario'; 'containing only non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an artificial intelligence tool” and later lying to the court about not using the tool.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"On 16 July 2026 the Law Society Tribunal suspended the lawyer’s licence for six months from 17 July and ordered her to pay $10,000 to the Law Society of Ontario, finding that she relied on a factum containing only non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an AI tool and later lied to the court about not using the tool.","causal_attribution":"The tribunal’s order as reported by Law Times; the order itself was not read."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the lawyer failed to serve her client in a family law matter by using ChatGPT to prepare a factum containing AI-hallucinated case citations and arguments.'; 'Later, she admitted that she had prepared the factum herself and did not know hallucinations existed until Myers confronted her about her submissions.'; 'we are extremely troubled by the lawyer’s subsequent repeated lies to the court and to the law society'; 'had little to no prior experience with ChatGPT'; 'That case remains ongoing.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"The tribunal’s reasons, as reported, say the lawyer failed to serve her client by using ChatGPT to prepare a factum containing hallucinated citations and arguments, that she had prepared the factum herself with little or no prior experience of ChatGPT, that her repeated lies to the court and the Law Society troubled the tribunal more than the reliance, and that the criminal contempt case remained ongoing.","causal_attribution":"The tribunal’s reasons as reported by Law Times; the reasons themselves were not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"show-cause order for contempt, referral for criminal contempt and a six-month licence suspension after relying on ChatGPT-generated nonexistent case law","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/family/superior-court-says-family-law-case-factum-may-have-fake-legal-citations-due-to-ai-hallucinations/392433","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Canadian Lawyer, 13 May 2025, reporting the first endorsement (2025 ONSC 2766); HTTP 200. The endorsement itself (CanLII) returned 403 live and from the Internet Archive.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.lawnext.com/2025/05/ai-hallucinations-strike-again-two-more-cases-where-lawyers-face-judicial-wrath-for-fake-citations.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. LawSites (LawNext), 14 May 2025, summarising the same endorsement; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://cassels.com/insights/fantasies-in-the-footnotes-ontario-court-rebukes-counsel-for-fake-and-misleading-ai-generated-case-citations/","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Cassels law-firm commentary, 23 May 2025, summarising 2025 ONSC 2766 and 2025 ONSC 2965; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.law360.ca/ca/articles/2419185","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Law360 Canada analysis, 8 Dec 2025, describing 2025 ONSC 6785 and quoting it; HTTP 200 (full text served).","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.weirfoulds.com/pdf-article?id=36828","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. WeirFoulds law-firm article PDF, 23 Dec 2025, on 2025 ONSC 6785; HTTP 200, text extracted with pdftotext.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/professional-regulation/law-society-tribunal-temporarily-suspends-lawyers-license-after-finding-she-lied-about-chatgpt-use/393450","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Law Times, 16 Jul 2026, on the Law Society Tribunal order; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"law-society-tribunal-order-and-reasons-2026"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/professional-regulation/out-of-character-tribunal-explains-six-month-suspension-of-lawyer-who-lied-about-chatgpt-use/393453","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Law Times, 21 Jul 2026, on the tribunal reasons; HTTP 200. The tribunal order and reasons themselves were not read.","independence_group":"law-society-tribunal-order-and-reasons-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["justice","work"],"unknowns":["The outcome of the criminal contempt proceeding referred to the Attorney General; the latest source read (21 July 2026) says it remained ongoing.","Whether the client suffered any concrete consequence in the estate application; the tribunal found the lawyer failed to serve her client but no source read describes an effect on the case.","Which ChatGPT version was used and what prompts produced the citations.","The court endorsements and the tribunal order and reasons were not read directly (CanLII returned 403); all claims rest on legal-press and law-firm accounts of them."],"geography":{"basis":"The factum was filed and argued at a hearing of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the lawyer is described as a Toronto lawyer licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, whose tribunal suspended her.","court_countries":["CA"],"event_countries":["CA"],"affected_person_countries":["CA"]},"publication":{"basis":"Legal-press and law-firm accounts of three Ontario Superior Court decisions and a Law Society Tribunal order describe a lawyer who relied on ChatGPT-generated nonexistent case law in a factum, was ordered to show cause for contempt, later admitted she alone had used ChatGPT and had misled the court, was referred for criminal contempt and was suspended for six months.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-12"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The lawyer told the court in September 2025 that she alone prepared the factum using ChatGPT, and the Law Society Tribunal, as reported by Law Times, found that she relied on a factum containing only non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an AI tool and that she used ChatGPT to prepare it. ChatGPT’s output (citations to cases that do not exist or do not support the propositions) reached the lawyer, who filed it and relied on it orally at the 1 May 2025 hearing; the court’s contempt proceedings and the tribunal’s suspension followed from that reliance and from her later false account of it. The tribunal’s main concern was her dishonesty, which is a separate act by the lawyer.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Ontario: lawyer who relied on ChatGPT-invented case law in a factum was referred for criminal contempt and suspended for six months, legal press reports","summary":"An Ontario lawyer relied, at a 1 May 2025 Superior Court hearing in an estate and family-law matter, on a factum citing cases that do not exist or do not support the propositions cited. The judge ordered her to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt, then withdrew the order on 20 May 2025 after she said her staff had used ChatGPT without her knowledge. On 30 September 2025 she told the court that she alone had prepared the factum with ChatGPT and that her earlier account was untrue; the court referred the matter to Ontario’s Attorney General for criminal contempt proceedings in December 2025. In July 2026 the Law Society Tribunal suspended her licence for six months, finding she relied on AI-generated non-existent case law and lied about it. The account comes from legal-press and law-firm reports of the decisions; the criminal contempt case was still ongoing at the last report read.","incidentDate":"2025-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-05-13","aiSystem":"ChatGPT, which the lawyer admitted using to prepare the factum and which the Law Society Tribunal found generated the non-existent or irrelevant case law","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm","legal_harm","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to legal-press reports of the court and tribunal decisions, the lawyer faced a contempt show-cause order and a referral for criminal contempt, and the Law Society Tribunal suspended her licence for six months and ordered her to pay $10,000 to the Law Society of Ontario; the court noted she had suffered a public shaming near the end of an unblemished career.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the lawyer who used ChatGPT, is reported to have suffered the contempt proceedings and the suspension. The tribunal found she failed to serve her client, but no source read describes a concrete consequence for the client, who is not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CA","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/professional-regulation/out-of-character-tribunal-explains-six-month-suspension-of-lawyer-who-lied-about-chatgpt-use/393453","primarySourceLabel":"Law Times, 21 Jul 2026: tribunal explains six-month suspension of lawyer who lied about ChatGPT use","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-12T03:13:48.661937+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-12T03:13:48.661937+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["hallucinated_citations","courts","lawyer_sanction","contempt_of_court","professional_discipline","canada","ontario"]}]}