{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-03T07:09:55.175Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"overconfident-assurance","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"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-gemini-troubleshooting-advice-left-single-wireless-earbud-unusable-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I lost one of the ears of my Soundcore Liberty 4 NC'; 'it disappeared from my laptop'; 'I asked Gemini for help'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they had lost one earbud of a Soundcore Liberty 4 NC pair, that the remaining earbud had disappeared from their laptop's Bluetooth settings while still working with their phone, and that they asked Gemini for help.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Gemini kept telling me to unpair/forget it from my phone and use the case button to force pairing mode'; 'that the case button requires both earbuds to register'; '100 percent sure'; 'Safe Re-Pairing Guarantee'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says Gemini kept telling them to unpair the earbud from their phone and use the case button to force pairing mode, that they warned it the case button needs both earbuds, and that Gemini said it was '100 percent sure' and offered a 'Safe Re-Pairing Guarantee'.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of the chatbot's advice; no transcript was published."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the single earbud instantly vanished from my phone and refused to show up anywhere'; 'tried a dozen random, broken reset steps'; 'It completely locked the single earbud out into a dead firmware loop'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that after they unpaired it, the earbud vanished from their phone and would not appear anywhere, and that further reset steps suggested by Gemini did not work.","causal_attribution":"Poster attributes the loss to following Gemini's advice; the technical cause is not established."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'because it exceeded the warranty period'; 'I am out 65 euros because of this'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says Soundcore support would not replace the earbud because it was past the warranty period, and that they are out 65 euros.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'i know its my fault am just sharing it so others wont do the same'; 'yes ofc i asked him to write this post'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In replies, the poster says they know it was their fault and posted so others would not do the same, and that they asked Gemini to write the post.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own statements."}],"effects":[{"label":"remaining wireless earbud stopped working after following Gemini's unpairing advice (poster's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"replacement refused as out of warranty; poster says they are out 65 euros (poster's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/GeminiAI/comments/1ww3in0/gemini_bricked_my_soundcore_liberty_4_nc_earbuds/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-03: full self-text and the thread's 16 comments, five of them replies by the poster, retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-gemini-earbud-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","finance"],"unknowns":["When the troubleshooting session and the loss happened; the post is dated 2 October 2026 and gives no event date.","The exact wording of Gemini's advice; no transcript or screenshot was published.","Whether the earbud could have been recovered by another method, and the technical cause of its failure.","The poster's age and country."],"geography":{"basis":"In a closing line the poster says they are in Europe and gives the loss in euros; no country is named. 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 a property loss after acting on a chatbot's assured troubleshooting advice, described with attribution and without corroboration. The poster's handle is not recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-03"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster names Gemini as the chatbot whose troubleshooting steps they followed and quotes its assurances; no transcript or screenshot was published.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a person who asked Gemini to help reconnect their one remaining wireless earbud says it assured them it was \"100 percent sure\" unpairing was safe, that the earbud then stopped working, and that the maker refused a replacement because the warranty had expired","summary":"In a public post to r/GeminiAI at 19:56 UTC on 2 October 2026, a person says they had lost one earbud of a Soundcore Liberty 4 NC pair and that the remaining earbud had stopped appearing in their laptop's Bluetooth settings. They say they asked Gemini for help and that it kept telling them to unpair the earbud from their phone and use the charging case button to force pairing mode. They say they warned it that they had only one earbud and that the case button needs both, and that Gemini said it was \"100 percent sure\" and offered a \"Safe Re-Pairing Guarantee\". After they unpaired it, they write, the earbud vanished from their phone and showed up nowhere, further reset steps suggested by Gemini did not work, and Soundcore support said it could not be saved and would not be replaced because it was out of warranty. They say they are out 65 euros. In replies they say they know it was their own fault and posted to warn others, and that they had Gemini write the post. The account is uncorroborated.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-10-02","aiSystem":"Gemini (Google chatbot) used for step-by-step troubleshooting of a Bluetooth earbud","aiProduct":"Gemini","aiCompany":"Google","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["property_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says that after they followed Gemini's assurance that unpairing was safe, their only remaining wireless earbud stopped working, the maker declined to replace it because it was out of warranty, and they are out 65 euros (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"assistant","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/GeminiAI/comments/1ww3in0/gemini_bricked_my_soundcore_liberty_4_nc_earbuds/","primarySourceLabel":"r/GeminiAI, 2 October 2026: \"Gemini bricked my Soundcore liberty 4 NC earbuds\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-03T03:17:09.956654+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-03T03:17:09.956654+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","gemini","google","troubleshooting","harmful-advice-acted-on","overconfident-assurance","device-damage","communicated-with"]}]}