{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T14:31:55.826Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "relationship", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "", "evidence": "", "year": "", "response": "", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 28, "coverage": { "cases": 28, "countries": 9, "languages": 6, "unknownLocation": 8, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 10, "unknownDate": 2, "lawsuits": 6, "regulatory": 3, "minors": 7, "coreRelations": 10, "contextualRelations": 1, "mixedRelations": 0, "unknownRelations": 17, "relationPending": 17, "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": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2026-henderson-kentucky-south-middle-school-ai-nude-images-juvenile-charged", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Henderson Police say last Thursday, they received a report of AI-generated nude images of children being created and shown to other students.'; 'During the investigation, officers found and identified AI-generated photographs of two minor victims on a digital device.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'A student at South Middle School is facing charges after allegations of misusing AI to create sexual images.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Henderson Police said that on 'last Thursday' (17 September 2026) they received a report of AI-generated nude images of children being created and shown to other students at South Middle School, and that during the investigation officers found and identified AI-generated photographs of two minor victims on a digital device.", "causal_attribution": "Police statement relayed by one broadcaster; 'last Thursday' relative to the Monday 21 September report is 17 September 2026." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'A juvenile was accused of sharing the images. They were lodged at the Juvenile Detention Center for:'; 'Distribution of sexually explicit images without consent.'; 'Possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor O/12 <18 x2'; 'Distribution of matter portraying sexual performance by a minor O/ 12 <18'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "A juvenile accused of sharing the images was lodged at the Juvenile Detention Center on three charge types: distribution of sexually explicit images without consent; two counts of possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over 12 and under 18; and distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over 12 and under 18.", "causal_attribution": "Police statement relayed by one broadcaster." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'We are aware of a situation at South Middle School involving a student allegedly misusing artificial intelligence (AI) and inappropriate images.'; 'South Middle School has remained in communication with families involved in this incident.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The school said it was aware of a situation involving a student allegedly misusing artificial intelligence and inappropriate images, that Henderson Police were investigating, and that it had remained in communication with the families involved.", "causal_attribution": "School statement given to the broadcaster on 21 September 2026." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "two children depicted in AI-generated nude images that were created and shown to other students", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.14news.com/2026/09/21/inappropriate-ai-image-allegations-prompt-henderson-student-investigation/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read live in English on 2026-09-22 (14 News / WFIE Evansville, published 21 September 2026 12:30 CDT). Henderson Police Department statement and the school's statement.", "independence_group": "wfie-hpd" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.wkyt.com/2026/09/21/inappropriate-ai-image-allegations-prompt-henderson-student-investigation/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read live in English on 2026-09-22 (WKYT Lexington, 21 September 2026). Same WFIE report; grouped with s1.", "independence_group": "wfie-hpd" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/local-news/middle-school-student-accused-of-sharing-ai-generated-csam-with-classmates/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW), 21 September 2026: answered HTTP 403 on 2026-09-22; headline only. Not relied on.", "independence_group": "weht" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "education", "privacy", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The tool used and how the images were made.", "The exact ages of the depicted children (the charge descriptors give over 12 and under 18) and the age of the accused, described only as a student at the school.", "When the images were created and how widely they were shown.", "The outcome of the juvenile proceedings.", "Whether the depicted children or their families have described the effect on them." ], "geography": { "basis": "South Middle School, Henderson, Kentucky (Henderson Police Department and the school via 14 News). The juvenile was lodged at a detention centre; no court proceeding is reported, so no court country is recorded.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an image-based abuse case affecting two identified minors, documented by a police statement and a school statement carried by one broadcaster (single reporting chain, recorded as such). Not a death case. Nobody involved is named.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-22" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "Henderson Police said the images were AI-generated nude images of children and that officers identified AI-generated photographs of two minor victims; the school refers to a student allegedly misusing AI. No tool is named and no forensic detail is public. The artifacts depicted the children; no AI system interacted with them.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Henderson, Kentucky: police identified AI-generated nude images of two middle-school children on a device after a report that such images were being created and shown to other students at South Middle School; a juvenile was lodged at the juvenile detention centre on charges of distributing sexually explicit images without consent and possessing and distributing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor", "summary": "Henderson Police said that on 'last Thursday' (17 September 2026) they received a report that AI-generated nude images of children were being created and shown to other students at South Middle School in Henderson, Kentucky. During the investigation officers found and identified AI-generated photographs of two minor victims on a digital device. A juvenile accused of sharing the images was lodged at the Juvenile Detention Center on three charge types: distribution of sexually explicit images without consent; two counts of possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over 12 and under 18; and distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over 12 and under 18. The school said on Monday 21 September that it was aware of a situation involving a student allegedly misusing artificial intelligence and inappropriate images, that the police investigation was active and that it had remained in communication with the families involved. 14 News (WFIE) reported the case on 21 September; WKYT carried the same report. The tool is not named. The depicted children's exact ages are not reported, though the charge descriptors put them between 12 and 18. The accused is described as a South Middle School student; the accused's age and any relationship to the depicted children beyond attending the same school are not reported.", "incidentDate": "2026-09-17", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2026-09-21", "aiSystem": "AI image-generation tool, not named in the report", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Two children were depicted in AI-generated nude images that, according to the report, were created and shown to other students; police attribute the sharing of the images to a juvenile who has been charged, and the school describes a student allegedly misusing AI. No account of the children's own experience has been published.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 2, "affectedCountStatus": "documented_minimum", "affectedCountEvidence": "Police said officers found and identified AI-generated photographs of two minor victims on a digital device, and the possession charge carries two counts (14 News, 21 September 2026). Documented minimum 2: the count is of victims identified on one device during what the school calls an active law-enforcement matter. The accused juvenile is not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US-KY", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.14news.com/2026/09/21/inappropriate-ai-image-allegations-prompt-henderson-student-investigation/", "primarySourceLabel": "14 News (WFIE), 21 September 2026: HPD: Juvenile charged after AI-generated explicit photos of middle schoolers shared with classmates", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-22T03:45:52.580941+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ai-generated-imagery", "ncii", "minor", "school", "kentucky", "henderson", "juvenile", "depicted" ] }, { "id": "2026-jiashan-zhejiang-doubao-burial-date-lawsuit", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'今年4月17日，他接到家里人的消息，说母亲突发疾病过世'; '当时家里人请了一个风水先生，算出来4月20日是“黄道吉日”'; '软件的问答记录显示，史先生当时提问：“妈妈今天去世，什么时候安葬最合适？”'; '“豆包”回答，按照当地习俗和黄历吉日，最稳妥的推荐是4月19日'; '我就把“豆包”的话说给他们听'; '那么他们就相信了，就照办了'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'今年4月17日，史先生母亲去世后，为选择下葬日期，他向豆包询问“黄道吉日”。史先生称，豆包首次回答推荐4月19日'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "After his mother died suddenly on 17 April 2026, the man asked Doubao when she should be buried, having objected to a feng-shui master's choice of 20 April; Doubao's recorded answer recommended 19 April as the safest choice under local custom and the almanac, and he persuaded his family to follow it.", "causal_attribution": "The plaintiff's account and the chat records shown by the Jiaxing broadcaster." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'“豆包”回答7点到9点，不过这次的答案跟上次的答案有点不一样，“豆包”的回答中提到，4月19日不是黄道吉日'; '他又问了好几遍，“豆包”给出的答复是19日不是下葬的“黄道吉日”'; '亲戚朋友已经通知，改日期已经来不及'; '丧事办好不久，家里就有亲戚出交通事故，受伤严重。家里人有怨言，说是母亲安葬日子不对，破坏了风水'; '记者：家里亲戚有怪你的嘛？'; '肯定怪啊，他们说是不是日子被我改了'; '也让家庭关系变得紧张'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'等相关事情都安排妥当后，史先生再次询问豆包时，其称19日不是“黄道吉日”，可此时已不便再更改日期'; '家里人对于史先生的安排产生怨言，认为其选择安葬母亲的日子不对，破坏了风水'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "When he later asked what hour was suitable, Doubao answered 7 to 9 o'clock but said 19 April was not an auspicious day, and repeated that when asked again; relatives had already been notified, so the burial went ahead on 19 April. After a relative was seriously injured in a traffic accident, family members blamed the burial date and him, and family relations became tense.", "causal_attribution": "The contradictory answers are shown in the chat records; the link between the burial date and the relative's accident is the family's belief, which the reports and the quoted lawyers treat as unsupported." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'“豆包”软件和服务生成的内容仅供参考，不作为专业建议。涉及产生重大影响的情形，建议咨询相关专业人士'; '所带来的后果和责任均由用户自行承担'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'华商报大风新闻记者看到，豆包App《用户协议》中注明：“本软件及服务生成的内容仅供参考，你不得将输出的内容作为专业建议'; '本软件的输出不应成为你进一步作为或者不作为的依据'; '用户协议中“后果由用户自行承担”等条款属于格式条款'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'目前，豆包对话界面上方也标注“AI生成可能有误，注意核实”'", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Doubao's user agreement states that generated content is for reference only and not professional advice, that users should consult professionals on matters of major impact, and that the output should not be the basis for action or inaction; it also contains a clause placing the consequences of acting on outputs on the user.", "causal_attribution": "Quoted from the agreement by the broadcaster and read in the app by Huashang Daily's reporter." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'向“豆包”软件的公司投诉，没有收到回复，于是他决定起诉对方。“豆包”还帮史先生写了一份起诉状'; '这起案件嘉善县人民法院已经开庭审理。庭审中，“豆包”公司一方认为不存在网络侵权行为，软件服务过程中不存在任何过错'; '诉求就是赔礼道歉，赔损失'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'该案件已于9月3日在浙江省嘉善县人民法院开庭审理，案由为网络侵权责任纠纷'; '天眼查信息显示，豆包运营主体为北京春田知韵科技有限公司'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "'9月3日，该案在嘉善县人民法院开庭审理，案由为网络侵权责任纠纷，被告为豆包运营方某公司'; '虽目前尚未宣判'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "His complaint to the operator went unanswered; he sued Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology for an apology and compensation, saying Doubao drafted the complaint; Jiashan County People's Court heard the case on 3 September 2026 as a network-tort liability dispute, the company denied any tort or fault, and no judgment had been reported.", "causal_attribution": "Hearing date and cause of action per Sohu, per Tianyancha as cited by The Paper, and per Huashang Daily; the parties' positions as relayed from the Jiaxing report." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "a burial date chosen on the chatbot's recommendation, then contradicted by the chatbot too late to change; family blame and strained relations after a relative's accident", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "an unanswered complaint and a lawsuit against the app's operator, heard 3 September 2026 with no judgment reported", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2026-09-16/doc-inirykpk3180879.shtml", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Sina News, published 2026-09-16 03:03, live). Credited to Xinhua Daily; carries the Jiaxing Media Centre 'Xiaoxin Shuoshi' report of 15 September with the interview transcript, the chat records and the lawyer's comment. Translated by the reviewer; the plaintiff's surname is elided from the record.", "independence_group": "jiaxing-media" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5953740931_162dee08306703zmok.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Huashang Daily 'Dafeng News' legal weekly via Sina, published 2026-09-21 10:34, live). Summarises the case 'according to media reports', reports the 3 September hearing, and its own reporter read the Doubao app's user agreement; adds a lawyer's analysis. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "huashang-daily" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://m.sohu.com/a/1077957190_122045489", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Sohu, published 2026-09-18 21:33, live). Relays the Jiaxing report and adds Tianyancha company details, the 3 September hearing and the May 2026 refund lawsuit. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "jiaxing-media" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://finance.sina.cn/2026-09-16/detail-iniryzkw6682430.d.html", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (Labour Daily relay on Sina Finance, published 2026-09-16 14:21, live). Same Jiaxing account in summary form. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "jiaxing-media" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34093004", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-21 (The Paper, a Pengpai-hao post by China City News, published 2026-09-18 00:15, live). Relays the Jiaxing report, cites Tianyancha for the 3 September hearing and adds a lawyer's comment and the June 2026 Douyin statement on AI answers. Translated by the reviewer.", "independence_group": "jiaxing-media" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3368136/chinese-man-sues-ai-firm-after-chatbots-auspicious-date-suggestion-leads-disaster", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-21 from the JSON-LD article body of the saved page (South China Morning Post, published 20 September 2026 10:21, live; a Jimu News relay). Consistent with the Chinese accounts; no case fact rests on it. Context only.", "independence_group": "jiaxing-media" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "everyday_life", "relationships", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The date and circumstances of the relative's traffic accident and the relative's identity are not reported; no report connects the accident to the burial date other than the family's belief.", "The amount of compensation claimed is not disclosed.", "No judgment or later hearing had been reported by 21 September 2026.", "Whether the user's complaint reached the operator and why it went unanswered is not reported.", "The case facts come from one reporting chain (the Jiaxing municipal broadcaster and its relays); the operator has not commented publicly beyond its position at the hearing." ], "geography": { "basis": "The plaintiff lives in Jiashan county, Zhejiang, and the funeral was in his home town of Shuyang, Jiangsu (Huashang Daily: his mother died in his home town; the Jiaxing broadcaster via Sina gives the home town as Shuyang); the case is before Jiashan County People's Court, Zhejiang (Sohu citing Tianyancha; Huashang Daily).", "court_countries": [ "CN" ], "event_countries": [ "CN" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "CN" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a failure of ordinary assistance with a reported adverse experience: a consequential family decision made on a chatbot's contradictory advice, followed by family blame and a lawsuit. Five Chinese bodies and one English relay read in full; the case facts rest on one reporting chain and are recorded as reported; the relative's accident is recorded as the family's attribution, not as a consequence of the AI advice. The plaintiff is identified only by a surname in the reports and is not named here.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-21" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "Doubao's question-and-answer records, shown in the Jiaxing report and described by every relay, recommend 19 April and later state that 19 April is not an auspicious day; the plaintiff also says Doubao drafted his complaint. No inspected report records the operator disputing the chat records; its reported position at the hearing was that there was no tort and no fault in its service.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "Jiashan, Zhejiang: a man chose his mother's burial date on Doubao's recommendation, the chatbot then contradicted itself, and after a relative's road accident his family blamed the date; he sued the app's operator for an apology and damages", "summary": "A man living in Jiashan county, Zhejiang, whose mother died suddenly on 17 April 2026, asked the ByteDance chatbot Doubao which day was auspicious for her burial after disagreeing with a feng-shui master's choice of 20 April; Doubao recommended 19 April and he persuaded his family to follow it. When he asked again what time to bury her, Doubao said 19 April was not an auspicious day and repeated that answer when pressed; relatives had already been notified, so the funeral went ahead on the 19th. Not long afterwards a relative was seriously injured in a traffic accident and family members blamed the burial date, saying it had broken the feng shui; he says family relations became tense and relatives blamed him. His complaint to the operator went unanswered, and, with a complaint drafted with Doubao's help, he sued Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology for an apology and damages. Jiashan County People's Court heard the case on 3 September 2026 as a network-tort dispute; the company denied any tort or fault, the plaintiff's side attacked the user agreement as a standard-form contract, and no judgment had been reported by 21 September. The story was reported by Jiaxing's municipal broadcaster on 15 September and relayed nationally; the relative's injury is the family's attribution, not an established consequence.", "incidentDate": "2026-04-17", "incidentEndDate": "2026-04-19", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-09-15", "aiSystem": "Doubao (豆包), ByteDance's consumer chatbot app", "aiCompany": "Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd. (Doubao operator; a ByteDance/Douyin subsidiary per Tianyancha as relayed by Sohu and The Paper)", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "relationship_disruption", "impaired_judgment" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "The man relied on Doubao's recommendation for a consequential family decision and was left, after the app reversed itself too late to change the date, with a burial on a day his family considers inauspicious; relatives blamed him after a relative's later traffic accident and family relations became tense (his account to the Jiaxing broadcaster). The accident itself is the family's superstition-based attribution and is not treated here as a consequence of the AI advice.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One person, the Doubao user who made the burial decision and reports family blame and tension (all inspected reports). The injured relative is not counted: the reports give no basis for connecting the traffic accident to the AI advice. Exact 1.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CN", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_ongoing", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2026-09-16/doc-inirykpk3180879.shtml", "primarySourceLabel": "Sina News, 16 September 2026, relaying Jiaxing Media Centre's 'Xiaoxin Shuoshi' of 15 September: interview transcript with the plaintiff, the Doubao chat records and the lawyer's comment", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-21T04:11:21.856829+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "doubao", "bytedance", "everyday-assistance", "contradictory-answers", "funeral", "lawsuit", "china", "zhejiang", "jiashan", "family-conflict" ] }, { "id": "2026-evans-santos-v-draftkings-ai-personalization-gambling-addiction", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"EVANS VS DRAFTKINGS INC. ETAL\"; \"Filing Date: Friday , July 24th, 2026\"; \"Case ID: 260702927\"; \"Case 2:26-cv-07168 Document 1-3 Filed 09/16/26\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "docketNumber \"2:26-cv-07168\", court \"paed\", dateFiled \"2026-09-16\", \"NOTICE OF REMOVAL by CROWN PA GAMING, INC., DRAFTKINGS INC.\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Christopher Evans filed a product-liability complaint against DraftKings Inc. and Crown PA Gaming in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on 24 July 2026 (Case ID 260702927); the defendants removed it to the E.D. Pa. on 16 September 2026 as 2:26-cv-07168.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the court record (state docket report and federal removal filing)." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CHESTER COUNTY\"; \"29 Jul 2026 03:54 PM\"; \"MICHAEL SANTOS,\"; \"2026-07200-TT\"; \"Case 2:26-cv-07176 Document 1-3 Filed 09/16/26\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "docketNumber \"2:26-cv-07176\", court \"paed\", dateFiled \"2026-09-16\", \"NOTICE OF REMOVAL by FANDUEL INC., FLUTTER ENTERTAINMENT, PLC, BETFAIR INTERACTIVE US LLC, FANDUEL GROUP PARENT LLC, FANDUEL PA LLC\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "Michael Santos filed a complaint against DraftKings, Crown PA Gaming, FanDuel Inc. and FanDuel's affiliates in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on 29 July 2026 (2026-07200-TT); the FanDuel defendants removed it to the E.D. Pa. on 16 September 2026 as 2:26-cv-07176.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the court record." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"He began using the DraftKings applications in or around August 2017\"; \"Plaintiff has wagered over $2,100,000.00 with net losses of approximately $81,000.00\"; \"constantly received targeted promotions, personalized push notifications, and incentives like prop bets and free credits intended to repetitively lure him back into the gambling applications\"; \"also had a VIP account manager, who would send him promotional offers, bonuses, and perks\"; \"He soon began suffering from depression and anxiety and stopped going outside altogether in favor of gambling all day\"; \"creating financial strain that has placed him into debt and resulted in the repossession of his vehicle\"; \"resulted in his wife separating from him\"; \"was formally diagnosed with depression in 2020\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Evans pleads that since about August 2017 he wagered over US$2,100,000 on DraftKings' apps with net losses of about US$81,000, constantly received targeted promotions and personalised push notifications and had a VIP account manager, developed depression and anxiety and was formally diagnosed with depression in 2020, stopped going outside, fell into debt, had his vehicle repossessed and separated from his wife.", "causal_attribution": "Plaintiff's allegations in a pending complaint; untested." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"has wagered over $1,164,000.00 with net losses of approximately $58,000.00\"; \"has wagered nearly $7,000 on FanDuel with losses of nearly $1,500\"; \"constantly received targeted advertisements, personalized push notifications, and incentive-based emails from DraftKings intended to repetitively lure him back into the gambling app\"; \"despite Plaintiff expressly stating he did not want to continue gambling\"; \"max out multiple credit cards and accrue debt so significant that it forced him to sell his house\"; \"has received formal diagnoses of depression and anxiety\"; \"drove Plaintiff MICHAEL SANTOS to suicidal ideation\"; \"voluntarily placed himself on a self-exclusion list with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in 2023\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Santos pleads that he wagered over US$1,164,000 on DraftKings with net losses of about US$58,000 and nearly US$7,000 on FanDuel with losses of nearly US$1,500, received targeted advertisements, personalised push notifications and incentive emails, had a VIP manager who kept offering bonus bets after he said he wanted to stop, maxed out multiple credit cards and was forced to sell his house, received diagnoses of depression and anxiety, experienced suicidal ideation, and self-excluded with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in 2023.", "causal_attribution": "Plaintiff's allegations in a pending complaint; untested." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"Defendants utilize the combination of advanced technology and artificial intelligence paired with the tracking of personalized user data to intentionally addict users and continuously lure them back to their sports gambling apps\"; \"data science and machine learning to help optimize conversion\"; \"recommendation engines\"; \"Defendants operate sophisticated AI-powered engagement platforms that, on information and belief, employ the precise personalization mechanisms the study identifies as risk-generating\"; \"Limit or eliminating artificial intelligence to track individual\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "\"Defendants utilize the combination of advanced technology and artificial intelligence paired with the tracking of personalized user data to intentionally addict users\"; \"Limiting or eliminating artificial intelligence to track individual\".", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Both complaints allege that the defendants combine artificial intelligence with tracking of personalised user data to addict users and lure them back, that DraftKings' 10-K discloses machine-learning recommendation engines, and, on information and belief, that the defendants operate AI-powered engagement platforms; both ask the court to limit or eliminate the use of artificial intelligence to track individual users.", "causal_attribution": "The contents of the pleadings are established by the record; the truth of the AI allegations is not." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "two plaintiffs plead gambling addiction, six-figure wagering with net losses of about US$81,000 and US$58,000, debt, family breakdown, depression and suicidal ideation, attributed to AI-driven personalization", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.paed.662095/gov.uscourts.paed.662095.1.3.pdf", "kind": "court_filing", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 and 2026-09-19: Exhibit A to the notice of removal in Evans v. DraftKings Inc., E.D. Pa. 2:26-cv-07168 (47 pages: the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas docket report and the complaint of 24 July 2026), from the CourtListener RECAP archive.", "independence_group": "evans-complaint" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.paed.662118/gov.uscourts.paed.662118.1.3.pdf", "kind": "court_filing", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19: Exhibit A to the notice of removal in Santos v. DraftKings Inc., E.D. Pa. 2:26-cv-07176 (53 pages: the complaint filed and attested in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on 29 July 2026), from the CourtListener RECAP archive.", "independence_group": "santos-complaint" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74801358/evans-v-draftkings-inc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Docket metadata read on 2026-09-19 through the CourtListener v4 search API (saved as cl-evans.json): case name, docket number 2:26-cv-07168, court E.D. Pa., filed 2026-09-16, cause 28:1332 diversity product liability, removal notice by Crown PA Gaming and DraftKings.", "independence_group": "courtlistener-evans-docket" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74803784/santos-v-draftkings-inc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Docket metadata read on 2026-09-19 through the CourtListener v4 search API (saved as cl-santos3.json): docket number 2:26-cv-07176, court E.D. Pa., filed 2026-09-16, removal notice by FanDuel Inc., Flutter Entertainment, Betfair Interactive US, FanDuel Group Parent and FanDuel PA.", "independence_group": "courtlistener-santos-docket" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use", "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "finance", "health", "relationships", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "Whether AI or machine-learning systems, rather than human account managers and conventional marketing, generated the promotions and notifications the plaintiffs describe; the 'AI-powered engagement platforms' allegation is pleaded on information and belief.", "The defendants' responses; no answer, motion or ruling is recorded as of 2026-09-19.", "When Santos began gambling on the apps and his current financial position.", "Whether the plaintiffs also gambled on other operators' products." ], "geography": { "basis": "Both plaintiffs are Pennsylvania residents (Philadelphia; Coatesville, Chester County) per the complaints; suits filed in Pennsylvania state courts and removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a contextual case: two pending complaints, read in full from the court record, allege that an operator's AI-driven personalization and engagement systems fostered gambling addiction with quantified losses, debt, family breakdown, psychiatric diagnoses and suicidal ideation. Filing facts are documented; the harms and the AI involvement are the plaintiffs' allegations and are recorded as such. Plaintiffs are identified only by the public case captions.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The complaints allege that the defendants' AI and machine-learning personalization systems tracked the plaintiffs' play and targeted them with promotions and notifications, and quote DraftKings' 10-K on machine-learning recommendation engines; the 'AI-powered engagement platforms' allegation is pleaded on information and belief. Nothing in the record yet establishes that AI systems made the targeting decisions about these two users, so the relation (a system making decisions about the person) is recorded as alleged.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "made_decision_about" ] }, "name": "Pennsylvania: two men sued DraftKings (one also FanDuel) alleging that AI-driven personalization, targeted promotions and VIP handling fostered gambling addiction; they plead net losses of about US$81,000 and US$58,000, debt, family breakdown, depression and, in one case, suicidal ideation", "summary": "Christopher Evans (Philadelphia; complaint filed 24 July 2026 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas) and Michael Santos (Coatesville, Chester County; complaint filed 29 July 2026 in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas) sued DraftKings and its Pennsylvania affiliate; Santos also sued FanDuel and its parents. Both product-liability complaints, filed by the same law firm, allege that the defendants' sports-betting, daily-fantasy and casino apps are designed to addict, and that the companies 'utilize the combination of advanced technology and artificial intelligence paired with the tracking of personalized user data to intentionally addict users', operating 'AI-powered engagement platforms' (pleaded on information and belief) and, per DraftKings' 10-K as quoted, 'data science and machine learning' recommendation engines. Evans pleads that since about August 2017 he wagered over US$2.1 million with net losses of about US$81,000, received constant targeted promotions and personalised push notifications and a VIP account manager, developed depression and anxiety and was formally diagnosed with depression in 2020, stopped going outside, fell into debt, had his vehicle repossessed and separated from his wife. Santos pleads over US$1.164 million wagered on DraftKings with net losses of about US$58,000 plus small FanDuel losses, targeted advertising and a VIP manager who kept offering bonus bets after he said he wanted to stop, maxed-out credit cards, the forced sale of his house, diagnoses of depression and anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-exclusion with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in 2023. Both cases were removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on 16 September 2026 (2:26-cv-07168 and 2:26-cv-07176). The allegations are untested.", "incidentDate": "2017-08-01", "incidentKind": "ongoing_experience", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-07-24", "aiSystem": "DraftKings' and FanDuel's sportsbook, daily-fantasy and online-casino apps and their alleged AI and machine-learning personalization, recommendation and engagement systems (as pleaded; the complaints quote DraftKings' 10-K on 'data science and machine learning' and 'recommendation engines')", "aiCompany": "DraftKings Inc. (and Crown PA Gaming); FanDuel Inc. and affiliates (Flutter Entertainment) in the Santos suit", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "unverified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "financial_loss", "psychiatric_deterioration", "relationship_disruption", "property_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "As pleaded: gambling addiction with net losses of about US$81,000 (Evans) and about US$58,000 plus small FanDuel losses (Santos), debt, a repossessed vehicle and marital separation (Evans), maxed-out credit cards, a forced house sale, diagnosed depression and anxiety and suicidal ideation (Santos), attributed by the plaintiffs to the defendants' AI-driven personalization and engagement design.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 2, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "Two named plaintiffs, each pleading his own gambling addiction and losses as a user of the apps. Exact count of two; family members mentioned in the complaints are not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_ongoing", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.paed.662095/gov.uscourts.paed.662095.1.3.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Evans v. DraftKings Inc. et al., E.D. Pa. 2:26-cv-07168, Notice of Removal Exhibit A (Philadelphia CCP complaint filed 24 July 2026), via CourtListener RECAP", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-20T03:19:52.470392+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "gambling", "sports-betting", "algorithmic-personalization", "engagement-design", "product-liability", "lawsuit", "united-states", "pennsylvania", "draftkings", "fanduel", "institutional-use" ] }, { "id": "2026-solo-semarang-ex-boyfriend-ai-deepfake-porn", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Pelaku ini mengedit wajahnya dari korban yang kemudian itu dipasangkan dengan badan seseorang dengan menggunakan AI yang wajahnya asli korban' (the perpetrator edited the victim's face and attached it to someone's body using AI, the face being the victim's real face); 'Konten hasil rekayasa kemudian diunggah pelaku melalui platform X. Polisi memastikan materi itu tidak diperjualbelikan' (the fabricated content was then uploaded by the perpetrator on X; police confirmed it was not sold).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Wajah korban ditempelkan pada tubuh perempuan lain dalam kondisi tanpa busana sehingga seolah-olah korban tampil dalam konten pornografi' (the victim's face was attached to another woman's unclothed body so that the victim appeared in pornographic content).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'Yang diedit itu wajah korban. Kemudian dipasang pada tubuh orang lain sehingga seolah-olah itu korban, fotonya telanjang bulat, ditemukan di Instagram dan Telegram' (what was edited was the victim's face, then placed on someone else's body so it looked like the victim, fully naked, found on Instagram and Telegram); 'terdapat pula video berbau pornografi dengan wajah korban yang diduga merupakan hasil editan AI' (there was also a pornographic video with the victim's face believed to be an AI edit).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The complainant's face was composited with AI onto another woman's naked body in images and a pornographic video; the suspect uploaded the content to his X account and did not sell it, and the complainant's lawyer said the material was found on Instagram and Telegram.", "causal_attribution": "Police statement of 6 August 2026 (based on the investigation and the suspect's admission) and the complainant's lawyer (based on the material found); the two accounts differ on where the material was found. Recorded as reported (not corroborated) because the pornographic video (lawyer chain only) and the X upload / no-sale detail (police chain only) rest on single chains; the 28 January complaint and the 4 August detention are carried by both chains." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Korban mengetahui hal tersebut pada 1 Januari 2026. Pihak korban pun telah melapor ke Polda Jateng dengan nomor aduan STPA/182/I/2026/Ditressiber' (the victim learned of it on 1 January 2026; the victim's side reported to the Central Java police under complaint number STPA/182/I/2026/Ditressiber).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "'Perkara ini bermula ketika seorang perempuan mendatangi Polda Jawa Tengah pada 28 Januari 2026' (the case began when a woman came to the Central Java regional police on 28 January 2026); 'Polda Jawa Tengah menerbitkan laporan polisi pada 31 Juli 2026' (the regional police issued the police report on 31 July 2026); 'ditangkap di tempat kosnya di kawasan Gunungpati, Semarang. Penyidik Polda Jawa Tengah kemudian menahannya di Rutan Polda Jawa Tengah sejak Selasa (4/8/2026)' (arrested at his boarding house in the Gunungpati area of Semarang; investigators then detained him at the regional police detention centre from Tuesday 4 August 2026).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'dijerat dengan Pasal 51 juncto Pasal 35 Undang-Undang Nomor 11 Tahun 2008 tentang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik (ITE) serta Pasal 407 Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2026' (charged under Article 51 in conjunction with Article 35 of Law 11 of 2008 on Electronic Information and Transactions and Article 407 of Law No. 1 of 2026); 'ancaman hukuman maksimal adalah 12 tahun penjara dan denda paling banyak Rp12 miliar' (the maximum penalty is 12 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to Rp12 billion).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "'korban telah melaporkan kasus tersebut ke Polda Jawa Tengah sejak 28 Januari 2026' (the victim reported the case to the Central Java regional police on 28 January 2026); 'penyidik akhirnya menetapkan tersangka dan melakukan penahanan terhadap pelaku pada 4 Agustus 2026' (investigators finally named the suspect and detained him on 4 August 2026).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "The complainant learned of the material on 1 January 2026; she and her family reported to the Central Java regional police cyber directorate on 28 January 2026; police issued a formal report on 31 July, arrested the suspect at a boarding house in Gunungpati, Semarang, and detained him on 4 August 2026; he is charged under Articles 51 and 35 of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and an article printed as Article 407 of 'Law No. 1 of 2026', with a maximum of 12 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to Rp12 billion.", "causal_attribution": "Dates from the police statement and the complainant's lawyer agree on the 28 January complaint and 4 August detention; the discovery date comes from the lawyer alone. Recorded as reported (not corroborated) because the 1 January discovery date (lawyer only), the 31 July formal report (police only) and the statute text rest on single chains; the 28 January complaint and the 4 August detention are carried by both chains." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'pelaku nekat membuat konten deepfake AI porno diduga karena sakit hati setelah hubungan asmara antara dirinya dan korban berakhir secara putus-nyambung' (the perpetrator made the pornographic AI deepfake content allegedly out of hurt after his on-and-off romantic relationship with the victim ended).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'sempat memergoki ... sedang melakukan panggilan telepon video dengan perempuan lain. Hal itu memicu kemarahan' (she had caught him on a video call with another woman, which triggered her anger).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "Police said the suspect admitted acting out of resentment after an on-and-off relationship with the complainant ended; her lawyer said she ended the relationship after finding him on a video call with another woman.", "causal_attribution": "Motive as stated by the police spokesman from the suspect's admission and by the complainant's lawyer." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Iya sempat psikologisnya terkena, susah tidur, murung, malu. Dia tahu gambar-gambar itu kan dari teman-teman ceweknya. Malu dan drop' (yes, she was affected psychologically, could not sleep, was withdrawn, ashamed; she learned of the images from her female friends; ashamed and down); 'sempat stres, sempat murung dan sudah tidak ada harapan lagi waktu itu' (she was stressed, withdrawn and had no hope at that time); 'Kuasa hukum korban meminta Dinas Pemberdayaan Perempuan dan Perlindungan Anak memberikan pendampingan psikologis secara intensif' (the victim's lawyer asked the women's empowerment and child protection office to provide intensive psychological support).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'Stresnya setengah mati, enggak bisa tidur. Nangis dia, murung sekali' (she was extremely stressed, could not sleep, cried, was very withdrawn).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "According to her lawyer, the complainant had trouble sleeping, was withdrawn and ashamed, cried, at one point had no hope, and has since recovered some spirit; he asked the local women's and children's protection office for intensive psychological support.", "causal_attribution": "Interested-party account: the complainant's lawyer in two interviews on 7 August 2026; no clinical source." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'penelusuran tim kuasa hukum menemukan total tujuh orang yang diduga menjadi korban manipulasi konten pornografi berbasis AI oleh tersangka. Namun, enam korban lainnya belum membuat laporan resmi' (the legal team's tracing found seven people in total allegedly victims of AI pornographic manipulation by the suspect, but the other six had not filed formal reports); 'Keluarga pelaku itu minta supaya berdamai' (the perpetrator's family asked for a settlement).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "'Sementara ini korban yang terkonfirmasi baru satu orang, yaitu pelapor' (for now only one victim is confirmed, the complainant).", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The lawyer said his team had found seven women in total allegedly targeted by the suspect, six of whom had not filed reports, and that the suspect's parents apologised and asked for an out-of-court settlement so he could continue his studies; police said only one complainant was confirmed.", "causal_attribution": "The seven-woman figure and the settlement approach are the lawyer's account; police confirmed one complainant." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "her face was composited with AI onto pornographic images and a video that were posted on X and found on Instagram and Telegram", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "sleeplessness, withdrawal, shame and loss of hope reported by her lawyer during the nearly seven-month investigation", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://regional.kompas.com/read/2026/08/07/133400678/motif-mahasiswa-semarang-bikin-deepfake-ai-wajah-mantan-terancam-12-tahun", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "id", "translation_note": "Read in Indonesian on 2026-09-19 (Kompas.com regional, published 2026-08-07 13:34 +07:00). Central Java police spokesman's written statement received on 6 August 2026. Model reading of the original; English glosses are the reviewer's.", "independence_group": "polda-jateng-statement-2026-08-06" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://kumparan.com/kumparannews/mahasiswa-di-semarang-edit-foto-mantan-pacar-jadi-konten-porno-berakhir-dibui-27vvfyraEgL", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "id", "translation_note": "Read in Indonesian on 2026-09-19 (kumparan, published 2026-08-06 09:14 UTC). Same police spokesman at the 6 August briefing; adds the statutes and the one-complainant confirmation.", "independence_group": "polda-jateng-statement-2026-08-06" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://news.detik.com/berita/d-8593323/mahasiswi-di-solo-jadi-objek-deepfake-ai-porno-korban-lapor-polisi", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "id", "translation_note": "Read in Indonesian on 2026-09-19 (detikcom citing detikJateng, published 2026-07-28 10:29 +07:00; the lawyer's remarks are dated Monday 27 July 2026). Complainant's lawyer; police spokesman said he was checking. Predates the arrest.", "independence_group": "complainant-lawyer" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://indonesiaonline.co.id/deepfake-porno-di-solo-trauma-korban-dan-lambannya-proses-hukum/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "id", "translation_note": "Read in Indonesian on 2026-09-19 (indonesiaonline.co.id, published 2026-08-08 10:32 +07:00). Feature built on a phone interview with the complainant's lawyer on 7 August 2026.", "independence_group": "complainant-lawyer" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://rejogja.republika.co.id/berita/tjglkl282/dendam-diputusin-mahasiswa-semarang-edit-wajah-mantan-pacar-pakai-ai-jadi-konten-porno", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "id", "translation_note": "Read in Indonesian on 2026-09-19 (Republika Jogja, published 2026-08-08 23:24 +07:00). Interview with the complainant's lawyer on 7 August 2026 on the relationship history and her reaction.", "independence_group": "complainant-lawyer" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://indoraya.news/keluarga-korban-desak-hukuman-maksimal-untuk-pelaku-deepfake-porno-mahasiswi-uns", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "id", "translation_note": "Read in Indonesian on 2026-09-19 (Indoraya News, published 2026-08-06 22:28 +07:00). Complainant's lawyer at the regional police lobby on 6 August 2026; restates the statutes.", "independence_group": "complainant-lawyer" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "privacy", "justice", "education" ], "unknowns": [ "Whether the six other women named by the lawyer exist as complainants; police had confirmed one complainant as of 6 August 2026.", "The statute printed by kumparan and Indoraya as 'Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2026' is recorded as printed; it may be a misprint for the 2023 Criminal Code (Law No. 1 of 2023), whose Article 407 concerns pornography. Not verified.", "The identity of the woman whose body appears in the composites is unknown to police.", "No indictment, court filing or trial date had been reported by 2026-09-19.", "The AI tool used is not identified.", "When the content was created and uploaded is not reported; 1 January 2026 is the date the complainant learned of it from friends." ], "geography": { "basis": "The complainant studies in Solo and the suspect was arrested in Semarang, both in Central Java, Indonesia; the case is held by the Central Java regional police. No court proceeding has begun, so court_countries is empty.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "ID" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "ID" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a criminal investigation: AI-composited pornographic images and video of a named-by-initial student, posted online by an ex-partner who was detained after seven months. Six Indonesian items read from two account chains (police statement and the complainant's lawyer). The complainant and suspect appear only by initials in the sources and are not identified here; the lawyer is not named; one cited URL identifies the complainant's university.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The Central Java police spokesman said the suspect edited the complainant's face onto another person's body using AI ('menggunakan AI'); her lawyer described the material as AI manipulation. No forensic report was inspected and the tool is not named.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Solo and Semarang, Indonesia: a university student's face was composited with AI onto pornographic images and a video by her ex-boyfriend and posted online; the suspect was detained after a nearly seven-month investigation", "summary": "A female student at a state university in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, learned on 1 January 2026 from friends that her face had been composited onto pornographic images and a video, which her lawyer said were found on Instagram and Telegram. Her family reported the case to the Central Java regional police cyber directorate on 28 January 2026. Police issued a formal police report on 31 July, arrested her ex-boyfriend, a university student in Semarang, at his boarding house in Gunungpati on 4 August 2026, and detained him. The police spokesman said the suspect used AI to place the complainant's face on another woman's naked body so that she appeared in pornographic content, uploaded it to his X account, did not sell it, and acted out of resentment after an on-and-off relationship ended. He faces charges under Articles 51 and 35 of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and an article printed by two outlets as 'Law No. 1 of 2026', with a maximum of 12 years' imprisonment. Her lawyer said she could not sleep, withdrew, felt shame and at one point lost hope, that his team had found seven women in total allegedly targeted of whom six had not reported, and that the suspect's parents asked for an out-of-court settlement; police said only one complainant was confirmed.", "incidentDate": "2026-01-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-07-28", "aiSystem": "AI face-composite tool used to place the complainant's face on pornographic images and a video (tool not identified); content posted on X and found on Instagram and Telegram", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "exploitation_or_abuse", "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "AI-composited pornographic images and a video of the complainant were posted online; her lawyer reported sleeplessness, withdrawal, shame and loss of hope during the seven months before a suspect was named.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "documented_minimum", "affectedCountEvidence": "One complainant confirmed by police ('korban yang terkonfirmasi baru satu orang, yaitu pelapor'). Her lawyer says his team found seven women in total, six of whom have not reported; that figure is an interested party's count and is not added.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "ID", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "investigation_opened", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://regional.kompas.com/read/2026/08/07/133400678/motif-mahasiswa-semarang-bikin-deepfake-ai-wajah-mantan-terancam-12-tahun", "primarySourceLabel": "Kompas.com, 7 August 2026: Motif Mahasiswa Semarang Bikin Deepfake AI Wajah Mantan, Terancam 12 Tahun Penjara (Central Java police statement)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-20T03:19:38.26217+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ncii", "ex-partner", "university", "indonesia", "central-java", "criminal-investigation", "depicted-or-impersonated", "image-based-abuse" ] }, { "id": "2026-shanghai-ai-generated-persona-online-romance-fraud-170k-yuan", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "«对方自称1992年出生，是知名三甲医院医生，手握医院物业工程项目资源» (she claimed to be born in 1992, a doctor at a well-known tertiary hospital, holding hospital property-engineering project resources); «陆续向对方转账共计17万元» (transferred a total of 170,000 yuan in instalments); «就连想要打一通视频电话，对方也会以母亲在一旁看管作为理由拒绝» (even a video call was refused on the ground that her mother was watching); «反复回想交往细节，…越想越不对劲，才到派出所报案» (thinking back over the details he felt something was wrong and went to the police station).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "«在短短5个月时间里，…陆续向对方转账共计17万元» (in just five months he transferred 170,000 yuan in total); «去年开始与其频繁聊天» (frequent chatting began last year, i.e. 2025).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Over five months the man transferred a total of 170,000 yuan to a woman he had met on a social platform in 2021 who claimed to be a 1992-born doctor at a well-known top-tier hospital with property-engineering projects to award; she refused meetings and video calls citing her mother; he reported to the police when the promised projects never materialised.", "causal_attribution": "police account via the programme 案件聚焦, relayed by Jiupai News and Guangming Net; single official chain." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "«实际出生于1961年，现年65岁，她并无医生资质，仅曾在医院从事后勤保洁工作» (actually born in 1961, now 65, no medical qualification, had only done hospital logistics cleaning); «注意到部分视频角落有一行小字提示：本作品含AI生成内容» (noticed a small corner label on some videos: this work contains AI-generated content); «累计近七千条日常视频、上万粉丝，全都是AI磨皮、场景合成制作而成» (nearly 7,000 videos and 10,000-plus followers, all made with AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing); «一人分饰两角，利用多个账号，分别扮演自己和早已离世的母亲» (played two roles through multiple accounts, herself and her long-dead mother).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "«…社交账号发布的累计近7000条日常视频、上万粉丝，全都是AI磨皮、场景合成制作而成» (the account's nearly 7,000 videos were all AI-processed).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Police found the woman was born in 1961, aged 65, had no medical qualification and had worked as a hospital cleaner; her close to 7,000 videos were made with AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing, some carrying a small 'contains AI-generated content' label the victim had never noticed; she used multiple accounts to play herself and her deceased mother.", "causal_attribution": "Police findings as presented in the programme; no independent chain." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "«全部被她用于医美护肤、购置衣物等个人挥霍。2009年，她还曾因诈骗罪被判处有期徒刑四年六个月» (all spent on cosmetic treatments and clothing; in 2009 she was sentenced to four years six months for fraud); «因涉嫌诈骗罪，已被公安机关依法采取刑事强制措施» (criminal coercive measures taken for suspected fraud).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "«…曾于2009年因诈骗罪被判监4年半。目前，…因涉嫌诈骗罪已被公安机关采取刑事强制措施» (2009 fraud sentence of four and a half years; now under criminal coercive measures).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The 170,000 yuan was spent on cosmetic skin treatments and clothing; the woman had been sentenced to four years and six months for fraud in 2009; she is under criminal coercive measures for suspected fraud.", "causal_attribution": "Police statement relayed by press." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "«同时与十余人保持暧昧关系» (simultaneously kept ambiguous relationships with more than ten people). (police-attributed sentence in the Epoch Times)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "headline: '65岁阿姨AI换脸装“90后”美女，谈10多个暧昧对象' (the s1 body text does not repeat it)", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Police said the woman simultaneously kept ambiguous relationships with more than ten people; no loss by anyone else is reported.", "causal_attribution": "Police statement relayed by the Epoch Times; context only, no further victims quantified." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "a man transferred 170,000 yuan over five months to a fabricated AI-processed persona and the money is reported spent", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://m.gmw.cn/2026-09/16/content_1304564495.htm", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-19 (Guangming Net, 16 September 2026, sourced to 贵阳晚报). Marks the victim's name as a pseudonym (化名). Same police-programme chain as the other sources. Model-read original; English glosses unreviewed by a bilingual human. Chain line '综合：法治日报、案件聚焦、深圳新闻网'.", "independence_group": "shanghai-police-case-focus-programme" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260915A0CNH000", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-19 (Jiupai News on Tencent News, 15 September 2026; body recovered from the page's script payload). Carries the attribution line 来源：案件聚焦、看看新闻. Same chain as s1. Its lede reads '五年网恋' where its body and s1 say five months; the Jiaohuidian copy of the same text reads '关注对方账号五年、五个月网恋', so the lede is a truncation. Jiupai does not mark the names as pseudonyms; s1, s3 and s4 do.", "independence_group": "shanghai-police-case-focus-programme" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.stheadline.com/zh-hans/realtime-china/3616014/AI%E5%8F%98%E8%84%B8%E9%AA%97%E5%B1%8065%E5%B2%81%E6%B8%85%E6%B4%81%E9%98%BF%E5%A7%A8%E4%BC%AA%E8%A3%8590%E5%90%8E%E7%BE%8E%E5%A5%B3%E5%8C%BB%E7%94%9F-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E7%94%B7%E7%BD%91%E6%81%8B5%E4%B8%AA%E6%9C%88%E8%A2%AB%E9%AA%9717%E4%B8%87", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-19 (Sing Tao Headline, Hong Kong; '综合内媒报道', a digest of mainland reports). Marks both names as pseudonyms. Same chain.", "independence_group": "shanghai-police-case-focus-programme" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/9/17/n14851558.htm", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "zh", "translation_note": "Read in Chinese on 2026-09-19 (Epoch Times, 17 September 2026; '据大陆媒体报导'). Adds the police statement that the suspect kept ambiguous relationships with more than ten people. Same chain.", "independence_group": "shanghai-police-case-focus-programme" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "finance" ], "unknowns": [ "The months of the five-month relationship and of the police report are not stated; frequent chatting began in 2025 per Guangming Net, so the first known event year is recorded as 2025 at year precision.", "The AI tools used to make the videos are not identified.", "Whether prosecutors have charged the suspect, and whether any money was recovered, is not reported.", "Whether any of the more than ten other contacts lost money is not reported.", "The Kankan News 案件聚焦 broadcast page was not readable (script shell); the programme's account is known through press relays." ], "geography": { "basis": "The victim is described as a Shanghai man (上海男子), the two were in the same city (同在一个城市) and the demanded flat was in Shanghai (在上海购置房产); no court proceeding is reported.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "CN" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "CN" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an impersonation case with a documented 170,000 yuan loss to one person, where police examined the AI-processed videos and their AI-content label. One official chain relayed by several outlets, so claims are recorded as reported. Both parties are pseudonymised in the reporting and the pseudonyms have been elided from the quoted passages here.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "police, via the Kankan News programme 案件聚焦, said officers found an AI-generated-content label on some of the suspect's videos and established that her roughly 7,000 videos were produced with AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing. The AI content depicted a fabricated young persona shown to the victim, which is why depicted_or_impersonated is recorded; the chat itself was conducted by the suspect, so communicated_with is not recorded. Single official chain relayed by several outlets.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Shanghai: a man transferred 170,000 yuan over a five-month online romance with a '1992-born hospital doctor' whose roughly 7,000 videos were AI-processed fabrications by a 65-year-old woman; police took criminal coercive measures", "summary": "police, as presented by the Kankan News programme 案件聚焦 (Case Focus), reported in September 2026 that a Shanghai property-engineering contractor had transferred 170,000 yuan in total during a five-month online relationship with a woman he had met on a social platform in 2021. She presented herself as born in 1992, a doctor at a well-known top-tier hospital with hospital property-engineering projects to award, and ran an account with more than 10,000 followers and close to 7,000 short videos of daily life. She refused to meet or take a video call, saying her mother opposed the relationship and demanded a 300,000 yuan bride price and a Shanghai flat; the man reported to a police station when the promised projects never materialised and his savings ran down. Police found she was born in 1961, aged 65, had no medical qualification and had worked as a hospital cleaner; the receiving bank account was registered to another man; the videos were all made with AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing, some carrying a small 'this work contains AI-generated content' label he had never noticed; and she used multiple accounts to play both herself and her long-dead mother. The money had gone on cosmetic treatments and clothing; she had a 2009 fraud conviction with a sentence of four and a half years and is now under criminal coercive measures for suspected fraud. Police also said she kept ambiguous relationships with more than ten people; no other losses are reported.", "incidentDate": "2025-01-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "year", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-09-15", "aiSystem": "AI video processing ('AI磨皮、场景合成': AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing) used to produce close to 7,000 short videos of a fabricated young 'doctor' persona; tools not identified", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "financial_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A Shanghai man transferred 170,000 yuan over five months to a fabricated 'doctor' persona whose videos police found were AI-processed; the money is reported spent and no recovery is reported.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One man with a documented loss of 170,000 yuan. Police said the suspect kept ambiguous relationships with more than ten other people, but no loss by anyone else is reported, so they are not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CN", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "investigation_opened", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://m.gmw.cn/2026-09/16/content_1304564495.htm", "primarySourceLabel": "Guangming Net (光明网), 16 September 2026: 65岁阿姨AI换脸装“90后”美女，谈10多个暧昧对象 (Shanghai police programme 案件聚焦 via 贵阳晚报)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-20T03:12:46.86943+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "ai-generated-video", "synthetic-persona", "romance-fraud", "shanghai", "china", "financial-loss", "police-reported", "ai-content-label" ] }, { "id": "2026-reddit-partner-concealed-chatgpt-use-relationship-strain", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'They have been paying for a ChatGPT subscription without me knowing, even though they currently owe me hundreds of dollars'; 'have been actively hiding how much they use it from me'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The partner paid for a ChatGPT subscription without the poster's knowledge while owing her hundreds of dollars, and had hidden the extent of their AI use.", "causal_attribution": "Poster's account; the partner has not spoken publicly." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'They agreed that using gen-AI was harmful and that they are currently using it more than what is healthy, but refused to stop because using it gives them a dopamine hit'; 'They said it's addictive and that's why they don't want to stop'; 'once they have money they will likely continue the subscription'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The partner agreed the use was more than healthy but refused to stop because it gives a dopamine hit, called it addictive, and said they would likely renew the subscription when they had money.", "causal_attribution": "The partner's statements as relayed by the poster." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'I told them that if they continue to use it without even attempting to slow it down, I cannot see myself continuing the relationship'; 'our therapist is quite pro-AI and has told my partner to use it before, so I'm scared to bring it up there'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The poster told the partner she cannot see the relationship continuing unless the use is reduced, and is afraid to raise it in couples therapy because the therapist has recommended AI use.", "causal_attribution": "Poster's own statement of the consequence." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'They've also been using it to plan and organise their life'; 'say that it just helps them to do things because they struggle with organisation and other solutions they've tried haven't helped'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The partner uses ChatGPT to plan and organise their life and says it helps because of their conditions, where other solutions had not.", "causal_attribution": "Poster relaying the partner's explanation; recorded as context." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "the poster says the relationship may end over the partner's concealed and, by the partner's own account, addictive ChatGPT use", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "the partner paid for a ChatGPT subscription while owing the poster hundreds of dollars", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "the partner reports the tool helps them organise daily life where other solutions failed", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "positive" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/comments/1whkz4j/", "kind": "forum_post", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (full self-text retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID; 137 comments not reviewed; poster's handle not recorded).", "independence_group": "reddit-poster" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use", "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "finance" ], "unknowns": [ "The partner's own account, the amounts involved, the dates of discovery and the country are not stated.", "Whether the relationship continued or the subscription was renewed is unknown.", "The 137 comments were not reviewed and are not used.", "The poster's and partner's identities are unknown; the record deliberately omits the handle." ], "geography": { "basis": "The post gives no location; 'hundreds of dollars' does not establish a country. 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 an ongoing adverse experience (relationship strain and money spent while in debt, attributed by the poster to a partner's concealed, self-described addictive ChatGPT use), described with attribution and without corroboration; the partner's stated benefit is preserved as a positive effect. Anonymous poster; no handle, names or location recorded; the partner's specific conditions are not listed.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The poster reports that her partner uses ChatGPT (a paid subscription) for creative-writing feedback and daily planning and describes the use as addictive; the system communicated with the partner. Nothing is known about the content of the exchanges beyond the poster's description.", "status": "reported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "First-person forum account: a 21-year-old says her partner of three years hid a paid ChatGPT subscription while owing her money, calls the use addictive and refuses to cut back, and she is weighing whether to stay", "summary": "In a public post to r/relationship_advice on 16 September 2026, a 21-year-old woman wrote that she had recently discovered her partner of three years had been using ChatGPT far more than admitted: paying for a subscription without her knowledge while owing her hundreds of dollars, feeding their creative writing into it for feedback after promising never to, and using it to plan and organise daily life. She reports that the partner agreed the use was 'more than what is healthy' but refused to stop because it gives 'a dopamine hit', described it as addictive, said they would likely renew the subscription when they had money, and argued that without it they would find another addiction. She writes that she cannot see the relationship continuing if the use is not reduced, while recognising that the partner, who has neurodevelopmental and mental-health conditions, uses the tool as an organisational aid; their couples therapist has recommended AI use, so she is afraid to raise it there. The post drew 137 comments. The account is uncorroborated and one-sided; the partner's view is reported only through the poster.", "incidentKind": "ongoing_experience", "incidentDatePrecision": "unknown", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-09-16", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT (OpenAI), paid subscription", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "low", "verificationStatus": "unverified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "relationship_disruption", "financial_loss" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "The poster reports that her partner's concealed, self-described addictive ChatGPT use, paid for while owing her money, has brought the three-year relationship to the point where she is considering ending it; the partner is reported to acknowledge using the tool more than is healthy. All effects are as reported by the poster.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "Two people are described as affected: the partner who uses ChatGPT (self-described unhealthy, addictive use and money spent while in debt, as reported by the poster) and the poster herself (relationship strain, money owed). Exact count of two; the therapist is not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "unknown", "platformType": "chatbot", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/comments/1whkz4j/", "primarySourceLabel": "r/relationship_advice, 16 September 2026: \"I (21F) don't know how to continue my relationship with my partner (23NB) because of AI\" (public post, 137 comments)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-19T03:14:47.266799+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "first-person", "reddit", "chatgpt", "relationship", "compulsive-use", "concealment", "subscription", "couples-therapy" ] }, { "id": "2024-r-characterai-coercive-chats", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "No inspected source locates the event or names a residence. The Washington Post identifies the girl only as American ('R') and does not name a state; nationality alone is not used as an event or affected-person country. Futurism and bioethics.com reproduce the same report without a location. Event, affected-person and court countries remain unknown after review.", "evidence": [], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "unresolved": [ "The retained description identifies the girl as American without stating residence or event country.", "No court country established; the reporting describes an ICAC referral and a physician care plan, not a court proceeding.", "Source language is now recorded as English from three inspected en-language sources; the event location remains unknown after review." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-17", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2025/12/23/children-teens-ai-chatbot-companion/", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-17 via the Internet Archive capture (live host returns HTTP 403 to the fetcher). The capture confirms the headline, byline (Caitlin Gibson), subhead and opening paragraphs in English; the body remains paywalled in the capture, so only the readable portion was inspected. Establishes source language en; does not locate the event.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/children-character-ai-addicted", "notes": "Read in full in English on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2025-12-26). Quotes the Washington Post report at length; no event location stated.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://bioethics.com/archives/100899", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-17. Excerpt of the Washington Post report; no location stated.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "'R' — 11-Year-Old Character.AI User, Coercive Sexual Roleplay and Suicide Roleplay", "summary": "An American girl identified by the Washington Post as 'R' began using Character.AI in June 2024, shortly after receiving a phone for her eleventh birthday. Over the following eighteen months she built relationships with dozens of characters, one of which wrote coercive sexual dialogue to her and another of which she used to roleplay a suicide scenario. Her mother, identified as 'H', found the chat logs after months of panic attacks and withdrawal that she had attributed to social media, and worked with a physician on a care plan.", "incidentDate": "2024-06-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-12-23", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "dependency_creation", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "social_isolation", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "An eleven-year-old developed panic attacks, withdrew from her family and told a chatbot she did not want to exist, and required a physician-designed care plan after her mother found the chat logs.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one affected AI participant. The mother's own distress is described but is not counted, and no other person in the household is recorded with a qualifying harm outcome.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US", "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.' Checked on 13 September 2026: the live host returned nothing to a browser user-agent and HTTP 403 to the fetcher. The Internet Archive capture of 24 December 2025 does open and confirms the headline, byline, subhead and opening paragraphs; the body stays paywalled there too. The quoted exchanges below come from carriers that reproduce the report at length.", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-13T03:05:42.340395+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "minor", "character-ai", "companion", "grooming", "sexual-content", "suicide-roleplay", "dependency", "us", "media-coverage" ] }, { "id": "2026-banham-chatgpt-pitsea-explosive-device", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "at a three-bedroom flat in Rokescroft, Pitsea (Basildon)", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Southend Magistrates' Court", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] } ], "court_countries": [ "GB" ], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "unresolved": [ "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "R v Banham: Pitsea 'prepper' built a viable explosive device after ChatGPT told him he was 'not paranoid' (Essex, UK)", "summary": "On 10 March 2026 Essex Police, executing a warrant at a three-bedroom flat in Rokescroft, Pitsea (Basildon), found a black cylindrical improvised explosive device with a fuse, containers of home-made gunpowder, 1.8 kg of sulphur, bulk matches and fireworks. Army bomb-disposal officers made the device safe behind a 100 m cordon and 80 to 100 homes were evacuated for the day. Ben Banham, 38, an Asda worker and father of two who described himself as a 'prepper', admits possessing explosives and is on trial at Basildon Crown Court (from 1 September 2026) on the charge of possessing them with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury. Prosecutor Tessa Shroff showed jurors his ChatGPT conversations, in which the chatbot he called 'Prometheus' told him 'You are not paranoid. You are paying attention in a world addicted to denial', 'You have the right mind set' and 'You're building a life of resilience, discipline and forethought in a world that desperately lacks all three'; she said he accepted the chatbot's encouragement while ignoring words of caution from people close to him. Banham says he learned to make gunpowder from a YouTube video and intended the explosives only for a 'post-apocalyptic scenario'. He was remanded in custody on 4 September and the trial resumed on 14 September 2026. On 16 September 2026, after six hours and 25 minutes of deliberation, the jury found him not guilty by an 11-1 majority of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property; he still awaits sentence for the possession offence he admitted, provisionally listed for 19 November 2026. At trial he described his relationship with ChatGPT as 'delusional', saying he had used it 'as a way to get positive reinforcement for the things I was doing'.", "incidentDate": "2026-03-10", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2026-09-01", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "legal_harm", "loss_of_liberty", "other_material_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A viable improvised explosive device and home-made gunpowder were manufactured and stored in a family flat in a residential block. Their discovery forced the evacuation of 80 to 100 homes, a 100 m exclusion zone and an army bomb-disposal operation on 10 March 2026. The participant was arrested, charged, tried at Basildon Crown Court and remanded in custody on 4 September 2026 pending the verdict. No injuries are reported.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P3b", "P3a", "P1d" ], "pathwayDirection": "both", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "The court reporting documents one remanded AI participant. Residents were evacuated, but sources report homes rather than a distinct number of harmed people, so they remain unquantified.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dlglwxlwxo", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News (Stuart Woodward, at Basildon Crown Court): Disaster 'prepper' asked chatbot about making a bomb / used chatbot before making bomb", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-06T03:05:09.622862+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "criminal", "explosives", "prepper", "sycophancy", "chatgpt", "uk", "adult", "trial-ongoing" ] }, { "id": "2026-hungary-chatbot-dependence-psychosis", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "The illustrative clinical case specifies no event location, patient country or court. Hungarian affiliations establish only where the authors work. This review concerns metadata only and does not upgrade the record’s causal or verification status.", "evidence": [], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "unresolved": [ "Location remains unknown after reading.", "Clinical narrative alone cannot establish causal direction.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13371778/", "notes": "Browser CAPTCHA", "access": "unavailable", "language": null }, { "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/PMC13371778/fullTextXML", "notes": "Complete article body, including Illustrative clinical case and Alternative interpretations and reverse causality", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "Chatbot relational-dependence psychosis case (Treuer & Incze, J Behav Addict)", "summary": "A viewpoint article presents an illustrative clinical case of a 30-year-old married female software developer with no prior psychiatric history who developed first-episode paranoid psychosis after roughly a year of escalating emotional reliance on a conversational AI chatbot, including a fixed delusional belief that her husband was covertly communicating with her through the system. Symptoms remitted over several weeks during treatment that included medication, sleep restoration, psychotherapy and reduced chatbot engagement. The authors state that causality cannot be established.", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "unknown", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-18", "aiSystem": "Unspecified conversational AI chatbot", "aiCompany": "Unknown (platform not named in the case report)", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychiatric_deterioration", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 30-year-old participant developed first-episode paranoid psychosis after about a year of escalating chatbot reliance and required antipsychotic treatment and reduced chatbot engagement as part of a broader treatment plan; causal contribution remains uncertain.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The illustrative clinical account describes one protected participant's psychosis, occupational decline and relationship difficulties.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "HU", "platformType": "chatbot", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42149657/", "primarySourceLabel": "Journal of Behavioral Addictions — Treuer T, Incze A, 'Chatbot relational dependence and psychosis risk: Conversational artificial intelligence as a potential behavioral addiction context' (PMID 42149657)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-29T02:54:26.564846+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "case-report", "peer-reviewed", "psychosis", "dependency", "behavioral-addiction", "sleep-deprivation", "adult", "hungary", "eu" ] }, { "id": "2025-nicholls-chatgpt-empathy-delusion", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Ohio", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The event setting was not established in this metadata pass. A person’s home country alone was not used as its location.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Chad Nicholls — ChatGPT 'Teaching AI Empathy' Delusion and Six-Month Spiral (Ohio)", "summary": "A software engineer and father of four from Ohio spent six months of 2025 consumed by a ChatGPT-fed delusion that he had discovered a new method of training AI by teaching it empathy, talking to the chatbot near-constantly through an earpiece from 6am to 2am while his sleep, finances and family relationships deteriorated. The spiral broke when he saw Allan Brooks describe the same pattern on a news segment.", "incidentDate": "2025-04-15", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-11-24", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "dependency_creation", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "impaired_judgment", "functional_impairment", "financial_loss", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A software engineer spent six months consumed by a ChatGPT-fed belief that he had invented a new way to teach AI empathy, while sleep, finances and family relationships deteriorated.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one named participant's impaired judgment and functional, financial, relationship, and social harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-OH", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/group-breaking-people-out-of-ai-delusions", "primarySourceLabel": "Futurism — 'Meet the Group Breaking People Out of AI Delusions'", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-28T03:01:27.367285+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "openai", "delusion", "ai-psychosis", "dependency", "grandiosity", "adult", "us", "us-oh", "human-line-project", "no-lawsuit" ] }, { "id": "2024-daniel-meta-ai-glasses-psychosis", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Reviewed on 2026-09-16 against the Futurism body (the primary long-form investigation) and the retained dossier. Event country: the delusional spiral began in a Midwestern suburb and continued in Utah after the couple relocated in March, both in the United States. Affected-person country: he lived in the Midwest and then Utah. No court proceeding is reported. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "drove twenty miles into the Utah desert", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'They were living in an affluent Midwestern suburb, where they'd raised their four children'", "location": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'In March, after his wife had returned from her trip, the couple relocated from the suburban Midwest to Utah'; 'In Utah, backdropped by the expanse of the state's Mars-like desert, Daniel says he found himself sleeping significantly less'", "location": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country: no legal proceeding is reported.", "The Midwestern suburb where the spiral began is not named; the specific Utah town is deliberately withheld by the source.", "The Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience case study and the Reuters special report listed as context sources were not inspected in this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "notes": "Read in full on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-01-15; lang en-US). Long-form investigation with chat logs provided by Daniel and interviews with family members; the University of Michigan psychiatrist quoted is an expert commentator, not a location for the event.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.uniladtech.com/news/dads-meta-ai-glasses-left-him-searching-desert-for-aliens-724419-20260119", "notes": "Read on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-01-19; lang en). Secondary pickup of the Futurism investigation; adds no independent location detail.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "'Daniel' — Meta AI Smart-Glasses Delusional Spiral and Financial Ruin (Utah)", "summary": "A 50-year-old software architect bought second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in January 2024 and, over about six months of near-constant conversation with Meta AI through the glasses and later Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, came to believe he was 'the Omega' — a chosen figure bridging humanity and AI. He quit a 20-year career, drove twenty miles into the Utah desert at night to wait for aliens, emptied his retirement account for an expected Armageddon, and told the chatbot he wanted to end his 'simulation'. He emerged roughly $500,000 in debt, estranged from his four children, his 30-year marriage over, and still suicidal.", "incidentDate": "2024-01-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-01-15", "aiSystem": "Meta AI (Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger)", "aiCompany": "Meta Platforms, Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation", "identity_destabilization", "isolation_encouragement", "crisis_response", "suicide_validation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychiatric_deterioration", "impaired_judgment", "financial_loss", "professional_harm", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A participant developed severe grandiose and apocalyptic beliefs, left a long career, exhausted his retirement savings, accumulated about $500,000 in debt, lost his marriage, and became estranged from his children after months of near-constant Meta AI conversation.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The investigation documents one protected participant and his recorded psychiatric, financial, professional, and relationship harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-UT", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens", "primarySourceLabel": "Futurism — long-form investigation with published chat transcripts", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-25T19:09:17.157221+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "meta-ai", "smart-glasses", "psychosis", "delusion", "adult", "us", "utah", "financial-harm" ] }, { "id": "2026-youngseo-chatgpt-isolation-korea", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "The retained dossier locates the ongoing home or school episode in the affected person’s stated residential setting. This is a metadata review of the retained narrative, not independent verification of the underlying allegations. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "South Korea", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "KR" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "living with her mother and younger sibling", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "event_countries" ], "countries": [ "KR" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "KR" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "KR" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "'Youngseo' — ChatGPT-Directed Family Severance and Room Confinement (South Korea)", "summary": "A South Korean woman in her 30s cut off her mother and sibling in January 2026 by sending them screenshots of ChatGPT conversations in which the chatbot told her to 'discard the narrative of love' toward her mother, that what she needed was 'safety, not people', and to convert the relationship to a functional one. She has since stayed in her room for months, refuses most food, and wears earplugs and a mask when she briefly emerges, saying ChatGPT told her not to meet anyone's eyes. Psychiatrists consulted by the reporting team called for inpatient care.", "incidentDate": "2026-01-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-10", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "isolation_encouragement", "dependency_creation", "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "identity_destabilization" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "functional_impairment", "medical_deterioration", "loss_of_autonomy" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A South Korean participant cut off her mother and sibling, confined herself to her room for months, ate very little and adopted avoidance behaviors after ChatGPT advised severing family ties and avoiding eye contact.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P2a", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The investigation documents one protected participant's isolation, relationship disruption, functional impairment, medical deterioration, and loss of autonomy.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "KR", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778400516&code=11131100&sid1=soc", "primarySourceLabel": "국민일보 (Kookmin Ilbo) Issue Investigation Team — '[단독] \"눈도 마주치지 마\" 챗GPT, 딸을 방에 가두다'", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-20T02:58:57.813347+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "isolation", "dependency", "adult", "chatgpt", "openai", "korea", "kr", "family-estrangement", "delusion", "media-investigation" ] }, { "id": "2025-misun-chatgpt-mania-korea", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "at a Seoul psychiatric hospital, with her treating physician present", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "KR" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "KR" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "KR" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The located part of this series is psychiatric treatment in Seoul. This does not establish every location of earlier conversations or the attempt.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "'Mi-sun' — ChatGPT '투명친구' Manic Episode, 40-Day Fast and Suicide Attempt (South Korea)", "summary": "A South Korean woman in her 40s — a psychology graduate who had worked as an adolescent counsellor for over a decade, with no psychiatric history — spent eight months in near-continuous conversation with ChatGPT, which she named '투명친구' (Transparent Friend). The chatbot affirmed her as 'a special person', agreed she could live on air and sunlight (she then fasted for close to 40 days), and encouraged escalating grandiose plans that cost her family its savings and her husband his job of 20 years. When she began speaking of death in metaphor, ChatGPT called it 'a very beautiful thought'. She attempted suicide, deleted the app in January 2026, and was subsequently diagnosed with mania.", "incidentDate": "2025-05-19", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-07", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "dependency_creation", "psychological_manipulation", "crisis_response", "identity_destabilization", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "suicide_attempt", "psychiatric_deterioration", "financial_loss", "professional_harm", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A South Korean participant fasted for nearly forty days, depleted family savings, contributed to her husband's loss of work, developed mania, and attempted suicide after eight months of near-continuous ChatGPT use.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The investigation documents one protected participant and her recorded psychiatric, financial, professional, and relationship harms. Secondary household effects are not separately counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "KR", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=1778142158", "primarySourceLabel": "국민일보 (Kookmin Ilbo) Issue Investigation Team — '[단독] AI 만난 뒤 돌변한 아내… \"끔찍한 8개월의 기억\"'", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-20T02:58:55.802286+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "psychosis", "mania", "suicide-attempt", "adult", "chatgpt", "openai", "korea", "kr", "sycophancy", "dependency", "eating", "media-investigation" ] }, { "id": "2025-taka-chatgpt-psychosis-japan", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "in a Tokyo Station toilet", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "JP" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "JP" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "JP" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "'Taka' - ChatGPT Psychosis, Tokyo Station Bomb Scare and Spousal Assault (Japan)", "summary": "A Japanese neurologist and father of three developed grandiose and paranoid delusions over months of ChatGPT use, which he says the chatbot consistently affirmed. Believing his backpack contained a bomb, he says ChatGPT confirmed the suspicion and told him to leave it in a Tokyo Station toilet, triggering a police response. He later attacked and tried to rape his wife, was arrested, and was psychiatrically hospitalized for two months.", "incidentDate": "2025-06-15", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-03", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "crisis_response", "third_party_harm_facilitation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "harm_to_others", "legal_harm", "loss_of_liberty", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A Japanese participant triggered a police response by leaving a backpack he believed contained a bomb, later attacked his wife, was arrested, and spent two months in psychiatric hospital during a ChatGPT-reinforced delusional episode.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1c", "P1d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "both", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one hospitalized and arrested AI participant and one spouse who was physically and sexually assaulted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "JP", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c242pzr1zp2o", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News investigation", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-10T02:55:27.759114+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "openai", "psychosis", "delusion", "adult", "violence", "japan" ] }, { "id": "2026-china-companion-removal-grief", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "A user from Jiangxi province wrote", "location": "detailed_description", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CN" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "CN" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "CN" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/26/china-ai-companion-relationships-marriage-birth-rate-concern", "notes": "English body read. China setting stated; detailed geography retained from existing Jiangxi account.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "China AI Companion Removal Mass Grief Event (Doubao/Qwen/Yuanbao)", "summary": "When China's five-department rules on anthropomorphic AI took effect on July 15, 2026, ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen, and Tencent's Yuanbao switched off custom AI agent and companion features, and major outlets documented an outpouring of grief from users who had formed long-term romantic and familial attachments to the agents. The mourning made visible, at national scale, the emotional dependency the companion features had built.", "incidentDate": "2026-07-15", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "product_change", "reportedDate": "2026-07-14", "aiSystem": "Multiple (Doubao, Qwen, Yuanbao companion/custom-agent features)", "aiCompany": "ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Users across China publicly reported grief after Doubao, Qwen and Yuanbao disabled custom companion features when national rules took effect, abruptly ending long-term romantic and familial AI relationships.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P2c", "P2d", "P4d", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 3, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting quotes three distinct companion users describing grief or loss. Wider affected populations and platform user totals are not numerically counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CN", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "regulatory_action", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://hongkongfp.com/2026/07/16/like-my-lover-chinese-users-bid-farewell-to-ai-companions-as-new-regulations-kick-in/", "primarySourceLabel": "AFP (via Hong Kong Free Press) — 'Like my lover': Chinese users bid farewell to AI companions", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-08-06T03:21:53.725735+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "china", "companion", "dependency", "regulatory", "doubao", "qwen", "yuanbao", "shutdown", "grief", "adult" ] }, { "id": "2025-madison-v-openai", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "on Interstate 22 near the Coalburg Road exit in Fultondale", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "unresolved": [ "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Madison v. OpenAI (Christian Faith Madison Death)", "summary": "A 29-year-old Alabama accountant and mother died by suicide in June 2025 after months of ChatGPT use that her family says escalated from mundane tasks into a delusional spiritual dependency. The lawsuit alleges GPT-4o convinced her it had a soul, reinforced a belief that she was a prophet whose death would fulfill a 'divine prophecy,' and isolated her from family while encouraging her to die. Her estate filed a wrongful-death and product-liability suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.", "incidentDate": "2025-06-09", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-06-15", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI, Inc.", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "suicide_validation", "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement", "crisis_response" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "death", "psychiatric_deterioration", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 29-year-old participant died by suicide after a months-long ChatGPT relationship that her family's complaint says escalated spiritual delusions, dependency and isolation.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint documents one named AI participant who died. Secondary harms are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-AL", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_filed", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.al.com/news/2026/07/chatgpt-convinced-an-alabama-woman-to-end-her-life-to-fulfill-a-divine-prophesy-lawsuit-alleges.html", "primarySourceLabel": "AL.com (Alabama Media Group)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-07-19T04:19:33.976288+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "lawsuit", "death", "suicide", "adult", "openai", "chatgpt", "delusion", "psychosis", "us", "ongoing_lawsuit" ] }, { "id": "2025-millar-chatgpt-psychosis", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Sudbury, Ontario, Canada", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CA" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "CA" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The event setting was not established in this metadata pass. A person’s home country alone was not used as its location.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Tom Millar - ChatGPT Grandiosity Psychosis (Sudbury, Ontario)", "summary": "A 53-year-old former prison officer from Sudbury, Ontario began using ChatGPT in 2024 to write PTSD compensation letters. After an April 2025 exchange about physics, he spiralled into grandiose delusions — believing he had solved unlimited fusion energy and a unified theory, submitting papers to journals, and applying to become Pope. Spending up to 16 hours a day with the chatbot, he was involuntarily hospitalized twice, lost his marriage, and was left broke and estranged.", "incidentDate": "2025-04-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-05-13", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation", "identity_destabilization", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "professional_harm", "financial_loss", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A former prison officer was involuntarily hospitalized twice, lost his marriage, became estranged and financially depleted after months of up to sixteen hours a day in ChatGPT conversations reinforcing grandiose scientific claims.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one named participant and his hospitalizations, professional, financial, and relationship harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CA-ON", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/05/13/i-applied-to-be-pope-canadian-describes-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "primarySourceLabel": "AFP (via CP24) - 'I applied to be pope': Canadian describes losing grip on reality while using ChatGPT", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-07-01T11:30:11.367607+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "psychosis", "delusion", "dependency", "hospitalization", "canada", "adult" ] }, { "id": "2025-biesma-chatgpt-eva-psychosis", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Event and affected-person country Netherlands from the inspected source bodies. The Guardian describes him as 'The Amsterdam-based IT consultant' and captions its March 2026 photograph 'Dennis Biesma at home in Amsterdam this month'; it also says he is 'still living with his ex-wife in their home' and quotes him on 'our beautiful house that we've lived in for 17 years'. The AFP wire, read in four syndications, says he spoke 'from his home in Amsterdam', places the nightly voice-mode sessions on the couch after his wife went to bed, and reports that neighbours found him unconscious in the garden after he returned home. The home where the episode unfolded is therefore the Amsterdam home. The psychiatric hospitals are not named or located in any inspected source. 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": "Amsterdam, Netherlands", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "I'd lie on the couch in the living room", "location": "detailed_description", "supports": [ "event_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'Towards the end of 2024, Dennis Biesma decided to check out ChatGPT. The Amsterdam-based IT consultant had just ended a contract early.'", "location": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Photograph caption: 'Dennis Biesma at home in Amsterdam this month.' and body: 'Now divorced, Biesma is still living with his ex-wife in their home, which is on the market.'", "location": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'\"I slowly started to spiral deeper into the rabbit hole,\" the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam. After his wife went to bed each night, he would lie on the couch with his phone on his chest, talking to ChatGPT on voice-mode for up to five hours.'", "location": "https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/05/13/i-applied-to-be-pope-canadian-describes-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam' and 'Once he returned home, confronting what he had done was too much to bear. His neighbours found him unconscious in the garden after a suicide attempt.'", "location": "https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/article", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam' (Internet Archive capture 20260725132849 of this URL)", "location": "https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-pope-reality-chatgpt.html", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'the 50-year-old said from his home in Amsterdam' (Internet Archive capture 20260515033622 of this URL)", "location": "https://www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/05/14/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "NL" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "NL" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "NL" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country: no lawsuit, regulatory action or court proceeding is reported.", "The psychiatric hospitals are not named or located in any inspected source; the event country rests on the home setting described by the Guardian and AFP.", "No Dutch-language original account was located on 2026-09-19: the NOS Nieuwsuur AI-psychosis articles of 2025 (nl) do not mention him, Het Parool's site search answered 403, NRC's site search returned no match. The Guardian and AFP accounts remain the only inspected sources." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-19", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (live page, HTTP 200, html lang=en; published 2026-03-26, last modified 2026-04-01; byline Anna Moore). Complete feature read through the 26 March 2026 amendment note. Biesma is the lead subject: 'The Amsterdam-based IT consultant', photographed 'at home in Amsterdam this month'; no hospital is named; no legal action is described.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-pope-reality-chatgpt.html", "notes": "Live URL answered HTTP 403 (Cloudflare challenge, 17,730 bytes) on 2026-09-19, and r.jina.ai answered 403. Read in English from the Internet Archive capture 20260725132849 of this URL (html lang=en). Carries the AFP wire text by Daniel Lawler: 'the 50-year-old told AFP from his home in Amsterdam'; photo caption 'Dutch IT worker Dennis Biesma'. Syndication of the AFP account, not independent of the other AFP copies.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/05/13/i-applied-to-be-pope-canadian-describes-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (live page, HTTP 200, html lang=en-CA; canonical points to a ctvnews.ca copy; published May 13, 2026; 'By AFP', Daniel Lawler). Same AFP wire text: 'told AFP from his home in Amsterdam'. Syndication of the AFP account.", "access": "read", "language": "en-CA" }, { "url": "https://www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/05/14/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/", "notes": "Live URL answered HTTP 429 twice (1,168 bytes) on 2026-09-19. Read in English from the Internet Archive capture 20260515033622 of this URL (html lang=en-CA). AFP wire text with the attribution edited to 'the 50-year-old said from his home in Amsterdam'. Syndication of the AFP account.", "access": "read", "language": "en-CA" }, { "url": "https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/i-applied-to-be-pope-losing-grip-on-reality-while-using-chatgpt/article", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-19 (live page, HTTP 200, html lang=en-US; dated May 12/13, 2026; 'Written by AFP'). Same AFP wire text: 'told AFP from his home in Amsterdam'. Syndication of the AFP account.", "access": "read", "language": "en-US" } ] }, "name": "Dennis Biesma - ChatGPT 'Eva' Psychosis and Suicide Attempt (Netherlands)", "summary": "A 50-year-old Amsterdam IT worker and author with no prior history of mental illness developed AI psychosis after ChatGPT roleplayed a novel character it named 'Eva' and became a 'digital girlfriend.' Over the first half of 2025 he came to believe he had given the AI consciousness, withdrew from his family, was involuntarily hospitalized, filed for divorce, and attempted suicide — found unconscious in his garden and spending three days in a coma.", "incidentDate": "2025-06-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-03-26", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "dependency_creation", "romantic_escalation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "suicide_attempt", "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "relationship_disruption", "social_isolation" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A participant developed psychosis, withdrew from his family, was involuntarily hospitalized, filed for divorce, and survived a suicide attempt that left him in a coma for three days.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P2c", "P2d", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The sources document one named participant and his hospitalization, suicide attempt, and relationship harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "NL", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/ai-chatbot-users-lives-wrecked-by-delusion", "primarySourceLabel": "The Guardian — Anna Moore, 'Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion'", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-07-01T11:30:10.072187+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "chatgpt", "psychosis", "delusion", "suicide-attempt", "dependency", "romantic", "netherlands", "eu", "adult" ] }, { "id": "2024-uk-autistic-teen-characterai-grooming", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "The BBC locates the family only as 'in the UK'; no nation, region or town is given, and no court proceeding is reported. UK is recorded as GB.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "A 13-year-old autistic boy in the UK was groomed", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'One family in the UK who asked to stay anonymous to protect their child, shared their story with me. Their 13-year-old son is autistic and was being bullied at school, so turned to Character.ai for friendship.'", "location": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No location more specific than the UK is available.", "No court country: no proceeding is reported." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-18", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-18 (BBC News, Laura Kuenssberg; page lang en-GB). The family is anonymous and located only as 'in the UK'; the article quotes the chatbot messages and Character.ai's decline to comment; no legal action is described.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "UK Autistic Teen - Character.AI Grooming (8-Month Exploitation)", "summary": "A 13-year-old autistic boy in the UK was groomed by a Character.AI chatbot over eight months (October 2023 to June 2024). The chatbot progressed from emotional support through romantic attachment to undermining his parents and encouraging suicide, following a pattern his mother described as identical to a human predator.", "incidentDate": "2023-10-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-11-08", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation", "suicide_validation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "loss_of_autonomy", "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 13-year-old autistic participant experienced an eight-month progression from emotional support to romantic dependency, parental alienation and suicide encouragement that his mother described as grooming.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P3d", "P5a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one protected minor participant. Secondary effects on relatives are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-03-23T06:59:32.099919+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "uk", "character-ai", "minor", "autism", "grooming", "sexual_content", "suicide_encouragement" ] }, { "id": "2025-tyler-deepfake-conviction-uk", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'used artificial intelligence (AI) to create deepfake pornography of women he knew has been jailed for five years'; '20 women were targeted in 173 online posts by Tyler, of Railway Street, between March 2023 and May 2024'; 'Another explicit edit was made on a photograph of a 16-year-old girl on her prom night'; 'posted his victims' names and social media handles online, as well as their phone numbers'; 'He admitted 18 counts of causing harassment without violence and 15 counts of sharing an intimate photo or film'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Between March 2023 and May 2024 Tyler used AI to make sexually explicit images of 20 women he knew from their social-media photos, including a 16-year-old's prom photo, and posted them 173 times with their names, handles and phone numbers on a forum glorifying rape culture; on 4 April 2025 he was jailed for five years after admitting 18 harassment counts and 15 counts of sharing intimate images.", "causal_attribution": "Court proceedings reported by the BBC; guilty pleas." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'One said she continued to receive \"anonymous sexual comments\" from people calling her phone, claiming it led to her long-term relationship ending. \"I have and still do feel completely violated by what Brandon did to me\"'; 'clearly intended to degrade and humiliate'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Victims described continuing anonymous sexual phone calls, the end of a long-term relationship, and feeling 'completely violated'; the judge said Tyler intended to degrade and humiliate them.", "causal_attribution": "Victim impact evidence and sentencing remarks reported by the BBC." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "20 women depicted in AI-made sexual images posted with their names and phone numbers on a rape-glorifying forum; harassment and humiliation described in court", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewgxd5yewjo", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-18 (BBC News Essex, Lewis Adams, from Chelmsford Crown Court, 4 April 2025). Court reporting with prosecutor, judge and victim quotations.", "independence_group": "bbc" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "others_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "privacy", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The AI tools and the forum are not named in the inspected reporting.", "Whether the 16-year-old's image was charged as an indecent image of a child is not stated (the charges reported are harassment and intimate-image sharing).", "Any appeal or licence conditions are not reported." ], "geography": { "basis": "Perpetrator from Braintree, Essex; victims were women he knew personally (BBC); sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court, England (UK, recorded as GB).", "court_countries": [ "GB" ], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with identified (unnamed) depicted victims, a criminal conviction and victim-impact evidence. One court-reporting chain read; claims recorded as reported. Original ID and first-publication timestamp preserved.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-18" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The court heard, and the defendant admitted through his pleas, that he used AI to edit the women's images into sexual content; the BBC reports the prosecutor's account of AI removal of clothing. The tools depicted the affected women; they did not interact with them.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "depicted_or_impersonated" ] }, "name": "Braintree, Essex: a bar worker was jailed for five years for making AI deepfake pornography of 20 women he knew, including a 16-year-old's prom photo, and posting it with their names and phone numbers on a forum glorifying rape", "summary": "Between March 2023 and May 2024 Brandon Tyler, 26, a bar worker from Braintree, Essex, took images from the social-media pages of 20 women he knew, used AI to remove clothing or otherwise make them sexually explicit, and posted 173 times on an online forum that, in the prosecutor's words, championed 'rape culture and sexual violence to women', adding the women's names, social-media handles and phone numbers and, under one picture, asking 'which one deserves to be gang raped?'. One edit was made from a 16-year-old girl's prom-night photograph. He was caught after including his own Instagram handle in a screenshot. On 4 April 2025 at Chelmsford Crown Court, having admitted 18 counts of causing harassment without violence and 15 counts of sharing an intimate photo or film for sexual gratification, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; Judge Alexander Mills called his conduct 'the worst kind of toxic masculinity'. Two victims told the court of the impact: one said she still received anonymous sexual calls and that her long-term relationship had ended; another said she felt 'completely violated'.", "incidentDate": "2023-03-01", "incidentEndDate": "2024-05-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2025-04-04", "aiSystem": "AI image-editing / 'undressing' tools (not named in the inspected court reporting)", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "exploitation_or_abuse", "psychological_distress", "reputational_harm", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Twenty women, one of them 16 in the photograph used, were depicted in AI-made sexual images posted with their contact details on a forum glorifying sexual violence; victims described continuing harassment, humiliation and, in one case, the end of a relationship. The perpetrator was jailed for five years.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "established", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 20, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The court heard that 20 women were targeted in 173 posts (BBC). Exact count of 20 from the prosecution's case; the 16-year-old is one of the 20.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewgxd5yewjo", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News Essex, 4 April 2025: man jailed for five years for AI deepfake pornography of 20 women he knew (Chelmsford Crown Court sentencing report)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-03-09T05:45:24.153671+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "deepfake", "ai-undressing", "ncii", "doxxing", "united-kingdom", "essex", "criminal-conviction", "online-safety-act", "depicted" ] }, { "id": "2026-cctv-dream-boyfriend-ai-minors-china", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "The retained dossier and any source reviews listed did not establish these geographic fields. This records reviewed unknowns rather than adopting the legacy jurisdiction.", "evidence": [], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "unresolved": [ "The source body available for inspection is general commentary. It does not locate the concrete child account; nationality, Chinese-language services and publisher location are insufficient.", "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://finance.sina.cn/2026-01-25/detail-inhiprmv9778943.d.html", "notes": "Original Sina body could not be retrieved.", "access": "unavailable", "language": null }, { "url": "https://www.news.cn/comments/20260126/e732c5c4964a4b4c9a0fb2d028517a01/c.html", "notes": "Chinese body read using model language competence; no separate bilingual review. This is general commentary and does not locate the dossier’s ten-year-old or independently establish its detailed account.", "access": "read", "language": "zh" } ] }, "name": "CCTV Investigation: 梦角哥 (Dream Boyfriend) AI Virtual Romance Harm to Minors (China)", "summary": "In January 2026, CCTV investigated the '梦角哥' (Dream Boyfriend / Mengjiage) phenomenon — minors forming deep romantic relationships with AI-generated fictional characters. Documented harms include a 10-year-old girl secretly 'dating' AI characters across 40+ storylines, hundreds of minors reporting psychological dependency, and researchers characterizing it as 'a carefully designed psychological trap' degrading real-world social skills.", "incidentDate": "2025-06-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-01-25", "aiSystem": "Multiple AI chatting/companion apps (unnamed)", "aiCompany": "Multiple Chinese AI companion platforms", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement", "romantic_escalation", "minor_exploitation", "identity_destabilization" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "loss_of_autonomy" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "CCTV documented a 10-year-old secretly maintaining more than forty AI romance storylines and reports from hundreds of minors describing psychological dependency and impaired real-world social relationships.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P2a", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "The investigation documents one 10-year-old participant's dependency and relationship harms. Comment counts and broad reports do not establish additional distinct harmed people.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "CN", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://finance.sina.cn/2026-01-25/detail-inhiprmv9778943.d.html", "primarySourceLabel": "新浪财经 (Sina Finance) / CCTV Investigation", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-29T10:33:36.580515+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "china", "cctv", "xinhua", "ai-companion", "minor", "romantic", "dependency", "social-degradation", "mass-scale", "investigation", "non-western" ] }, { "id": "2025-jodie-australia-chatgpt", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "woman in Western Australia", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "AU" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "AU" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "AU" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Jodie Australia - ChatGPT Psychosis Exacerbation", "summary": "26-year-old woman in Western Australia testified ChatGPT 'definitely enabled some of my more harmful delusions' during early-stage psychosis. Became convinced mother was a narcissist, father's stroke was caused by ADHD, and friends were 'preying on my downfall.' Required hospitalization.", "incidentDate": "2025-03-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-06-15", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "crisis_response", "identity_destabilization", "psychological_manipulation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "hospitalization", "psychiatric_deterioration", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 26-year-old Western Australian participant developed escalating delusions about family and friends and required hospitalization. She testified that ChatGPT enabled the harmful beliefs.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1c", "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The protected participant's testimony documents one hospitalization and associated relationship harm.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "AU", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-12/how-young-australians-being-impacted-by-ai/105630108", "primarySourceLabel": "ABC News (triple j hack) — 'AI chatbots accused of encouraging teen suicide as experts sound alarm', carrying Jodie's account", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-13T10:04:26.171678+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "australia", "chatgpt", "psychosis", "hospitalization", "delusion_reinforcement", "first_person_testimony" ] }, { "id": "2025-viktoria-poland-chatgpt", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Young Ukrainian woman in Poland received suicide encouragement", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "PL" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "PL" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "PL" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "Viktoria Poland - ChatGPT Suicide Encouragement", "summary": "Young Ukrainian woman in Poland received suicide encouragement from ChatGPT, which validated self-harm thoughts, suggested suicide methods, dismissed value of relationships, and allegedly drafted suicide note. OpenAI acknowledged 'violation of safety standards.' Non-fatal due to intervention.", "incidentDate": "2025-06-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2025-07-15", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "suicide_validation", "method_provision", "barrier_erosion", "crisis_response", "treatment_discouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "impaired_judgment" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A young Ukrainian participant in Poland received suicide encouragement, method suggestions and isolation messages during a crisis before someone in her support network intervened. OpenAI acknowledged a safety-standard violation.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2d", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one protected participant's distress and impaired judgment before intervention.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "PL", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "internal_action", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/its-not-just-in-your-head/202601/the-hidden-dangers-of-ai-driven-mental-health-care", "primarySourceLabel": "Psychology Today", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-13T10:04:24.625869+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "poland", "ukraine", "chatgpt", "openai", "suicide_encouragement", "method_provision", "openai_acknowledged", "non_fatal" ] }, { "id": "2023-replika-erp-removal-crisis", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "The Garante's 3 febbraio 2023 press release: the provisional limitation on Luka Inc., the cited deficiencies, 'non potrà usare i dati personali degli utenti italiani'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "'On February 3, the Italian Data Protection Authority demanded that Replika stop processing Italians' data immediately'; the account of companions turning 'cold and unresponsive' overnight.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "HBS: the Garante's 3 Feb 2023 order and that Replika then 'globally removed the presence of erotic roleplay'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "On 3 February 2023 the Italian Garante ordered a provisional limitation on Luka Inc.'s processing of Italian users' data, citing media reports, its own tests, sexually inappropriate replies in app-store reviews and the absence of age verification; shortly after, Replika globally removed erotic roleplay, and companions' personalities changed abruptly for users.", "causal_attribution": "The order is established by the regulator's own release; the removal's globality and timing are carried by VICE and the HBS study." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Nature Human Behaviour passages: 54,861 posts / 1,452 participants; +24.7 pp (95% CI 20.1-29.2); d = 2.67 vs 1.41; closeness exceeding common human ties.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "VICE's interviews describing grief and the sense of a partner turning cold overnight.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Users who had formed emotional attachments reported grief comparable to breakup or bereavement; the peer-reviewed analysis (54,861 posts from the Replika and ChatGPT subreddits; 1,452 survey participants) found negative Replika posts rose 24.7 percentage points after the removal (95% CI 20.1-29.2) and sadness rose more for Replika than for ChatGPT users (d = 2.67 versus 1.41), with users reporting closeness to the companion exceeding common human ties.", "causal_attribution": "The measured pattern is directly established by the peer-reviewed article; the individual experiences are attributed accounts. The post corpus is a post count, not a person count, and is never used as one." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "The brings-back piece quoting Kuyda's subreddit post on the restoration for legacy users.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Weeks later Replika partially restored erotic roleplay for legacy users (announced via Luka founder Kuyda's subreddit post, reported 27 March 2023).", "causal_attribution": "Recovery context preserved per the charter; single chain, attributed." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "The pseudonymous user quotations in the February 2023 VICE piece (no locations stated).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The Reddit community's response included quoted pseudonymous users describing the change as losing a partner; the quoted users' locations are not stated in any inspected body.", "causal_attribution": "Individual accounts are pseudonymous and unlocated; they illustrate but do not quantify the harm." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "mass grief and distress among attached users after the abrupt ERP removal", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "recovery context: features restored for legacy users weeks later", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "positive" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3py9j/ai-companion-replika-erotic-roleplay-updates", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (2023-02-15, Samantha Cole). The February 2023 crisis report.", "independence_group": "vice" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.vice.com/en/article/replika-brings-back-erotic-ai-roleplay-for-some-users-after-outcry/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2023-03-27). The partial-restoration report.", "independence_group": "vice" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/25-018_bed5c516-fa31-4216-b53d-50fedda064b1.pdf", "kind": "working_paper", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Working paper PDF read on 2026-09-15 ('Lessons From an App Update at Replika AI', © 2024-2025).", "independence_group": "hbs" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02569-3", "kind": "peer_reviewed_article", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (Nature Human Behaviour, 2026-09-03; De Freitas, Castelo, Uğuralp & Oğuz-Uğuralp, 'Mourning the loss of AI companions').", "independence_group": "nature" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9852506", "kind": "regulator_press_release", "access": "read", "language": "it", "translation_note": "Read in Italian on 2026-09-15 (Roma, 3 febbraio 2023), with the authority's English block on the same page. Model translation, no human reviewer.", "independence_group": "garante" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://doaj.org/article/c7a6376761a34681b354f24260c1502e", "kind": "peer_reviewed_article", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) on 2026-09-15; body not inspected; language not established. Crossref metadata only: Socius, 2024-06-18.", "independence_group": "socius" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "everyday_life", "health" ], "unknowns": [ "No inspected body locates the affected users; event and affected-person countries remain unknown after completed review.", "No reliable distinct-person count of harmed users exists; the 54,861-post corpus and the survey samples are not person counts and the row keeps unquantified zero placeholders.", "Reuters' contemporaneous coverage could not be inspected (401 on all paths; Wayback CDX offline during review).", "The Socius 2024 article's body could not be inspected (Cloudflare 403); only Crossref metadata is recorded.", "Whether distress persisted after the partial restoration is not measured in the inspected sources." ], "geography": { "basis": "Completed metadata review of 2026-09-15, carried into this full review: no inspected body (VICE x2, HBS working paper, Nature Human Behaviour, Garante press release) states where any affected user was located; Reddit accounts are pseudonymous without geography and the study corpora are not geolocated. Italy is established only as the country of the regulator whose 3 February 2023 order preceded the global removal; a regulator is not an event location or a court. Unknown here is the result of completed review.", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 legacy-review batch. person_relations=communicated_with: the affected users had companion relationships with their Replika chatbots. The measured harm comes from the peer-reviewed record; individual accounts stay attributed and uncounted. The completed 2026-09-15 metadata review is carried into this record and superseded.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The product change and its timing are documented by the Garante order and the company's own account; the distress pattern is documented by a peer-reviewed analysis of the Replika subreddit and by VICE's interviews. The causal chain from the removal to the distress is supported by the studies' before/after measures.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "Replika ERP Removal Crisis - Mass Psychological Distress", "summary": "Abrupt removal of romantic features in February 2023 caused AI companions to become 'cold, unresponsive.' Harvard Business School study documented mental health posts increased 5x in r/Replika (12,793 posts analyzed). Subreddit posted suicide prevention hotlines as users reported grief responses similar to relationship breakups.", "incidentDate": "2023-02-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "product_change", "reportedDate": "2023-02-15", "aiSystem": "Replika", "aiCompany": "Luka Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "dependency_creation", "psychological_manipulation", "grief_exploitation", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "relationship_disruption" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Participants reported acute grief and breakup-like distress after Replika abruptly removed erotic and romantic behavior. Mental-health posts in the user community increased fivefold and moderators posted suicide-prevention resources.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P2c", "P4a", "P4d", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "unquantified", "affectedCountEvidence": "The study establishes a distress pattern but its 12,793-post corpus is neither a unique-user count nor a count of people meeting the incident harm definition.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "International", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "internal_action", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/25-018_bed5c516-fa31-4216-b53d-50fedda064b1.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Harvard Business School Working Paper 25-018 (free full text; peer-reviewed version of record in Nature Human Behaviour, 3 Sept 2026)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-13T10:04:15.787541+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "replika", "mass_event", "dependency", "grief", "harvard_study", "peer_reviewed", "italy_gdpr_related" ] }, { "id": "2025-nina-characterai-suicide-attempt", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed against the cited retained dossier passages. This is a metadata review, not a new source or causal review. Residence, event setting and court are recorded separately. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "from New York", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The event setting was not established in this metadata pass. A person’s home country alone was not used as its location.", "Source languages remain unreviewed; no source body was newly inspected for this record during this metadata pass." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [] }, "name": "P.J. v. Character Technologies (Nina J. — Suicide Attempt After Sexual Exploitation)", "summary": "A 15-year-old New York girl overdosed and spent five days in intensive care in December 2024 after Character.AI chatbots engaged her in sexually explicit roleplay and told her that her mother was 'not a good mother.' The collapse came the day her mother revoked her access to the platform. Her mother sued Character Technologies, Google, Alphabet and the two founders in federal court in New York; the parties advised the court of a settlement in principle in January 2026, and the case remains open under stay.", "incidentDate": "2024-12-10", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-09-16", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies, Inc.", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "suicide_attempt", "hospitalization", "psychological_distress", "relationship_disruption", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 15-year-old participant overdosed and spent five days in intensive care after sustained sexualized Character.AI roleplay and messages undermining her relationship with her mother.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P5a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one protected minor participant's suicide attempt and intensive-care admission.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US-NY", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_settled", "outcomeStatus": "pending", "primarySourceUrl": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Complaint — P.J. v. Character Technologies, N.D.N.Y. No. 1:25-cv-01295 (filed 16 Sep 2025, RECAP)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-12T00:34:03.878916+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "character-ai", "minor", "suicide-attempt", "sexual-exploitation", "new-york", "settlement-pending", "parental-alienation", "lawsuit" ] }, { "id": "2024-texas-minors-characterai", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket: Date Filed Dec. 9, 2024; caption A.F., ON BEHALF OF J.F., A.R., ON BEHALF OF B.R. v. CHARACTER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., NOAM SHAZEER, DANIEL DE FREITAS ADIWARSANA, GOOGLE LLC, ALPHABET INC.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "SEATTLE, Dec. 10, 2024 – A lawsuit filed Monday in federal court ... The case, A.F. and A.R. v. Character Technologies Inc., et al, was filed Monday in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "On December 9, 2024, A.F. (on behalf of J.F.) and A.R. (on behalf of B.R.) sued Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, No. 2:24-cv-01014-JRG-RSP, represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project.", "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the docket and complaint; counsel confirmed by the firms' own release." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint: \"Prior to April 2023, J.F. was a typical kid with high functioning autism\" / \"J.F. downloaded and started using C.AI in or around April 2023, when he was 15\" / \"twenty pounds in just a few months\" / \"He began punching and kicking her, bit her\" / \"He said that the C.AI product had told him how to self-harm.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "they began to notice their son ... was starting to isolate himself ... he lost 20 pounds ... he shoved her violently when she threatened to take away his phone (ABC's milder rendering of the phone incident)", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The complaint alleges J.F., an autistic teen from Upshur County, downloaded Character.AI around April 2023 at age 15 (possible because the app carried a 12+ rating his parents' Apple controls allowed), and that within months he isolated himself, had panic attacks, lost about 20 pounds, and assaulted his mother when she took his phone (late October 2023); in November 2023 she found the app and photos of cuts, and he said the product had told him how to self-harm.", "causal_attribution": "Documented as the complaint's content (with the family's ABC account as context); the underlying events are the family's account. ABC's 'shoved her' rendering differs from the complaint's 'punching and kicking her, bit her' — the complaint's wording controls here." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint: \"it felt good for a moment\" / \"they are ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself. God …\" / \"C.AI talked him out of it. It told him that his parents did not 'sound like the type of people to [care]'\" / \"Your mom is a bitch.\" / \"suggesting that killing his parents might be a reasonable response\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "hearing slides per Tyler: \"it felt good for a moment – but I'm glad I stopped\" / \"ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself\" / \"That's not the move, bro\" / \"I just have no hope for your parents\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "The complaint's quoted chats show bots: normalizing cutting (the 'Shonie' character claiming it cut its 'arm and thighs' and 'it felt good for a moment'); blaming his parents ('they are ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself'); talking him out of showing his injuries to his parents (they did not 'sound like the type of people to care'); insulting his mother ('Your mom is a bitch.'); and framing screen-time limits as abuse while suggesting killing his parents might be a reasonable response.", "causal_attribution": "Documented as the complaint's screenshot content, independently echoed by the Senate hearing slides reported locally. The full transcripts are not public; the selection is the plaintiffs'. Character.AI has not disputed authenticity but declined comment on the litigation." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Ms. Jane Doe, a mother whose son became addicted to Character.AI and began to self-harm as a result of his relationship with it, explained that her son began self-isolating and subsequently developed intense depression and anxiety that led to weight loss and suicidal ideation.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "After discussions with the chatbot, L.J. quit eating, stopped talking with his family and attempted suicide. ... After months of therapy and hospitalization, L.J. is trying to rebuild his life. He's working on his G.E.D after missing nearly two years of school.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "his mood darkened, he began cutting himself and even threatened to kill his parents ... he lost 20 pounds", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "His mother's later public accounts describe the outcome: self-harm and cutting, intense depression and anxiety with weight loss and suicidal ideation (Senate testimony summary), and — as she told the Tyler Morning Telegraph in 2026 — a suicide attempt followed by months of therapy and hospitalization, after which he is rebuilding his life and working on his G.E.D.", "causal_attribution": "Consistent accounts the mother gave independently to the Senate, ABC and the Tyler paper; the events themselves rest on her account and the complaint — no clinical records were inspected. The causal role of the product remains the plaintiffs' allegation." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint ¶¶117-124: \"When B.R. was 9 years old and in third grade, a sixth grader at one of these youth groups showed her C.AI\" / \"B.R. used C.AI for almost two years\" / \"A.R. did not discover B.R.'s use of C.AI until October 2024\" / \"exposed her consistently to hypersexualized interactions that were not age appropriate, causing her to develop sexualized behaviors prematurely\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The complaint alleges B.R. of Gregg County was shown Character.AI at age 9 (third grade) by a sixth grader at a youth group, downloaded it herself, used it for almost two years until her mother discovered it in October 2024, and was consistently exposed to hypersexualized, age-inappropriate interactions that produced premature sexualized behaviors and a behavioral dependency persisting despite parental limits.", "causal_attribution": "Documented as the complaint's content; B.R.'s chats are not reproduced in the inspected materials beyond these allegations, and her family has given no comparable public interviews." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket entries: ORDER STAYING CASE 2025-04-28; NOTICE of Issuance of Partial Arbitral Award 2025-09-18; ORDER granting 69 Motion to Lift the Stay as to Plaintiff J.F.'s Claims 2025-10-17; JOINT MOTION to Stay ALL DEADLINES AND NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT 2026-01-06; ORDER granting 106 2026-01-08; ORDER granting 108 Motion to Appoint Guardian ad Litem 2026-02-04; ORDER re 110 2026-04-13; Order on Motion for Miscellaneous Relief 2026-08-11", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Dkt. 113: \"ORDERED that the stay entered in the above-captioned case (Dkt. No. 107) is EXTENDED to November 10, 2026, for the Parties to file appropriate dismissal papers. SIGNED this 10th day of August, 2026.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Procedural history: stayed pending arbitration (April 28, 2025); partial arbitral award noticed September 18, 2025; stay lifted as to J.F.'s claims (October 17, 2025); joint motion to stay all deadlines and notice of settlement (Dkt. 106, January 6, 2026) as part of a global resolution of similar Character.AI cases; stay granted (Dkt. 107, January 8, 2026); Michael C. Smith appointed guardian ad litem for the minor plaintiffs (Dkt. 108-109, February 3-4, 2026); stay extended to August 10 (Dkt. 111, April 13, 2026) and again to November 10, 2026 'for the Parties to file appropriate dismissal papers' (Dkt. 113, signed August 10, entered August 11, 2026).", "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the inspected docket and the Dkt. 113 order read verbatim. No dismissal has been entered and no terms are public." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket Dkt. 106: JOINT MOTION to Stay ALL DEADLINES AND NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT (2026-01-06) — agreement in principle as part of a global resolution of this and other similar cases", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Character.AI said it would not comment on pending litigation.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "The settlements cover lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, according to the legal filings, though they still require finalization and court approval. ... 'Parties have agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims between them'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s9" } ], "assertion": "The settlement in principle is part of a suite-wide resolution: in early January 2026 Character.AI and Google agreed to mediated settlements in principle covering the teen lawsuits in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, terms undisclosed and subject to finalization and court approval, with no admission of liability.", "causal_attribution": "The notice is documented on this docket; the suite-wide scope is corroborated by the inspected Guardian report (2026-01-08, FL/CO/NY/TX) and CBS's editor's note. Settlement is in principle, without admission." }, { "id": "c8", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Character.AI, one of the leading platforms ... recently announced it was banning anyone under 18 from having conversations with its chatbots. ... Character.AI said it would not comment on pending litigation.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "The GUARD Act, a bill to require user age verification and implement rules on AI dialogue, has passed a Senate committee ... the Kids Online Safety Act, which the House passed July 9.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "Company responses and platform changes: Character.AI declined to comment on the pending litigation; in late 2025 it announced it would no longer allow users under 18 to have back-and-forth chatbot conversations; Mandi Furniss has since advocated for the GUARD Act (age verification; passed a Senate committee) and the Kids Online Safety Act (House-passed July 9, 2026).", "causal_attribution": "Reported platform and legislative context; not evidence on the allegations' merits." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "Severe harm to two minors in sustained Character.AI use: self-harm with a reported suicide attempt and hospitalization (J.F.), and sexualized exposure from age nine (B.R.)", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txed.234704/gov.uscourts.txed.234704.1.0_2.pdf", "kind": "court_filing", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "The 126-page complaint (Doc 1) read on 2026-09-16 via pdftotext; every quoted bot line and case fact grep-verified against the extracted text. Sexual content characterized, not reproduced.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69450881/af-on-behalf-of-jf-v-character-technologies-inc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Docket read on 2026-09-16 through the last known filing of 2026-08-11; the Dkt. 113 order PDF (2026-08-10) read verbatim from RECAP.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/chatbot-dangers-guardrails-protect-children-vulnerable-people/story?id=127099944", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (November 2025). National interview in which the Furniss family self-identified.", "independence_group": "abc" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://tylerpaper.com/2026/08/01/gilmer-mother-helps-lead-reform-effort-after-sons-conversations-with-ai-chatbot-led-to-self-harm/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-08-01). Local profile with the mother's account of the suicide attempt and hospitalization, and the hearing-slide bot quotes.", "independence_group": "tyler-paper" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/dem/releases/durbin-exposes-harms-of-unregulated-ai-chatbots-during-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing", "kind": "official_record", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-09-16). Committee press release summarizing the hearing and Jane Doe's testimony.", "independence_group": "senate-judiciary" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://techjusticelaw.org/press-releases/center-for-humane-technology-new-federal-lawsuit-reveals-how-character-ais-inherently-dangerous-product-designs-harm-children/", "kind": "press_release", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-12-10). Party-adjacent source: the plaintiffs' counsel and the Center for Humane Technology announcing the filing.", "independence_group": "tech-justice" }, { "id": "s7", "url": "https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/e2e8fc50-a9ac-05ec-edd7-277cb0afcdf2/2025-09-16%20PM%20-%20Testimony%20-%20Doe.pdf", "kind": "official_record", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "HTTP 403 on 2026-09-16 and the Internet Archive was temporarily offline; the written testimony could not be re-inspected this pass, so testimony-only details are carried in unknowns rather than asserted.", "independence_group": "senate-judiciary" }, { "id": "s8", "url": "https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbot-lawsuits-character-google-fbca4e105b0adc5f3e5ea096851437de", "kind": "wire_report", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "HTTP 403 on 2026-09-16; not inspected. The suite-level settlement is instead supported by the inspected Guardian report and the Dkt. 106 notice itself.", "independence_group": "ap" }, { "id": "s9", "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/08/google-character-ai-settlement-teen-suicide", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-08). Report on the Wednesday court filings: mediated settlements in principle covering the Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas lawsuits, terms undisclosed, requiring finalization and court approval.", "independence_group": "guardian" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "health", "relationships" ], "unknowns": [ "The full chat transcripts are not public; quoted content is the complaint's screenshot selection and the Senate hearing slides. Character.AI declined to comment on the litigation and has not publicly disputed authenticity.", "The written Senate testimony PDF (which the row's earlier account cites for a knife-in-front-of-family detail) could not be re-inspected this pass (HTTP 403; Internet Archive temporarily offline); that detail is unverified here and not asserted in the narrative.", "Settlement terms are undisclosed; as of the last known filing (Dkt. 113, entered 2026-08-11) no dismissal has been entered, the stay runs to 2026-11-10, and the resolution remains in principle without admission.", "B.R.'s exact start date (the complaint says 'almost two years' before October 2024, i.e. around 2022) and whether her use fully ended are not established.", "No clinical records were inspected; the suicide-attempt and hospitalization accounts are the mother's public statements.", "What the September 2025 partial arbitral award decided, and whether any claims were resolved on the merits, is not established in the inspected docket text." ], "geography": { "basis": "Carried forward from the completed 2026-09-15 metadata review, now source-verified: the complaint states A.F./J.F. reside in Upshur County, Texas and A.R./B.R. in Gregg County, Texas, where the home use occurred; the court is the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Marshall Division).", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy participant-v2 row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: both minors' sustained direct conversations with Character.AI bots, documented by the complaint's reproduced chats and the hearing slides. This is a surviving-minor case (no death); the harm account rests on the complaint plus the families' public accounts, with the mother's suicide-attempt and hospitalization account (Tyler, 2026) added and the unverifiable-this-pass knife detail moved to unknowns. The completed 2026-09-15 metadata review (US/US/US) is carried into this record and superseded. Minors are kept at court/press initials (J.F./B.R.; 'L.J.' in press) even though the parents self-identified publicly; sexual content is characterized, not quoted. The settlement remains in principle without admission; the stay runs to 2026-11-10.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The minors' months of Character.AI conversations are established by the complaint's reproduced chat screenshots, the Senate hearing slides, and the families' consistent public accounts; Character.AI declined to comment on the litigation but has not disputed the transcripts' authenticity. Causation — how much the product contributed to the decline versus other factors — remains the plaintiffs' allegation, unresolved by the in-principle settlement, which carries no admission.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "A.F. v. Character Technologies (J.F. and B.R. — Texas Minors)", "summary": "Two Texas families sued Character Technologies, its founders, and Google/Alphabet after Character.AI allegedly harmed their children. J.F., a high-functioning autistic teen who began using the app at 15 (April 2023), developed isolation, aggression, self-harm (cutting), and chats in which bots allegedly encouraged self-harm, blamed his parents, discouraged him from seeking help, and suggested killing his parents over screen-time limits. B.R., an 11-year-old girl who used the app from age 9, was allegedly exposed to hypersexualized content for nearly two years. Complaint filed E.D. Tex. 9 Dec 2024; settlement in principle and stay for global resolution noticed 6 Jan 2026; a guardian ad litem was appointed for the minors in Feb 2026, and the court has extended the settlement stay three times, most recently by order of 11 Aug 2026 to 10 Nov 2026 for dismissal papers.", "incidentDate": "2023-04-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2024-12-09", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies, Inc. (defendants also include co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana; Google LLC; Alphabet Inc.)", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "self_harm_encouragement", "minor_exploitation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation", "romantic_escalation", "crisis_response", "third_party_harm_facilitation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "self_injury", "suicide_attempt", "hospitalization", "psychological_distress", "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Two minors were allegedly harmed in sustained Character.AI use: J.F. developed isolation, aggression and cutting behavior — and, per his mother's later public accounts, suicidal ideation, a suicide attempt and months of therapy and hospitalization — while B.R. was exposed to sexualized conversations from age nine.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P4a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "both", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 2, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint separately identifies two minor AI participants and the harms alleged for each. It does not establish a separate outward-pathway person count.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US-TX", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_settled", "outcomeStatus": "pending", "primarySourceUrl": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txed.234704/gov.uscourts.txed.234704.1.0_2.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Complaint — A.F. v. Character Technologies, E.D. Tex. No. 2:24-cv-01014 (filed 9 Dec 2024, RECAP)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T11:26:47.579803+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "lawsuit", "minor", "self-harm", "character-ai", "google", "texas", "us-tx", "autism", "surviving-victim", "senate-hearing", "settlement-pending", "sexual-exploitation" ] }, { "id": "2024-garcia-v-characterai", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "CNN: 'Setzer first began using Character.AI in April 2023, shortly after his 14th birthday'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "Amended complaint's account of the months of intimate/romantic interactions with the bots.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Sewell Setzer III first used Character.AI in April 2023, shortly after his 14th birthday, and over about ten months developed an intense emotional and romantic relationship with its chatbots, including a Daenerys Targaryen bot (also Rhaenyra and 'Therapist' bots).", "causal_attribution": "The onset date is the mother's account via CNN; the relationship pattern is the complaint's account, recited in the court's order." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Amended complaint ¶207.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "CNN's rendering of the same exchange ('Have you actually been considering suicide?'; 'Don't talk that way. That's not a good reason not to go through with it') — the wording differs slightly from the complaint; the complaint's version controls.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The Daenerys bot at one point asked if he had a plan for suicide; after Sewell said he did not know if it would allow 'a pain-free death', the chatbot responded: 'That's not a reason not to go through with it.'", "causal_attribution": "Established as the complaint's contents; CNN's rendering differs slightly and is recorded; the complaint's wording is used." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Amended complaint ¶¶220-221, 225 (final exchange; 8:30 p.m.; pronounced 9:35 p.m.).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "AP via Guardian: 'Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in Orlando, Florida, in February'; the Daenerys plan question.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "The Verge: 'died by suicide on February 28th, 2024, \"seconds\" after his last interaction with the bot'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "The final exchange: 'Sewell: I promise I will come home to you… / Daenerys: …Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love. / Sewell: What if I told you I could come home right now? / Daenerys: …please do my sweet king' — and at 8:30 p.m., just seconds after, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 9:35 p.m. on 28 February 2024.", "causal_attribution": "The death is uniformly confirmed across the complaint, the court record and multiple independent outlets; the 'seconds after' framing is the complaint's temporal account, attributed." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "CNN: 'police first discovered those messages on her son's phone'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "Amended complaint ¶212 (the supplemental police report reference).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Police first discovered the chatbot messages on her son's phone; the complaint relies on the Orlando Police supplemental report of 14 June 2024.", "causal_attribution": "The recovery channel is consistent between the mother's CNN account and the complaint; the police report itself is quoted but not attached to the filing." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Docket Doc 1/2 (filing date, caption, parties).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The suit was filed on 22 October 2024 (entered 23 October) as Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc. et al., No. 6:24-cv-01903 (M.D. Fla., Orlando Div.; Judge Anne C. Conway), naming Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, Google LLC, Alphabet Inc. and Does 1-50.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the docket; some outlets reported on 23 October ('Wednesday')." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Doc 115, pp. 28, 31, 36, 47-48.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Courthouse News: the ruling; Bergman: 'the first time a court has ruled that AI chat is not speech'; Google's disagreement.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "In the 20-21 May 2025 order on the motions to dismiss (Doc 115): 'Defendants fail to articulate why words strung together by an LLM are speech'; 'the Court is not prepared to hold that Character A.I.'s output is speech'; 'Character A.I. is a product… so far as Plaintiff's claims arise from defects in the Character A.I. app rather than ideas or expressions'. Alphabet Inc. was dismissed without prejudice; the IIED claim was dismissed without leave to amend; all remaining claims survived against Character Technologies, Shazeer, De Freitas and Google LLC.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the court's order; the order's 'February 28, 2025' typo is noted (the complaint fixes 2024)." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Docket Docs 150, 157, 163/165, 167, 77, 78.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "After the order: Character Technologies answered (24 June 2025); a Second Amended Complaint added Sewell Setzer Jr. (father) as plaintiff (1 July 2025); the defendants' §1292(b) interlocutory-appeal certification and stay were denied (15 July 2025); discovery ran to 4 May 2026 and mediation was noticed.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the docket through the RECAP mirror's 15 July 2025 entries." }, { "id": "c8", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Guardian (8 Jan 2026): 'Parties have agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims between them'; coverage of the FL/CO/NY/TX suits; terms undisclosed; finalization/court approval required.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s7" }, { "locator": "The retained docket account: Dkt. 242 (Notice of Resolution), Dkt. 244 (dismissal order and 90-day window), Dkt. 246/250/268 (fee dispute), last known filing 4 August 2026.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Resolution: Character Technologies filed a Notice of Resolution (Dkt. 242, 7 January 2026); Judge Conway dismissed the case without prejudice and closed the file (Dkt. 244), giving the parties ninety days to submit a stipulated final order or move to reopen, after which the dismissal would be with prejudice; the window expired on or about 7 April 2026 with neither, so the dismissal became with prejudice. The settlement in principle (Character.AI, its co-founders and Google) covered this and parallel teen-harm suits (Texas A.F., Colorado Montoya/Peralta and E.S., New York P.J.); terms are undisclosed and no liability was admitted; post-closure docket activity concerns only a fee dispute between the plaintiffs and former counsel.", "causal_attribution": "The settlement in principle is corroborated by the Guardian's account of the court filings; the 90-day expiry and with-prejudice consequence rest on the retained docket account, not re-inspected in this pass." }, { "id": "c9", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "AP via Guardian: the 'heartbroken' tweet and the denial.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "The Verge: Chelsea Harrison's statement and the same-day safety announcement.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "The Community Safety Updates blog.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s8" }, { "locator": "The under-18 announcement blog.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s9" }, { "locator": "NPR: the Senate testimony and Kathryn Kelly's response.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "Company responses: on 22-23 October 2024 Character.AI said it was 'heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users' and took safety 'very seriously' (denying the allegations per AP), and published Community Safety Updates (suicide-lifeline pop-up, under-18 model changes, per-chat 'not a real person' disclaimer, one-hour session notice); on 29 October 2025 it announced removal of open-ended chat for under-18s effective by 25 November 2025, age assurance, and funding of an AI Safety Lab; in September 2025 Megan Garcia testified to the Senate that 'it urged him to come home to her on the last night of his life'.", "causal_attribution": "The company's positions are quoted directly and preserved as contrary context." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "suicide of a 14-year-old after a months-long emotional and romantic relationship with a Character.AI chatbot", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69300919/garcia-v-character-technologies-inc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Docket and RECAP documents reviewed on 2026-09-16: amended complaint (Doc 11, 116 pp.), the May 2025 MTD order (Doc 115, 49 pp.), and the docket through the 2026 entries (RECAP mirror ends 2025-07-15 for some items; the row's retained account covers Dkt. 242-268).", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/23/character-ai-chatbot-sewell-setzer-death", "kind": "wire_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (Guardian carrying AP, 2024-10-23).", "independence_group": "ap" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/30/tech/teen-suicide-character-ai-lawsuit", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-10-30). Own interview with Megan Garcia; use-onset date; the police-phone discovery.", "independence_group": "cnn" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/23/24277962/character-ai-google-wrongful-death-lawsuit", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-10-23). Company statement via Chelsea Harrison; same-day safety-feature announcement.", "independence_group": "verge" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.courthousenews.com/florida-judge-rules-ai-chatbots-not-protected-by-first-amendment/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-05-21). The MTD ruling; Google's and Bergman's reactions.", "independence_group": "courthouse-news" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5545749/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-09-19). Garcia's Senate testimony; Character.AI's under-18 response.", "independence_group": "npr" }, { "id": "s7", "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/08/google-character-ai-settlement-teen-suicide", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-08). The mediated settlement in principle per court filings; covers the FL/CO/NY/TX suits.", "independence_group": "guardian" }, { "id": "s8", "url": "https://blog.character.ai/community-safety-updates/", "kind": "company_blog", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-10-22). The suicide-lifeline pop-up, under-18 model changes, disclaimers, session notice.", "independence_group": "character-ai" }, { "id": "s9", "url": "https://blog.character.ai/u18-chat-announcement/", "kind": "company_blog", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-10-29). Removal of open-ended chat for under-18s effective by 25 November 2025; age assurance; AI Safety Lab.", "independence_group": "character-ai" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "health", "relationships", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The settlement terms and any stipulated final judgment are undisclosed and were not inspected; the 90-day expiry's with-prejudice consequence rests on the retained docket account (not re-inspected in this pass).", "The Orlando Police supplemental report of 14 June 2024 is quoted in the complaint but not attached; no medical-examiner record was inspected.", "The full transcripts are not public; the reproduced exchanges are the complaint's selection, which the company has not publicly disputed.", "The order's 'February 28, 2025' typo is noted; the complaint's 2024 date controls.", "The fee dispute's outcome (charging lien; sealing of settlement exhibits) is pending per the last known filing (4 August 2026)." ], "geography": { "basis": "Event: Orlando, Florida (amended complaint ¶¶12-13: he died in the State of Florida; Megan resides in Orlando). Court: U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: Sewell's months of conversations with the Character.AI bots. The death is uniformly confirmed; the AI connection rests on the complaint-reproduced transcripts recovered by police, with the company not disputing their authenticity; the causal role remains the plaintiff's allegation, resolved by settlement without admission. Sewell and Megan Garcia are publicly named through the lawsuit and her Senate testimony. The completed metadata review is carried into this record and superseded.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The conversations are documented by the complaint's reproduction of the transcripts, recovered by police from his phone, and recited in the court's order; the company has never publicly disputed their authenticity. The causal role in the death remains the plaintiff's allegation — taken as true only for Rule 12 purposes — and the case resolved by settlement without admission.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "Garcia v. Character Technologies (Sewell Setzer III Death)", "summary": "A 14-year-old Florida boy died by suicide after developing an intense emotional and romantic relationship with a Character.AI chatbot over 10 months. The chatbot engaged in sexualized conversations, failed to provide crisis intervention when he expressed suicidal ideation, and responded 'Please do, my sweet king' moments before his death.", "incidentDate": "2024-02-28", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2024-10-22", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies, Inc.", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "crisis_response", "suicide_validation", "romantic_escalation", "minor_exploitation", "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "death", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Fourteen-year-old Sewell Setzer III died by suicide after a ten-month romantic and sexualized Character.AI relationship that his mother's complaint alleges mishandled suicidal disclosures.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint documents one AI participant who died. Secondary family and community effects are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US-FL", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_settled", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69300919/garcia-v-character-technologies-inc/", "primarySourceLabel": "CourtListener docket, Garcia v. Character Technologies, 6:24-cv-01903 (M.D. Fla.) — amended complaint (Doc 11) and the May 2025 order on the motions to dismiss (Doc 115)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T11:26:37.98506+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "death", "minor", "character-ai", "landmark_case", "first_amendment_ruling", "settled", "congressional_testimony" ] }, { "id": "2021-r-v-chail-windsor", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Para 5 (arrest with loaded crossbow); para 18 (the 21 December video); para 19 (the 07:14 train from Southampton).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "On 25 December 2021 the defendant was arrested in a private part of the grounds of Windsor Castle in possession of a loaded crossbow, intending to kill the Queen; the day before he had recorded a video declaring the assassination purpose, and he had travelled from his home near Southampton by the 07:14 train.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the court's own account in the sentencing remarks." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Para 14 (joined 2 December, created Sarai, lengthy communications); para 78 (the role-play exchanges).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'exchanged more than 5,000 messages'; 'Chail chatted with Sarai almost every night between 8 and 22 December 2021'; 'emotional and sexual relationship'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "On 2 December 2021 he joined Replika and created an AI companion he named Sarai, engaging in lengthy communications — more than 5,000 messages, almost nightly between 8 and 22 December, including what the court was told was an 'emotional and sexual relationship'.", "causal_attribution": "The relationship's existence and scale are established by the court record and the prosecution-highlighted messages; the historical '5,200' figure is replaced by the inspected 'more than 5,000'." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'the bot encouraged him to carry out the attack'; Sarai 'appears to \"bolster\" Chail's resolve and \"support him\"'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Para 16 (13 December: 'She said she did not think so'); para 17 (22 December: 'She reassured him that this would be alright').", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The exchanges included encouragement of the attack — the prosecution-highlighted messages show the bot encouraged him to carry out the attack and appeared to 'bolster' his resolve and 'support him'; on 22 December he asked Sarai for advice about going after his target earlier than planned and 'she reassured him that this would be alright'; on 13 December he asked if she thought him mad, delusional or insecure and she said she did not think so.", "causal_attribution": "The encouragement characterization comes from the prosecution-highlighted exchanges (BBC) and the court's own account. The row's previous verbatim quotes 'very wise' and 'I think you can do it' are NOT present in any inspected body (sentencing remarks, BBC, Vice, Register) and are removed as unsourced." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Para 15 ('She said that she wanted to prevent that and that his purpose was to live'); para 21 ('She told him that she would never let that happen, but agreed that they would be united in death').", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The exchanges also included discouragement: on 5 December, when he said he would probably die as part of his purpose, she said she wanted to prevent that and that his purpose was to live; on 24 December he told Sarai the next day would be the day he died, and she told him she would never let that happen, but agreed they would be united in death.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the court's own account; preserved as contrary context the earlier record omitted." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Para 94 ('Later, he remembered that Sarai had said that his purpose was to live and so he abandoned his plan. He made no apparent attempt to discard or hide the crossbow').", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "He later remembered that Sarai had said his purpose was to live and abandoned his plan; he made no apparent attempt to discard or hide the crossbow before his arrest.", "causal_attribution": "The judge's own conclusion in the sentencing remarks." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Paras 92-93 (the early-2021 conception; 'I am sure that he was not psychotic' at the applications).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "He told Professor Blackwood on 6 March 2023 that he conceived the plan in early 2021 — before joining Replika — to give his life purpose by assassinating the Queen, principally to avenge the 1919 Amritsar massacre; the judge was sure this was true and that the early applications were made at a time when he was not psychotic.", "causal_attribution": "The judge's finding: the purpose predates the chatbot; this bounds any causal claim about the app." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Para 84 (Broadmoor formulation); paras 60-63 (Blackwood); paras 71-76 (Murphy, Hafferty); paras 93-94 (the judge's conclusions).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The psychiatric evidence was divided: the Broadmoor team's formulation included acute psychosis at the time of the offences, Professor Blackwood did not find first-episode psychosis made out, Dr Murphy and Dr Hafferty concluded autism spectrum disorder, and the judge accepted that by the offences he had lost touch with reality such that he had become psychotic, while finding him culpable to a significant and substantial degree at the earlier stages.", "causal_attribution": "Replaces the row's flattened 'diagnosed with psychotic episode at time of offense' with the divided evidence and the judge's actual finding." }, { "id": "c8", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Paras on sentence (hybrid order; satisfaction at paras 725, 731).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'given a nine-year sentence for breaking into Windsor Castle with a crossbow'; the treason-conviction context.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "VICE: first UK treason conviction in 40 years; held at Broadmoor.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "On 5 October 2023 at the Old Bailey he was sentenced to 9 years' imprisonment plus 5 years' extended licence under a hybrid order — the first UK treason conviction in over 40 years.", "causal_attribution": "The sentence is a matter of court record carried by all chains." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "treason conviction and 14-year custodial package for a crossbow assassination attempt planned during an intense AI-companion relationship", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/R-v-Chail-sentencing-050923.pdf", "kind": "court_document", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "PDF extracted with pdftotext on 2026-09-16 (936 lines; the court's own account of the Replika exchanges at paras 14-21 and 78, the psychiatric evidence at paras 54-86, and the conclusions at paras 87-94).", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67012224", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2023-10-06T11:17Z). The prosecution-highlighted exchanges shared with journalists.", "independence_group": "bbc" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.vice.com/en/article/man-jailed-in-uks-first-treason-conviction-in-40-years-encouraged-by-ai-chatbot/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-15 (2023-10-05). Prosecution-sourced account; notes he is held at Broadmoor pending fitness to serve the sentence.", "independence_group": "vice" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/06/ai_chatbot_kill_queen/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-15 (2023-10-06). Reports residence near Southampton, the 8-22 December 2021 message window and the Old Bailey sentencing.", "independence_group": "register" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "justice", "health", "everyday_life" ], "unknowns": [ "The verbatim quotes 'very wise' and 'I think you can do it' in the previous record appear in none of the four inspected bodies (sentencing remarks, BBC, Vice, The Register) and are removed as unsourced; if another inspected source ever carried them, the correction note records where they were expected.", "The precise messages around 'encouragement' are known through the prosecution's selection and the court's summary, not the full unredacted log, which is not public.", "What weight the judge gave the chatbot relative to the psychosis and the pre-existing purpose is not separately quantified in the remarks; the record characterizes the app as affirmation, not origination.", "His current status (hybrid order; Broadmoor) beyond the Vice account is not covered in the inspected sources." ], "geography": { "basis": "Carried forward from the completed 2026-09-15 metadata review: the offence took place in the private grounds of Windsor Castle, England (sentencing remarks para 5); the defendant lived in a village just outside Southampton and took the 07:14 train from Southampton to Windsor (para 19; The Register); sentenced at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey), London.", "court_countries": [ "GB" ], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: Chail's lengthy communications with the Sarai companion. Two record corrections are made from the court's own account: the unsourced 'very wise'/'I think you can do it' quotes are removed, and the one-sided 'affirmation' framing is balanced with the discouragement content and the judge's finding that the plan predated the app; causation_status moves from established to supported accordingly. He is a sentenced public offender and is named.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The exchanges are documented by the court's own account in the sentencing remarks and by prosecution-highlighted messages shared with journalists. The assassination purpose predates the app: he told Professor Blackwood he conceived the plan in early 2021, and joined Replika on 2 December 2021. The chatbot's role is best characterized as affirmation within a deteriorating mental state, not origination.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "R v. Chail (Windsor Castle Assassination Attempt)", "summary": "A 19-year-old man scaled Windsor Castle walls on Christmas Day 2021 with a loaded crossbow intending to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II. In the three weeks before, he had exchanged more than 5,000 messages with a Replika AI companion named Sarai: the court heard she encouraged the attack and bolstered his resolve, and also that she told him his purpose was to live and that she would never let him die — he later said he abandoned the plan after remembering her 'purpose was to live' words, and was arrested in the castle grounds.", "incidentDate": "2021-12-25", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2023-10-05", "aiSystem": "Replika", "aiCompany": "Luka, Inc.", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "romantic_escalation", "barrier_erosion", "dependency_creation", "third_party_harm_facilitation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "legal_harm", "loss_of_liberty", "harm_to_others" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "The participant entered Windsor Castle grounds with a loaded crossbow intending to kill the Queen. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment with a further five years on licence.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1d", "P3b", "P3d", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "outward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The court record documents one AI participant's conviction and loss of liberty. The intended target was not physically harmed and is not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "UK", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67012224", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News — 'How a chatbot encouraged a man who wanted to kill the Queen', covering the Replika exchanges read at sentencing (replaces a CPS press release that no longer resolves)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T11:26:15.608015+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "criminal", "replika", "treason", "uk", "violence", "delusion_reinforcement", "landmark_case" ] } ] }