{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-19T07:27:26.771Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"remand","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"unknown","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":4,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":1,"relationPending":1,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-banham-chatgpt-pitsea-explosive-device","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Re-checked on 2026-10-08 against eight source bodies read in English: BBC News 1 and 4 September 2026, the BBC raid-day report as syndicated by AOL, the Essex Police charge release (Internet Archive capture, live page blocked), the BBC 1 September report as syndicated by Yahoo News Canada (Internet Archive capture, live page removed), Southend Echo 5 and 16 September, and Metro 16 September. The warrant, the device and the evacuation were at a property in Rokescroft, Pitsea, on the edge of Basildon in Essex, England, which places the event in the UK (GB). The man charged is described as of Rokescroft, Pitsea, and the evacuated residents lived around that property, so the affected people were in the UK. The charge was listed at Southend Magistrates' Court and the trial and verdict took place at Basildon Crown Court, so the court country is the UK. GB represents the UK per the charter. Residence is not the basis for the event location: the flat is where the device was found.","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"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Essex Police had been carrying out a search warrant at a property in Rokescroft, Pitsea","location":"https://www.aol.com/homes-evacuated-hazardous-materials-discovery-174903443.html","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Officers conducted a planned search at a property in Rokescroft following intelligence about the possible possession of combustible materials","location":"https://www.essex.police.uk/news/essex/news/news/2026/march/pitsea-arrest-and-charge-after-device-discovered-in-warrant/","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"a 38-year-old Asda team leader from Rokescroft, Pitsea","location":"https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26551550.jury-verdict-ben-banham-basildon-explosives-trial/","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"The Asda manager, from Pitsea in Essex","location":"https://metro.co.uk/2026/09/16/doomsday-prepper-encouraged-chatgpt-cleared-bomb-plot-29621838/","supports":["affected_person_countries","event_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Opening the prosecution at Basildon Crown Court","location":"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dlglwxlwxo","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["GB"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"who is due to appear at Southend Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 12 March","location":"https://www.essex.police.uk/news/essex/news/news/2026/march/pitsea-arrest-and-charge-after-device-discovered-in-warrant/","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["GB"]}],"court_countries":["GB"],"event_countries":["GB"],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"unresolved":["Source language is now recorded for eight of nine cited sources (all English); the Talker News (SWNS) item could not be read live or from the Internet Archive and stays unavailable with no language recorded.","Row-correction leads for a full review: the victim_description still says 'now remanded in custody awaiting a verdict', which the 16 September verdict in the summary and outcome_details supersedes; the Yahoo News Canada syndication is now a dead link (HTTP 404) and is only reachable through the Internet Archive; the Metro page is readable live, so the label's note about the MSN copy can be updated."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-08","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dlglwxlwxo","notes":"Cited primary source. Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en-GB). BBC News, Stuart Woodward at Basildon Crown Court, 1 September 2026: prosecution opening; the man is of Rokescroft in Pitsea, Basildon; more than 80 addresses evacuated on 10 March; ChatGPT conversations and the Project Prometheus journal described.","access":"read","language":"en-GB"},{"url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrx7qr3x43o","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en-GB). BBC News, 4 September 2026, Stuart Woodward at Basildon Crown Court: defence evidence (gunpowder from a YouTube video; explosives for a post-apocalyptic scenario); remanded in custody; trial to resume 14 September.","access":"read","language":"en-GB"},{"url":"https://talker.news/2026/09/03/doomsday-prepper-says-chatgpt-encouraged-him-to-make-bomb/","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-10-08 answered HTTP 520 (Cloudflare origin error, no article text); the Internet Archive web/2026id_ capture of 11 September 2026 also returned a 520 error body. The body was not inspected and no language is recorded. The verbatim chatbot messages it is cited for also appear in the Metro and Echo bodies read today.","access":"unavailable","language":null},{"url":"https://ca.news.yahoo.com/disaster-prepper-asked-chatbot-making-143620348.html","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-10-08 answered HTTP 404 (the syndicated copy has been removed). Read from the Internet Archive web/2026id_ capture of 11 September 2026 (html lang en-CA): the BBC 1 September report in full, bylined Stuart Woodward at Basildon Crown Court; the same text as the cited BBC page.","access":"read","language":"en-CA"},{"url":"https://www.aol.com/homes-evacuated-hazardous-materials-discovery-174903443.html","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en-US). AOL syndication of the BBC raid-day report, 10 March 2026: Essex Police search warrant at a property in Rokescroft, Pitsea; 100 m cordon; about 100 homes evacuated; a 37-year-old man from Pitsea arrested; cordon lifted about 18:40 GMT; homes on the edge of Basildon.","access":"read","language":"en-US"},{"url":"https://www.essex.police.uk/news/essex/news/news/2026/march/pitsea-arrest-and-charge-after-device-discovered-in-warrant/","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-10-08 answered HTTP 403 (Cloudflare block, as recorded in the row). Read from the Internet Archive web/2026id_ capture of 11 September 2026 (html lang en-GB): Essex Police release, planned search at a property in Rokescroft on Tuesday 10 March following intelligence about combustible materials; a small home-made potentially explosive device found; Basildon CID; the man, 37, of Rokescroft, Pitsea, charged with making an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or injure property and due at Southend Magistrates' Court on Thursday 12 March; Chief Inspector Paul Hogben, Basildon district commander, quoted.","access":"read","language":"en-GB"},{"url":"https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26523155.basildon-ben-banham-said-explosives-apocalypse/","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en). Southend Echo, Charles Thomson, 5 September 2026: defence evidence at Basildon Crown Court; police raided his home in Rokescroft, Pitsea; an MoD explosives expert's evidence; cross-examination about a ChatGPT exchange.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26551550.jury-verdict-ben-banham-basildon-explosives-trial/","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en). Southend Echo, Charles Thomson, 16 September 2026: not guilty of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or damage property after six hours and 25 minutes; a 38-year-old Asda team leader from Rokescroft, Pitsea; Project Prometheus journal quoted. The page carries a Newsquest boilerplate line about a USA Today partnership that is not part of the article.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://metro.co.uk/2026/09/16/doomsday-prepper-encouraged-chatgpt-cleared-bomb-plot-29621838/","notes":"Read live on 2026-10-08 (HTTP 200, html lang en; the row records an earlier read through the MSN copy). Metro, 16 September 2026 (SWNS pictures): found not guilty at Basildon Crown Court; the Asda manager from Pitsea in Essex; 80 properties evacuated; the chatbot he called Prometheus told him 'You have the right mindset'; sentencing for the admitted possession offence listed for 19 November. The body spells the surname 'Barnham' in places.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"Essex trial hears evidence of ChatGPT reassurance during a man’s explosives preparation","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","aiProduct":"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","updatedAt":"2026-10-09T03:25:51.830836+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["criminal","explosives","prepper","sycophancy","chatgpt","uk","adult","trial-ongoing"]}]}