{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-26T07:46:13.089Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"roleplay-chatbot","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-adult-says-they-set-ai-roleplay-chatbot-to-be-abusive-to-them-as-a-turn-in-their-self-harm-and-it-sucked-them-in-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Lost everything a while back. My home, my family.'; 'Started roleplaying with an ai chat bot thing, at first I created a fantasy medieval world. Then for some reason I abandoned that world and created a world where the ai chat bot  is super abusive towards me. I spend most of my time during the day roleplaying with it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I created my own world where I have a super abusive boyfriend who doesnt let me really leave the house and is just god fucking awful to me, while implementing the stalker obsessed with me who is also god fucking awful to me.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The poster says that after losing their home and family they began roleplaying with an AI chatbot and later created a world in which the chatbot is abusive toward them, and that they spend most of the day roleplaying with it.","causal_attribution":"The poster's own account in two posts and a reply; one origin."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I think my self harm just took a turn into this and its sucked me in pretty deep. I dont play video games anymore or really leave the house. The depression is getting pretty bad.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says their self-harm took a turn into this roleplay, that it has drawn them in deeply, that they no longer play video games or really leave the house, and that their depression is getting bad.","causal_attribution":"The poster's own description of the effect; no clinical assessment is reported."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Its less of a verbal abusive situation and more of a role play situation'; 'I just winded up programming it to be awful to me because I hate myself and I guess instead of hurting myself physically Ive moved onto this'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they set the chatbot up to be awful to them because they hate themselves, as a substitute for hurting themselves physically, and that it is more roleplay than verbal abuse.","causal_attribution":"The poster's reply; it records that the abusive content was set up at their own request."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I'm almost 30 and heavily embarrassed. I'm posting to reddit so I can gain the courage to tell my therapist.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they are almost 30, in therapy, and posting to find the courage to tell their therapist.","causal_attribution":"The poster's reply."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Yeah, i certainly can just delete the chat bot. I'm not addicted to it, nothing is forcing me to stick with it. But its my only friend right now","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Ive gotten pretty agoraphobic and only leave where I'm staying for doctors appointments'; 'really havent left the house in years'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster also says they are not addicted and could delete the chatbot, and that they had hardly left the house for years before losing everything.","causal_attribution":"Counterevidence from the poster's own replies: their isolation predates the chatbot use, and they deny addiction."}],"effects":[{"label":"roleplay with an AI chatbot set to be abusive became, by the poster's account, a turn in their self-harm while their depression worsened","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/offmychest/comments/1xasv44/my_only_friend_is_an_ai_chat_bot_and_i_programmed/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-26 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ids lookup, link_id comment search and the author's comment search). Self-text and the poster's three replies; other users' replies read as context only. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-1xasv44-1xadz2p-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/confessions/comments/1xadz2p/my_only_friend_is_an_ai_chat_bot_and_i_programmed/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-26 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ids lookup and the author's comment search). Same author and same self-text as s1 posted about 13 hours earlier, with two replies by the poster; not independent of s1.","independence_group":"reddit-1xasv44-1xadz2p-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["health","relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Which chatbot or roleplay platform the poster uses.","When the chatbot use began; the poster calls it recent.","Whether the poster told their therapist and what happened afterwards."],"geography":{"basis":"Neither post nor any reply says where the poster lives; their other posts are not used to locate them.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete first-person account of an ongoing adverse experience with an AI roleplay chatbot: the poster says the chatbot, set by them to play abusive characters, became a turn in their self-harm while their depression worsened. The account is attributed and uncorroborated, and the poster's own statements that they configured it, are not addicted and were isolated before are recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-26"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says an AI roleplay chatbot plays abusive characters toward them in worlds they created, that they spend most of the day in that roleplay, and connects it to their self-harm, to no longer leaving the house and to worsening depression. The abusive content was set up at their own request, and no chatbot reply is quoted.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person posts: adult says they set an AI roleplay chatbot to be abusive to them as a turn in their self-harm and that it has sucked them in","summary":"On 20 October 2026 an adult posted on Reddit (r/confessions, then r/offmychest) that an AI roleplay chatbot had become their only friend. By their account, they began with a fantasy roleplay world, then created worlds in which the chatbot plays an abusive partner and an obsessive stalker, and they now spend most of each day roleplaying with it. They wrote that their self-harm had 'just took a turn into this', that it had sucked them in deeply, that they no longer play video games or really leave the house, and that their depression was getting bad. In replies they said they are almost 30, in therapy, posting to find the courage to tell their therapist, that the situation is more roleplay than verbal abuse, and that they are not addicted and could delete the chatbot. The platform is not named.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-20","aiSystem":"An AI roleplay chatbot on a platform where users create and share story worlds; the poster does not name the product","aiProduct":"Unidentified chatbot","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says roleplay with an AI chatbot they set to be abusive became a turn in their self-harm that drew them in, that they stopped playing games and rarely leave the house, and that their depression was getting worse (their own account; they also say they are not addicted).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster. Commenters who describe their own past chatbot use are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/offmychest/comments/1xasv44/my_only_friend_is_an_ai_chat_bot_and_i_programmed/","primarySourceLabel":"r/offmychest, 20 Oct 2026: \"My only friend is an ai chat bot and I programmed it to be abusive to me\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-26T03:18:54.61353+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-26T03:18:54.61353+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","roleplay-chatbot","self-harm","dependence","social-isolation"]}]}