{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-16T06:54:46.413Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"romance-deception","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"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-belo-horizonte-builder-travelled-2000-km-to-meet-ai-generated-persona-account-operator-says-it-is-ai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'O pedreiro começou a interagir nas redes sociais com o perfil'; 'Sempre oferecia para pagar minha passagem, me buscar em qualquer lugar, passar o endereço, e eram assim as propostas'; 'saí sexta-feira de Imperatriz (MA) e cheguei aqui [a Belo Horizonte] domingo (11)'; 'A viagem do pedreiro para BH, no entanto, ocorreu sem que ele tivesse o endereço dela.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The man says he began interacting with the account after its videos appeared in his feeds, that the profile kept private conversations with him and offered to pay his fare and collect him, and that he travelled by bus from Imperatriz without an address, leaving on a Friday and arriving in Belo Horizonte on Sunday 11 October 2026.","causal_attribution":"The man's own account to G1; the private messages were not published."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Com voz e traços humanos realistas, ela relata estar divorciada e à procura de um homem para morar em uma fazenda no interior.'; 'Eu gosto de ajudar, mas eu quero você mesmo para mim.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Eu quero que você venha pra cá pra viver vida de rei. Olha o tamanho dessa fazenda que vai ser sua'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The account's public videos show a woman with a realistic voice and human features who says she is looking for a man to live with her on a farm and promises to support him.","causal_attribution":"G1's description of the public videos; the videos were not viewed by the research agent."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Vim aqui para dizer o óbvio: sou feita de inteligência artificial. Nunca conversei com ninguém nesse perfil. O intuito foi ganhar engajamento para vendas.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'relatou que a conta foi estruturada em 2025 com o propósito de atrair potenciais compradores para mercadorias anunciadas online'; 'esse perfil nunca mandou mensagem para ninguém, nunca chamou ninguém para ir para Belo Horizonte'; 'Da mesma forma que eu uso isso, a inteligência artificial, para fazer vendas e ganhar uma renda'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The account's operator says the persona is made with artificial intelligence and was created for sales engagement, and denies that the profile messaged anyone or invited anyone to Belo Horizonte.","causal_attribution":"The operator's own statements, reported by two outlets; his denial of messaging is not independently checked."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Eu já andei com várias fotos, mostrando e perguntando se alguém conhecia essa pessoa e todos falaram que não. Então, eu me senti enganado'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In Belo Horizonte he showed her photos to people, found that nobody knew her and said he felt deceived.","causal_attribution":"The man's account; the deception by the persona's videos is his description of his experience."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'o homem foi orientado a recorrer à Unidade de Acolhimento e Atendimento ao Migrante da Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte'; 'a prefeitura emitiu uma passagem para ele'; 'A viagem ocorreu na tarde desta terça-feira (13).'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Belo Horizonte's social assistance service gave him guidance, food and a bath and issued a ticket home, and he left on 13 October 2026.","causal_attribution":"The city secretariat's note as reported by G1."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A Polícia Civil de Minas Gerais informou não ter registrado ocorrência do caso'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'A corporação ressaltou que, até o momento, não é possível afirmar que houve crime no caso do pedreiro'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Minas Gerais civil police said they had no report of the case and that it was not possible to say a crime had occurred.","causal_attribution":"Police statements as reported by G1; no investigation is reported."}],"effects":[{"label":"travelled more than 2,000 km to meet a persona that did not exist and felt deceived","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://g1.globo.com/mg/minas-gerais/noticia/2026/10/13/homem-viaja-mais-de-2-mil-km-entre-ma-e-mg-para-encontrar-pretende-virtual-mas-descobre-que-mulher-nao-existe-e-foi-criada-por-ia.ghtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"pt","translation_note":"Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-16 (HTTP 200); passages translated by the research agent; no human translation.","independence_group":"g1-minas-interview"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://g1.globo.com/mg/minas-gerais/noticia/2026/10/14/mulher-criada-por-ia-nega-em-video-ter-tido-conversas-privadas-e-ter-feito-convites-para-viagem-intuito-era-ganhar-engajamento.ghtml","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"pt","translation_note":"Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-16 (HTTP 200); passages translated by the research agent; no human translation. The report describes and quotes the operator's video; the video itself was not viewed.","independence_group":"account-operator-statement"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://agoralitoral.com.br/2026/10/15/criador-de-perfil-falso-com-inteligencia-artificial-confessa-medo/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"pt","translation_note":"Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-16 (HTTP 200); passages translated by the research agent; no human translation. The creator's quotes come from his statement to the press through a social network; which outlet first obtained them is not stated.","independence_group":"account-operator-statement"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Who wrote the private messages the man describes; the operator denies the profile sent any, and the messages have not been published.","Which AI tool generated the persona and on which platform the account ran; the sources name neither.","What the journey cost him; no amount is reported.","How long he interacted with the account before travelling."],"geography":{"basis":"He travelled from Imperatriz, Maranhão, to Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, and returned to his home town in Tocantins, as G1 reports. Where the persona's operator is based is not stated.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["BR"],"affected_person_countries":["BR"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published because the man's account to G1 connects his journey to the persona's videos, and the account's operator has publicly said the persona is made with artificial intelligence. The two G1 reports and Agora Litoral were read; the private messages and the operator's video were not available.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The account's own administrator posted a video in which the persona says it is made of artificial intelligence, and its creator told the press he built the account to attract buyers and that he uses artificial intelligence to make sales (an operator admission; the tool is not named and no technical analysis is reported). G1 describes the persona's public videos, in which a woman with a realistic voice and appearance says she wants a man to live with her on a farm, and the man says he began interacting with the profile after those videos appeared in his feeds and travelled to meet her. The AI-generated persona therefore spoke to him through its videos (communicated_with). The operator denies that the profile sent private messages, so the messages the man describes are not attributed to AI.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Brazilian builder travelled over 2,000 km to Belo Horizonte to meet a social-media woman who did not exist; the account's operator says the persona is AI-made","summary":"In October 2026 a 49-year-old builder travelled more than 2,000 km by bus from Imperatriz, in Maranhão, to Belo Horizonte to meet a woman he knew from a social-media account with about 300,000 followers. In the account's videos a woman with a realistic voice and appearance said she was looking for a man to live with her on a farm. He told G1 he began interacting with the profile after its videos appeared in his feeds, that it kept private conversations with him and offered to pay his fare, and that he travelled without an address. In Belo Horizonte he showed her photos to people and found that nobody knew her; he said he felt deceived. The city's social assistance service gave him food, a bath and a ticket home. A day later the account's administrator posted a video in which the persona says it is made of artificial intelligence, that it never conversed with anyone on the profile and that the aim was engagement for sales; the creator told the press he set up the account in 2025 to attract buyers. Who wrote the private messages the man describes is not established. Minas Gerais civil police said they had no report of the case and could not say a crime had occurred.","incidentDate":"2026-10-09","incidentEndDate":"2026-10-13","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-13","aiSystem":"AI-generated video persona of a woman on a social-media video account, which its operator says is made with artificial intelligence; the generation tool and the platform are not named","aiProduct":"Unidentified video tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the man's account to G1, he travelled more than 2,000 km by bus to meet a woman from AI-generated videos who did not exist, found himself in Belo Horizonte without an address, said he felt deceived, and received food and a ticket home from the city's social assistance service.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the builder who travelled to Belo Horizonte. He is counted as harmed by others' use of AI because he encountered the persona's videos; he did not use an AI tool himself. The account's followers are an audience and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"BR-MG","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://g1.globo.com/mg/minas-gerais/noticia/2026/10/13/homem-viaja-mais-de-2-mil-km-entre-ma-e-mg-para-encontrar-pretende-virtual-mas-descobre-que-mulher-nao-existe-e-foi-criada-por-ia.ghtml","primarySourceLabel":"G1 Minas Gerais: man travels more than 2,000 km and finds his 'virtual suitor' was created by AI (13 October 2026)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-16T03:07:41.147679+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T03:07:41.147679+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["brazil","minas-gerais","ai-generated-persona","romance-deception","social-media","travel"]}]}