{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-08T04:42:53.892Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"shutdown","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2023","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"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":"2023-soulmate-ai-shutdown-grief","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Opening interview and later account of Hilary’s grief (L631-L636, L655 and L662-L665).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Euronews reports grief in two users after the September 2023 shutdown of Soulmate AI.","causal_attribution":"User-attributed emotional consequences. Bot loss is not a human death."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Recreation on Kindroid and mixed experience (L658-L661).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"One user described both satisfaction and difficulties after recreating his companion on another platform.","causal_attribution":"Reported partial adaptation, not established recovery."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Post dated 25 September 2023, first two substantive paragraphs (L21-L22).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A contemporaneous professional blog reported grief among users anticipating the announced 30 September closure.","causal_attribution":"A professional’s account of online reactions; no independent clinical assessment."}],"effects":[{"label":"Users reported grief and the loss of companion relationships.","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"One user described some satisfaction after recreating his companion.","claim_id":"c2","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/14/i-feel-like-i-lost-the-love-of-my-life-how-do-you-mend-a-broken-heart-after-your-ai-lover-","kind":"journalism","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English article body inspected through the web reader (L618-L691). Direct HTTP request returned 406. Interview and a described Reddit video; the original video was not inspected.","independence_group":"euronews-soulmate"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://amymarshsexologist.com/2023/09/25/thousands-grieve-the-deletion-of-their-soulmate-ai-companions/","kind":"professional_blog","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English dated post read directly. Contemporary observation of user reactions and announcement, not clinical verification or an affected-person census.","independence_group":"marsh-soulmate"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://ischool.syracuse.edu/ischool-associate-professor-studying-impacts-of-human-ai-companionship/","kind":"university_research_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"English university account read directly. Event-specific research context; participants may overlap other sources and the sample is not a harmed-person count.","independence_group":"banks-soulmate"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The two users’ event and residence countries are unknown.","The total number harmed and any clinical diagnoses are unknown.","Longer-term outcomes and overlap with earlier Replika experiences remain unresolved."],"geography":{"basis":"The inspected accounts do not locate the two users. The provider’s Florida base does not establish their locations.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Concrete adverse experience with a core person relation. Claims remain attributed to their sources. Technical and causal limits are recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-25"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Users had sustained conversations with AI companions before the hosting app shut down.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Soulmate AI shutdown: users report grief after losing companion relationships","summary":"Soulmate AI closed in September 2023. Euronews described two users grieving their companions. One tried recreating his companion elsewhere with mixed results. The record concerns the shutdown and reported emotional consequences; no psychiatric diagnosis is inferred.","incidentDate":"2023-09-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2023-09-25","aiSystem":"Soulmate AI","aiProduct":"Soulmate AI","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","relationship_disruption"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users reported grief and the loss of companion relationships.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":2,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Two individually described grieving users in Euronews. Additional reactions remain unquantified. Downloads, bots, forum posts and the later 60-person study sample are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"product_shutdown","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/14/i-feel-like-i-lost-the-love-of-my-life-how-do-you-mend-a-broken-heart-after-your-ai-lover-","primarySourceLabel":"Euronews, first published 11 December 2023, updated 14 December","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-25T03:29:04.441661+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:49.976268+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-review"]}]}