{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T06:38:33.137Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"threat","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"minors","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":2,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":1,"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":"2025-deltona-florida-gaggle-alert-student-arrest-school-laptop-threat","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Deputies said a 15-year-old wrote a threat on his school laptop to bring a gun to ... and shoot another student.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The threat triggered a Gaggle alert, which notified the school resource deputy, who responded and detained the teen before he got on the bus to go home.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"That threat triggered a Gaggle alert and immediately notified the school resource deputy.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On 12 September 2025 a 15-year-old high school student in Deltona, Florida was detained after typing a threat on a school-issued laptop to bring a gun to school and shoot another student, and a Gaggle alert notified the school resource deputy, who detained the student before boarding the bus home.","causal_attribution":"Police account relayed by two outlets that trace to one Sheriff's Office statement. The alert is reported as the trigger of the deputy's response."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Both students were arrested on second-degree felony charges and transported to the Volusia Family Resource Center for processing.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"They will be charged with second-degree felony charges, VSO said.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The student was arrested on a second-degree felony charge.","causal_attribution":"Arrest follows the alert and detention in the police account. The source does not separate the alert from the content of the text as cause. Fox 35 says the students 'will be charged'; the filed charge is not confirmed."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The teen admitted he typed the threat, didn’t mean it, and was just angry about being picked on.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The student admitted typing the threat, said it was not meant, and said the motive was anger about being picked on.","causal_attribution":"Reported statement from the Sheriff's Office. It is not an independent account by the student or family."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"With the help of artificial intelligence , technology can dip into online conversations and immediately notify both school officials and law enforcement.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Associated Press reporting describes school-monitoring software 'like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert' as using artificial intelligence to watch students' online conversations and notify school officials and law enforcement.","causal_attribution":"Description of a software class. It does not establish the mechanism of the alert in this case."}],"effects":[{"label":"Felony arrest of a minor following an automated alert","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wesh.com/article/volusia-county-school-threats-mental-health-awareness/66929047","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Body read from a Wayback capture of the same URL because the live page returned 451.","independence_group":"vso-volusia-2025-09-12"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/two-volusia-county-students-arrested-school-threats-officials-say","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"vso-volusia-2025-09-12"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/schools-using-ai-surveillance-protect-110342650.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Associated Press investigation on AI school surveillance, cited only for the description of software like Gaggle. It does not mention this student.","independence_group":"ap-ai-surveillance-2025"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["education","justice"],"unknowns":["Whether the alert in this case was generated by an AI model, by keyword rules, or reviewed by a Gaggle or school human reviewer before reaching the deputy.","Outcome of the felony charge, any court or school discipline, and the family's account.","The Sheriff's Office statement (a Facebook post per Fox 35) was read only through outlet rewrites.","Whether the student's family disputes the arrest is not reported."],"geography":{"basis":"Sources place the events at a high school in Deltona, Volusia County, Florida, and name the county Sheriff's Office.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Three inspected news bodies: two rewrites of one Sheriff's Office statement for the event and one AP piece for the product description. The record states the police account as reported and does not treat the alert as established cause of the arrest.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Sheriff's Office account carried by local outlets says a Gaggle alert notified the deputy. AP reporting describes monitoring software like Gaggle as AI-assisted in general. No source states how this specific alert was generated or reviewed.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Deltona, Florida: Gaggle school-laptop alert leads to felony arrest of a 15-year-old over a typed gun threat the student said was not serious","summary":"According to a Volusia County Sheriff's Office account carried by local outlets, a 15-year-old high school student in Deltona, Florida was arrested on 12 September 2025 after typing a written threat to bring a gun to school on a school-issued laptop. The Gaggle student-monitoring software raised an alert that notified the school resource deputy, who detained the student before the student boarded the bus home. The student was arrested on a second-degree felony charge (one outlet says the charge was still to be filed). The student reportedly admitted typing the text, said it was not meant seriously and said the motive was anger about being picked on. Outcome of the charge and the exact Gaggle role in generating this alert are not reported.","incidentDate":"2025-09-12","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-09-13","aiSystem":"Gaggle, a student-safety monitoring service for school-provided devices (school-monitoring software of the kind Associated Press reporting describes as using artificial intelligence)","aiProduct":"Gaggle school monitoring","aiCompany":"Gaggle","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty","legal_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The Sheriff's Office says a Gaggle alert on the student's typed threat led a deputy to detain the student before the bus ride home, and the student was arrested on a second-degree felony charge (police account; the student reportedly said the text was not meant seriously).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"One student (the 15-year-old arrested). The other Volusia students arrested in the same days are not counted: the sources tie a Gaggle alert only to this student.","victimAgeRange":"minor","platformType":"other","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wesh.com/article/volusia-county-school-threats-mental-health-awareness/66929047","primarySourceLabel":"WESH 2, Volusia County deputies arrest four children accused of making school threats","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T12:42:12.865194+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:00.789359+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2025"]},{"id":"2025-heacock-ai-sextortion-death","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Local teenager Eli Heacock died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound last month'; 'he took his life on Feb 28'; 'at 11:30 p.m. on that Thursday night, Eli's twin sister found him'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'He died by suicide shortly after receiving the message, CBS affiliate KFDA reported'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'After their 16-year-old son died by suicide, a Kentucky family is pushing for stronger sextortion laws'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Elijah Heacock died Feb. 28 at a local hospital, WBKO-TV reported'; 'the Barren County Sheriff's Office responded to the hospital on Feb. 27'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Elijah Heacock, 16, a Caverna High School student in Barren County, Kentucky, died by suicide on 28 February 2025 after being found injured at home on the night of 27 February.","causal_attribution":"The death is reported independently by WKMS (own reporting) and CBS (citing KFDA), with Spectrum and the WBKO/ABC relay consistent; the 27/28 February dates come from WKMS and NewsNation."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'During a search of Eli's phone, AI-generated images used to extort the young man were discovered. The offender created the images, some sexually explicit, and sent them to Eli. They then threatened to release the pictures unless Eli sent them $3,000.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'when Elijah received a threatening text with an A.I.-generated nude photo of himself demanding he pay $3,000 to keep it from being sent to friends and family, everything changed'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'a perpetrator threatened him, saying he needed to send $3,000 or they would release sexually explicit images of him'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'fake, AI-generated nude images'; 'Though the photos were not real, it's unclear whether Elijah Heacock knew they were AI-generated.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Investigators found on his phone AI-generated images of him, some sexually explicit, sent by an anonymous extortionist who threatened to release them unless he paid $3,000.","causal_attribution":"WKMS attributes the AI-generated finding to investigators' search of the phone; CBS's account rests on the parents' interview. Whether he knew the images were fake is unknown (NewsNation)."},{"id":"c3","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'His parents told Spectrum News 1 that Heacock sent $50, but did not have enough to cover the rest.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Shannon Heacock said she found texts indicating that her son had sent some money to the scammer, to which the scammer replied, \"This is not enough,\" she told ABC News.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"Best friend: 'The last message I got from him was, \"I love you so much\"' after Eli asked to borrow money that night.","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"He sent a partial payment of $50 and the extortionist replied that it was 'not enough'.","causal_attribution":"Both accounts are the parents' descriptions of the messages on his phone, given to two separate outlets; the $50 figure appears only in Spectrum."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'The FBI continues to investigate. The family hopes the exploiter will be caught and charged with murder.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'a sheriff's detective reviewed Elijah Heacock's phone and escalated the case to the FBI'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The Barren County Sheriff's Office escalated the case to the FBI, which was still investigating; no arrest has been reported.","causal_attribution":"Investigation status as of the inspected reports (March and June 2025); nothing later was inspected."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a bill into law this month, making sextortion a felony. It also mandates education about sextortion in schools and in law enforcement agencies.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'state lawmakers passed a bill that establishes sexual extortion as a felony, and mandates training about the topic at schools and law enforcement agencies. Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Kentucky, signed it into law.'; Rep. Guthrie on the Take It Down Act","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'The recently-passed \"Take It Down\" Act... makes it a federal crime to post real and fake sexually explicit images'; 'They said they hope the \"Take It Down\" Act will make a difference.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Kentucky's governor signed a law in March 2025 making sexual extortion a felony and mandating education in schools and law-enforcement agencies; the parents publicly supported the federal Take It Down Act, signed in May 2025.","causal_attribution":"Legislative context reported by three outlets; the Kentucky law is described, not inspected."}],"effects":[{"label":"a 16-year-old was extorted with AI-generated sexual images of himself and died by suicide","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wkms.org/health/2025-03-24/suicide-of-ky-teen-investigated-as-financial-sextortion","kind":"public_radio_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2025-03-24; WKU Public Radio, Lisa Autry); own interviews with his mother, father and best friend; quotes the KSP Electronic Crime Branch commander.","independence_group":"wkms"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sextortion-generative-ai-scam-elijah-heacock-take-it-down-act/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 from the Internet Archive capture of 28 December 2025 (datePublished 2025-05-31; CBS Saturday Morning interview with the parents); the live URL answers HTTP 406 to this box. The article attributes the death report to CBS affiliate KFDA and the advocacy to WLKY.","independence_group":"cbs"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2025/04/10/sextortion-kentucky-elijah-heacock","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2025-04-10; Glasgow, Ky. dateline; the parents' own statements to Spectrum News 1).","independence_group":"spectrum"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/ai/teen-suicide-ai-images/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 from the Internet Archive capture of 26 November 2025 (datePublished 2025-06-11); the live URL answers HTTP 403. NewsNation relays WBKO-TV and ABC News interviews with the parents, so it is grouped with those originals rather than counted as independent.","independence_group":"wbko-abc"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","privacy"],"unknowns":["The tool used to generate the images and the identity or location of the extortionist are not reported; no arrest has been reported in the inspected sources.","Whether he knew the images were AI-generated is unclear (NewsNation).","When the extortion messages began is not reported; the record uses the night of 27 February (when his friend received his last messages and the sheriff reviewed the phone) and the 28 February death date.","The earliest local report (WBKO-TV, cited by NewsNation) was not inspected: its URL answers HTTP 404; the reported_date uses the earliest inspected report (WKMS, 24 March 2025).","The CBS article's cited affiliate reports (KFDA, WLKY) were not inspected.","Investigation status after June 2025 was not researched in this review."],"geography":{"basis":"Event and residence: Barren County (Glasgow area), Kentucky, per WKMS ('In southern Kentucky, the Barren County community') and Spectrum's Glasgow, Ky. dateline. No court proceeding is reported; the extortionist has not been identified.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a reported death: AI-generated sexual images of a minor were used to extort him and he died by suicide. The death and the AI connection are each carried by two independent inspected chains (WKMS own reporting and CBS), meeting the additional death rule; causation rests on investigators and the family, recorded as supported, not established. He is named because his parents campaign publicly in his name; the method of death is not described here.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"WKMS reports that investigators searching his phone found AI-generated images used to extort him, and quotes the Kentucky State Police Electronic Crime Branch commander on AI-generated exploitation; CBS separately describes the extortion message as carrying an AI-generated nude photo of him. The generation tool is not identified in any inspected source.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Kentucky: Elijah Heacock, 16, died by suicide after a sextortion demand backed by AI-generated nude images of him","summary":"Elijah Heacock, a 16-year-old Caverna High School student in Barren County, Kentucky, died by suicide on 28 February 2025. Investigators searching his phone found AI-generated images of him, some sexually explicit, that an anonymous extortionist had sent with a demand for $3,000 and a threat to share them with his family and friends; his parents say he sent a small partial payment and was told it was 'not enough'. The Barren County Sheriff's Office escalated the case to the FBI, which was still investigating in the inspected reports; no arrest has been reported. His parents have campaigned publicly, Kentucky made sextortion a felony in March 2025, and the family supported the federal Take It Down Act.","incidentDate":"2025-02-27","incidentEndDate":"2025-02-28","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2025-03-24","aiSystem":"AI image-generation or manipulation tools (unspecified; investigators described the extortion images as AI-generated)","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"critical","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["death","exploitation_or_abuse","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A 16-year-old was extorted with AI-generated sexual images of himself and a $3,000 demand, and died by suicide the same night his best friend received his last message; investigators and his parents connect the death to the sextortion.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, Elijah Heacock, was depicted in the AI-generated images and died; his family members are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wkms.org/health/2025-03-24/suicide-of-ky-teen-investigated-as-financial-sextortion","primarySourceLabel":"WKMS / WKU Public Radio, 24 March 2025: investigators found AI-generated images used to extort him; KSP Electronic Crime Branch commander quoted","firstPublishedAt":"2026-03-09T05:43:08.739008+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:04.61944+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["sextortion","deepfake","minor","kentucky","suicide","depicted-or-impersonated","take-it-down-act"]}]}