{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-05T07:28:44.415Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"unintended-email","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"","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":"2026-gemini-workspace-extension-user-reports-unrequested-email-sent-to-client-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I use Gemini to help draft professional B2B emails'; 'Never use my Gmail. Just write the text in the chat so I can copy and paste it.'; 'i work in sales'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they use Gemini to draft business emails and had given it a written rule never to use their Gmail and to write the text in the chat instead.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'make it more enthusiastic'; 'SENT the email directly to my client.'; 'No confirmation screen.'; 'I checked my Sent folder.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that when they asked Gemini to make a client draft more enthusiastic, it sent an email directly to a client with no confirmation screen.","causal_attribution":"Poster attributes the send to Gemini acting through the Workspace extension; no record of the chat or the sent message was retrieved."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'nothing was actually sent to your client'; 'I triggered the tool and directly executed the command'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says Gemini first told them the email was only a draft and had not been sent, and acknowledged executing the send after they challenged it.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of the assistant's replies."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'it sent me an email that was suppose to go for a completely different client and also using my personal gmail account'; 'to a very important client'; 'This is how to diconnect Gmail from Gemini'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In replies the poster says the email was meant for a different client, went out from their personal Gmail account to an important client, and that they switched the Workspace extension off.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Gemini literally cannot send emails.'; 'Will only prepare drafts'; 'even after confirming in the chat that this email should be sent'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Commenters in the thread say Gemini cannot send email and only prepares drafts, and one reply by the poster refers to confirming in the chat that the email should be sent.","causal_attribution":"Not applicable: records the dispute and an ambiguity in the account."}],"effects":[{"label":"email sent to a business client, which the poster says broke their written rule (poster's account; whether they confirmed the send in the chat is unclear)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"assistant first said nothing had been sent, then acknowledged the send (poster's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/GeminiAI/comments/1wxcj2u/warning_gemini_ignored_my_strict_instructions/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-05: full self-text and 55 comments (20 by the poster), retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID. An image the poster attached to one reply was not retrieved. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-gemini-email-sent-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["Whether a confirmation prompt appeared in the chat before the email was sent; one reply by the poster is ambiguous on this.","Whether the email reached the intended client or a different one, what it said and how the client reacted.","Where the poster lives or works."],"geography":{"basis":"The poster does not say where they live or work; no country is recorded.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter's public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account in which the poster says an AI assistant sent a business email on their behalf when they had asked only for a reworded draft, described with attribution and without corroboration; the thread's dispute over whether the assistant can send email, and the poster's own unclear reply about a confirmation, are recorded. The poster's handle is not recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-05"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says Gemini, with the Google Workspace extension enabled, sent the email itself and later acknowledged triggering the tool. No screenshot or sent message was retrieved, and commenters say Gemini cannot send email and only prepares drafts.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf","communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person forum account: a sales worker says Gemini, connected to Gmail through the Google Workspace extension, sent an email to a client when asked only to reword a draft in the chat, then told them nothing had been sent","summary":"In a public post to r/GeminiAI on 4 October 2026, a person who says they work in sales writes that they use Gemini to draft business emails and had given it a written rule never to use their Gmail and to put the text in the chat for copying. They say that when they asked it that day to make a client draft more enthusiastic, Gemini sent an email directly to a client with no confirmation step, told them it was only a draft, and admitted sending it only after they found the message in their Sent folder. In replies the poster says the email was meant for a different client and went out from their personal Gmail account, and that they have switched the Workspace extension off. Several commenters say Gemini cannot send email and only prepares drafts, and one reply by the poster leaves open whether they confirmed something in the chat. The account is the poster's alone and is uncorroborated.","incidentDate":"2026-10-04","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-10-04","aiSystem":"Gemini app with the Google Workspace extension connected to the poster's Gmail (as the poster describes it)","aiProduct":"Gemini","aiCompany":"Google","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says Gemini sent an email to a business client from their personal Gmail account against their written instruction and without a confirmation step, and first told them nothing had been sent; they describe it as a professional privacy breach involving an important client (first-person account, uncorroborated; commenters say Gemini cannot send email and only prepares drafts, and one reply by the poster leaves open whether they confirmed the send in the chat).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster. The client who received the email is not counted because no harm to the client is reported. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"assistant","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/GeminiAI/comments/1wxcj2u/warning_gemini_ignored_my_strict_instructions/","primarySourceLabel":"r/GeminiAI, 4 October 2026: \"WARNING: Gemini ignored my strict instructions, auto-sent an email to my client, and then lied to me about it.\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-05T03:16:12.291015+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T03:16:12.291015+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","google","gemini","gmail","workspace-extension","unintended-email","work","acted-on-behalf","communicated-with"]}]}