{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-02T06:15:56.890Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"welfare","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":5,"coverage":{"cases":5,"countries":2,"languages":4,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":1,"regulatory":1,"minors":2,"coreRelations":3,"contextualRelations":2,"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-india-pregnant-women-and-new-mothers-report-poshan-tracker-face-match-failures-cut-off-take-home-rations","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Starting July 1, 2025, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has officially made facial recognition system (FRS) mandatory for pregnant and lactating women to access take-home rations (THR) under the scheme POSHAN Abhiyaan, sparking concerns over potential exclusions and operational hurdles.; The government has updated the POSHAN Tracker mobile application to make sure the order is implemented, removing the previously available option to ‘skip’ the step for facial recognition.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"From 1 July 2025 India's Ministry of Women and Child Development made the facial recognition system mandatory for pregnant and lactating women to receive take-home rations, and the Poshan Tracker app was updated to remove the option to skip the facial recognition step.","causal_attribution":"Down To Earth's report of the ministry's order and the app update."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Across India, pregnant women and nursing mothers are being denied emergency food rations because facial recognition technology fails to match their current appearance to years-old identity photographs, a Decode investigation has found.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The app attempts to match her current appearance with that reference image in real time, using the Facial Recognition Technology (FRT).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The app's facial recognition compares the beneficiary's live face with a stored reference photograph (her Aadhaar photograph), and Decode reports that it fails to match women whose faces have changed since that photograph.","causal_attribution":"Decode's description of the system in two reports; the matching method is not disclosed by the government."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"was cut off from supplementary nutrition because the facial recognition software could not match her face to a photograph taken eight years earlier; \"I don't look like my Aadhaar photo anymore,\"; \"And the phone linked to my Aadhaar is with my husband. He works at a construction site in Delhi. I cannot receive the one-time password they send.\"","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that a mother in Jharkhand was cut off from supplementary nutrition ten weeks after giving birth because the facial recognition software could not match her face to a photograph taken eight years earlier; she also said she could not receive the one-time password because the phone linked to her Aadhaar was with her husband.","causal_attribution":"Decode's report and the mother's own words; Decode changed her name."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"She had been denied food rations for four months because the AI system could not match her current appearance to an Aadhaar photograph taken before her marriage, when she was noticeably younger.; Her doctor at the local primary health centre had warned her about the risks of poor nutrition late in pregnancy, especially because she was anaemic.; Without the ICDS take-home ration, her diet was largely limited to rice and seasonal vegetables. Milk, eggs and pulses were too expensive.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that a pregnant woman in Bihar, whom her doctor had warned about poor nutrition because she was anaemic, was denied food rations for four months because the system could not match her current appearance to an older Aadhaar photograph, and that without the ration her diet was largely rice and seasonal vegetables.","causal_attribution":"Decode's report of the woman's account; Decode changed her name."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"gave birth to a healthy baby in December. She has been recovering steadily, but her name remains missing from the welfare system. As a nursing mother, she is entitled to supplementary nutrition, yet she has been unable to access it.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that the Bihar woman later gave birth to a healthy baby and was recovering, but her name remained missing from the welfare system and as a nursing mother she had not been able to obtain supplementary nutrition.","causal_attribution":"Decode's follow-up; recorded as context, including the healthy birth."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"three pregnant women and five nursing mothers have been removed because their faces no longer match old Aadhaar photos.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that at one Bihar Anganwadi centre three pregnant women and five nursing mothers were removed because their faces no longer matched old Aadhaar photographs.","causal_attribution":"Decode's account of the centre, from its worker."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"For children who do not yet have Aadhaar numbers, the system uses a parent's identity, usually the mother's. When verification fails, a child is dropped from the rolls.; was instructed to remove at least four children after repeated facial recognition failures linked to their mothers' records.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that for children aged three to six without Aadhaar numbers the system uses a parent's, usually the mother's, identity, that a child is dropped from the rolls when that verification fails, and that a Jharkhand worker was instructed to remove at least four children after repeated facial recognition failures linked to their mothers' records.","causal_attribution":"Decode's report of the rule and of the worker's account."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Eight months pregnant and returning for the third consecutive day, she stared into the lens of an aging Android phone, hoping the app would finally recognise her face and allow her to collect the nutrition packet she desperately needed.; Her face had changed with dark spots and tiredness. The app just wouldn’t recognise her,” she said with a tired laugh. “I went to her home after work three times. The FRT failed each time. In the end, I just gave her the food and made a manual entry, hoping my supervisor understands.”","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"In Delhi in July 2025 Decode reported a woman eight months pregnant returning to an Anganwadi centre for a third consecutive day hoping the app would recognise her face, and a worker who said the app would not recognise a new mother whose face had changed after three home visits, so she gave her the food and made a manual entry.","causal_attribution":"Decode's reporting and the worker's account."},{"id":"c9","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The faces and bodies of pregnant and lactating mothers change frequently, so they no longer match the images captured during the registration. The app doesn’t account for these changes, and as a result, some mothers are forced to leave without receiving their rations,","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The general secretary of the Karnataka Anganwadi workers' union told The South First that pregnant and lactating mothers' faces change so they no longer match the images captured at registration, and that as a result some mothers are forced to leave without their rations.","causal_attribution":"The union leader's statement to The South First."},{"id":"c10","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Government figures show that of 4.73 crore eligible beneficiaries, 4.51 crore (over 91%) had completed initial documentation and were awaiting face matching as of 31 December 2025. Yet only 2.79 crore (52.7%) had successfully received rations through facial recognition. Nearly half had been locked out.; The Ministry of Women and Child Development did not respond to Decode’s questions about where the missing beneficiaries are, how many have been permanently removed from welfare rolls, or what evidence exists that the system has prevented fraud.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Government figures cited by Decode show that of 4.73 crore eligible beneficiaries, 4.51 crore had completed initial documentation and 2.79 crore (52.7%) had received rations through facial recognition as of 31 December 2025; the Ministry did not answer Decode's questions about the missing beneficiaries.","causal_attribution":"Decode's reading of government data; the figures do not separate face-match failures from other causes."},{"id":"c11","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Before the AI can scan a face, the women must first complete Aadhaar electronic verification, requiring updated Aadhaar details and access to a mobile number linked to the ID to receive a one-time password. This process is called Aadhaar eKYC. For many women, this is where the process breaks down. Mobile numbers are often outdated, inactive, or tied to phones that travel with husbands to distant worksites. Without the password, verification stalls and the beneficiary drops out before reaching the facial recognition stage.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Mandatory facial recognition under such conditions risks excluding the very people the scheme is meant to serve. This is compounded by slow network speeds, failed facial scans and frequent server crashes.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that many women drop out earlier, at Aadhaar eKYC, because they cannot receive a one-time password on the mobile number linked to their Aadhaar; Down To Earth reports slow networks, failed scans and server crashes.","causal_attribution":"Recorded as counterevidence: some exclusions come from steps other than the face match."},{"id":"c12","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"said a review of the app’s installation file (APK) shows that it includes components of Google ML Kit used for face detection.; Responding to Decode’s query, Google said that ML Kit “does not have facial recognition capabilities” and is not designed to identify specific individuals.; the government has not disclosed who built the facial verification system, whether it was tested for accuracy on the populations it now excludes, or what safeguards exist when the comparison fails.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A researcher who analysed the Poshan Tracker app for Decode found Google's ML Kit face-detection library in it; Google told Decode that ML Kit does not have facial recognition capabilities, and Decode reports that the government has not disclosed who built the facial verification system.","causal_attribution":"The researcher's analysis and Google's statement as reported by Decode."},{"id":"c13","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"On February 11, an app update introduced a limited alternative identity provision, applicable only to pregnant and lactating women. The update allows workers to upload documents such as voter ID cards, bank passbooks, passports, or ration cards. However, this change allows a woman’s name to be added to the system only after the Anganwadi supervisor verifies and approves the alternate identity document.; The workaround still requires facial recognition, leaving the fundamental problem unresolved.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Decode reports that on 11 February 2026 an app update allowed workers to upload other identity documents for pregnant and lactating women, adding a woman only after an Anganwadi supervisor approves the document, while registration through a father's or guardian's Aadhaar still requires eKYC and face capture.","causal_attribution":"Decode's account of the government's partial change."}],"effects":[{"label":"pregnant woman reported to have gone four months without take-home rations after the face match failed","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"eight women reported removed from one centre's ration rolls after failed face matches","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.decodeinternet.in/decode/ai-facial-recognition-is-denying-food-to-pregnant-women-across-india-30878","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-11-02 (decodeinternet.in, BOOM's Decode desk); no translation.","independence_group":"decode-2026-03-investigation"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.decodeinternet.in/decode/when-a-face-scan-decides-who-eats-and-who-keeps-their-job-29048","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-11-02; no translation.","independence_group":"decode-2025-07-delhi"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://thesouthfirst.com/news/in-karnataka-anganwadis-facial-recognition-tech-is-disrupting-ration-delivery-to-pregnant-women-mothers/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-11-02; no translation.","independence_group":"south-first-2025-08"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.downtoearth.org.in/food/mandatory-facial-recognition-for-womens-nutrition-scheme-sparks-fears-of-exclusion-and-tech-failures","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-11-02; no translation.","independence_group":"down-to-earth-2025-07"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["public_services","health"],"unknowns":["Who built the face-matching component and its accuracy on pregnant and nursing women; no test results are published.","How many beneficiaries were refused or removed because of face-match failures as distinct from eKYC, one-time-password or connectivity failures.","Whether the women described later regained their rations, or whether rations missed were restored.","Whether any court has ruled on the challenges to mandatory facial recognition; none is reported in the inspected sources."],"geography":{"basis":"Decode reports from Anganwadi centres in Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi and The South First from Karnataka, all under India's ICDS scheme.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IN"],"affected_person_countries":["IN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a government welfare app's mandatory face match that, according to Decode's reporting from named states, did not recognise pregnant women and new mothers against old identity photographs, so that described women were refused or removed from take-home rations and children were dropped. The accounts are attributed; Google's statement, the government figures and the non-face-match causes are recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-11-02"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Decode, The South First and Down To Earth describe a mandatory facial recognition step in the Poshan Tracker app that compares a woman's live face with her Aadhaar or registration photograph before the app releases her take-home ration. Decode reports specific women whom this automated check did not recognise, and who were refused rations or removed from the rolls as a result, and workers say they cannot hand over rations when the app does not show a name. The non-match of a genuine beneficiary is the recognition system's own output. The government has not disclosed the matching component; a researcher found Google ML Kit face detection in the app, and Google says ML Kit does not recognise individuals. No analysis of individual failures is reported, and some exclusions arise at earlier one-time-password steps, which are kept separate.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about"]},"name":"India: pregnant women and new mothers report being cut off from take-home rations when the Poshan Tracker app's face match failed","summary":"From 1 July 2025 India's Ministry of Women and Child Development made a facial recognition check in the government's Poshan Tracker app mandatory before pregnant women and nursing mothers receive take-home rations under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme; the app compares the woman's live face with her Aadhaar identity photograph. In July 2025 Decode reported from Delhi that a woman eight months pregnant returned to her Anganwadi centre for a third day trying to get the app to recognise her, and a worker said she gave food to a new mother the app would not recognise and recorded it by hand. In August 2025 the Karnataka Anganwadi workers' union told The South First that the faces of pregnant and nursing mothers change so they no longer match their registration images, and that some mothers leave without their rations. In March 2026 a Decode investigation supported by the Pulitzer Center reported that a mother in Jharkhand was cut off from supplementary nutrition ten weeks after giving birth because the software could not match her face to a photograph taken eight years earlier, that a pregnant woman in Bihar who was anaemic went four months without rations because the system could not match her to an older Aadhaar photograph, that one Bihar centre had removed three pregnant women and five nursing mothers whose faces no longer matched, and that a Jharkhand worker was told to remove at least four children whose eligibility depended on their mothers' failed face matches. Decode also reports failures earlier in the process, when women cannot receive a one-time password on an Aadhaar-linked phone. Government figures cited by Decode show 52.7% of eligible beneficiaries had received rations through facial recognition by 31 December 2025. A researcher who analysed the app for Decode found Google's ML Kit face-detection library in it; Google said ML Kit cannot recognise individuals, and the government has not disclosed who built the matching system. After workers' protests, a February 2026 app update let workers upload other identity documents for pregnant and nursing women, subject to a supervisor's approval. Decode reports the Bihar woman later gave birth to a healthy baby, while her name remained missing from the system.","incidentDate":"2025-07-01","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-07-17","aiSystem":"Facial recognition (FRS) in the Government of India's Poshan Tracker app, which matches a beneficiary's live face with her Aadhaar photograph before take-home rations are released; the matching component is undisclosed, and a researcher found Google ML Kit face detection in the app","aiProduct":"Poshan Tracker face recognition","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Decode reports that women whose faces the app did not match against old Aadhaar photographs were refused or removed from supplementary food rations, including an anaemic pregnant woman who went four months without them and a mother cut off ten weeks after giving birth, and that children were dropped when their mothers' matches failed; workers and a union leader describe mothers leaving without rations and frustration at repeated failed scans.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":9,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Decode reports one Bihar centre where three pregnant women and five nursing mothers were removed because their faces no longer matched old Aadhaar photographs, and a Jharkhand mother cut off when the software could not match her face (9). The anaemic Bihar woman may be among that centre's eight and is not added. Other figures (nearly 10 women at another centre, at least four children, nationwide shares) are approximate, overlap, or are not tied to the face match alone, so they are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.decodeinternet.in/decode/ai-facial-recognition-is-denying-food-to-pregnant-women-across-india-30878","primarySourceLabel":"Decode, AI Facial Recognition Is Denying Food To Pregnant Women Across India, 19 March 2026","firstPublishedAt":"2026-11-02T03:08:56.021165+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-11-02T03:08:56.021165+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["facial-recognition","public-services","take-home-rations","pregnancy","welfare","india"]},{"id":"2021-telangana-samagra-vedika-algorithm-wrongly-tagged-poor-families-as-car-owners-food-security-cards-denied","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'started arming the officials with Samagra Vedika, an algorithmic system that consolidates citizens'; 'the officials were mandated to check whether the algorithmic system approved the eligibility of the applicant before making their own decision'; 'They could either go with the algorithm'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Since 2016 Telangana has used Samagra Vedika, a system that consolidates residents' data from several government databases, to check welfare eligibility; officials processing food security cards were mandated to check whether the system approved an applicant before deciding, and could depart from it only by giving reasons and evidence.","causal_attribution":"Background on the system and how its output entered officials' decisions."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Samagra Vedika uses'; 'to uniquely identify a person'; 'If it finds a match close enough violating any of the criteria, it tags the claimant as ineligible'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Al Jazeera reports that Samagra Vedika uses machine learning and entity resolution technology to identify a person across databases, and tags a claimant as ineligible when it finds a close enough match violating a criterion such as owning a four-wheeler.","causal_attribution":"The description of the technology is Al Jazeera's, quoting terms whose origin the article does not state; the government describes it as using big data."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'mistook her late husband'; 'and the authorities accepted the algorithm'; 'finally rejecting it in 2021 because they claimed she possessed a four-wheeler'; 'The authorities did not trust her'; 'they believed their algorithm'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to Al Jazeera, the system mistook a widow's late husband, a rickshaw puller, for a car owner with a similar name; her food security card renewal application was rejected in 2021 because she was said to possess a four-wheeler, and that the authorities believed their algorithm rather than her.","causal_attribution":"Al Jazeera attributes the rejection to the system's wrong match and officials' acceptance of it."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'found its real owner'; 'the officials agreed there was an algorithmic error but said that her application could not be considered because her total family income exceeded the eligibility limit even though that was not the case'; 'who has been denied ration for more than seven years, is still waiting'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After she traced the vehicle's real owner, officials agreed there had been an algorithmic error but said that her application could not be considered because family income exceeded the limit, which Al Jazeera says was not the case; she had been denied the rations for more than seven years when the article was published.","causal_attribution":"The officials' acknowledgement of an algorithmic error is reported by Al Jazeera; the continued denial rests on a different, disputed ground."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'an algorithm has tagged the family as owning a car, denying them access to subsidised food grains'; 'The family applied for a food security card in 2018 but was rejected in 2021'; 'Instead of three rupees, we spend 10 for every kilogramme of rice'; 'the petitioner is eligible'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A second family, whose husband cannot drive, applied in 2018 and was rejected in 2021 for possessing a four-wheeler they do not own; Al Jazeera's caption says an algorithm tagged the family as owning a car, and the woman says the family pays more for the same rice bought from dealers. In November 2023 the High Court of Telangana said the petitioner is eligible whenever the state issues new cards.","causal_attribution":"The algorithmic tag is stated in an Al Jazeera photo caption credited to The Reporters' Collective; the High Court remark is reported, not read in the order itself."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The petition lists around 10 cases of wrongful exclusions'; 'Al Jazeera visited three of those and can confirm they were wrongly tagged by Samagra Vedika'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Al Jazeera says it visited three of the roughly ten wrongful-exclusion cases listed in a Supreme Court petition and confirmed they were wrongly tagged by Samagra Vedika.","causal_attribution":"Al Jazeera's own verification; the three cases are not identified."},{"id":"c7","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"'The government has previously said that the technology is of'; 'It has also said that the error of tagging a vehicle or a house to the wrong person happens in less than five percent of all cases'; 'very high levels of accuracy'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The Telangana government has said the technology is of high precision, that wrong tagging of a vehicle or house occurs in less than five per cent of cases and has mostly been corrected, and an official said verifications found very high levels of accuracy.","causal_attribution":"Government counter-position; it does not address the individual cases."}],"effects":[{"label":"food security card applications rejected after the system wrongly tagged families as car owners; years without subsidised rations","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/1/24/how-an-algorithm-denied-food-to-thousands-of-poor-in-indias-telangana","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-24 (full article). Reported by Tapasya, Kumar Sambhav and Divij Joshi with The Reporters' Collective and the Pulitzer Center's AI Accountability Network; the photo captions are courtesy of The Reporters' Collective.","independence_group":"al-jazeera-reporters-collective-samagra-vedika-investigation"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["public_services","finance"],"unknowns":["Which three petition cases Al Jazeera verified, and how many wrongful exclusions the system itself caused.","Whether the widow's card was later issued, and whether the second family has received a card since November 2023.","How the matching works in detail; the state withheld the source code and data formats.","Why the widow's card was first cancelled in 2016."],"geography":{"basis":"Al Jazeera reports from Hyderabad that both families live there and applied to the Telangana government; the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Telangana heard related petitions.","court_countries":["IN"],"event_countries":["IN"],"affected_person_countries":["IN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete adverse public decision informed by an automated matching system: Al Jazeera reports that Samagra Vedika wrongly matched a widow's late husband to a car owner and tagged another family as owning a car, and that officials rejected their food security cards on those tags; officials later acknowledged an algorithmic error in the widow's case.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-24"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Al Jazeera reports that Samagra Vedika matched a widow's late husband to a car owner with a similar name and tagged her family as owning a four-wheeler, that officials (mandated to check the system's approval before deciding) accepted the tag and rejected her food security card in 2021, and that they later agreed there had been an algorithmic error. It describes the system as using machine learning and entity resolution to match people across databases; the government describes it as using big data and disputes the error rate. The source code and data formats were withheld from the reporters.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about","informed_decision_about"]},"name":"Al Jazeera investigation says Telangana's Samagra Vedika system wrongly matched poor families to car owners, and officials denied them food subsidy cards","summary":"An Al Jazeera investigation published on 24 January 2024, produced with The Reporters' Collective and the Pulitzer Center's AI Accountability Network, reports that Samagra Vedika, a system the Telangana government uses to consolidate residents' data and check welfare eligibility, wrongly tagged poor families in Hyderabad as owning cars, and that officials relied on those tags to deny them food security cards (subsidised rice). Al Jazeera says the system uses machine learning and entity resolution to match people across databases, and that since 2016 officials have been mandated to check whether the system approved an applicant before deciding. In one case it reports that the system mistook a widow's late husband, a rickshaw puller, for a car owner with a similar name; her renewal application was rejected in 2021 for possessing a four-wheeler. After she traced the vehicle's real owner, officials agreed there had been an algorithmic error but said her family income exceeded the limit, which Al Jazeera says was not the case; she had been without the subsidised rations for more than seven years. A second family, whose husband cannot drive, was rejected in 2021 for possessing a four-wheeler; in November 2023 the High Court of Telangana said the petitioner is eligible whenever new cards are issued. The government says the technology is highly precise and that wrong vehicle or house tags occur in under five per cent of cases and have mostly been corrected.","incidentDate":"2021-01-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2024-01-24","aiSystem":"Samagra Vedika, the Telangana government's data-integration and profiling system developed by Posidex Technologies, which Al Jazeera says uses machine learning and entity resolution technology to identify people across government databases and tag welfare applicants as ineligible","aiProduct":"Samagra Vedika","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss","other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to an Al Jazeera investigation, Telangana's Samagra Vedika system wrongly tagged poor families as car owners and officials denied them food security cards on that basis; a widow had been without subsidised rations for over seven years and another family pays market prices for rice.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Two applicants described with their rejections: the widow and the woman whose family was rejected in 2021 (members of their households are not counted separately). Al Jazeera says it visited three of about ten petition cases and confirmed they were wrongly tagged, without listing them, and gives state re-verification figures that it does not attribute to the system alone; these are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/1/24/how-an-algorithm-denied-food-to-thousands-of-poor-in-indias-telangana","primarySourceLabel":"Al Jazeera, How an algorithm denied food to thousands of poor in India's Telangana, 24 January 2024","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-24T03:08:52.234671+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-24T03:08:52.234671+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["welfare-eligibility-algorithm","entity-resolution","food-security","wrong-match","public-services"]},{"id":"2025-rohtak-district-minor-says-ai-made-obscene-images-used-to-coerce-repeated-rape-pocso-case","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'रोहतक के एक गांव में 17 साल की नाबालिग लड़की के AI से अश्लील फोटो व वीडियो बनाकर दो युवकों ने कई बार रेप किया'; 'जिस दौरान ही उसके फोटो आरोपियों ने ले लिए थे। इसके बाद दोनों आरोपियों ने उसके AI से अश्लील फोटो व वीडियो बनाकर सोशल मीडिया पर डालने की धमकी देते हुए शारीरिक संबंध बनाए'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'इसी दौरान उन्होंने चुपके से लड़की की तस्वीरें ले लीं। आरोप है कि बाद में एआई टूल का इस्तेमाल कर उन तस्वीरों से अश्लील और आपत्तिजनक फोटो-वीडियो बना लिए गए'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The complainant, a 17-year-old from a village in Rohtak district, told police that two men who delivered building material to her home photographed her there, made obscene photographs and videos of her with AI, and forced her into sexual acts by threatening to post the material on social media.","causal_attribution":"The complainant's account as relayed by the two outlets; the police statement quoted does not mention AI, and the images were not examined by any quoted official."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'पीड़िता ने बताया कि दिसंबर 2025 में पहली बार आरोपी का इंस्टाग्राम पर मैसेज आया और घर के बाहर बुलाया। उसके अश्लील फोटो वायरल करने की धमकी दी'; 'पीड़िता ने बताया कि 5 अक्टूबर को वह अपने चाचा के पास रह रही थी'; 'साथ ही किसी को बताने पर जान से मारने की धमकी भी दी'; 'परिजनों ने डायल 112 पर कॉल करके पुलिस को बुलाया'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'जनवरी 2026 में आरोपियों ने फिर धमकी देकर उसे सुनसान जगह बुलाया'; 'ताजा घटना 5 अक्टूबर 2026 की है'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The complainant described a first assault after an Instagram message in December 2025, further assaults in January and March 2026, and a final assault on 5 October 2026 followed by a death threat, after which she collapsed in a lane near her home and her family called the police.","causal_attribution":"The complainant's chronology as relayed by both outlets; no independent record of the dates was inspected."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'थाना अर्बन एस्टेट पुलिस ने बताया कि एक नाबालिग लड़की ने दो युवकों के खिलाफ जबरन गलत काम करने का आरोप लगाते हुए शिकायत दी है। पुलिस ने मामले में केस दर्ज कर जांच शुरू कर दी है'; 'पीड़िता की काउंसलिंग की गई है'; 'मामले में पोक्सो एक्ट में केस दर्ज हुआ है'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'पोक्सो एक्ट (POCSO Act) और दुष्कर्म की विभिन्न धाराओं के तहत केस दर्ज कर लिया है'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Police registered a case against the two men under the POCSO Act and rape provisions and began an investigation; the Child Welfare Committee said the complainant has been counselled.","causal_attribution":"Police-station and Child Welfare Committee statements as quoted by the outlets; the first-information report itself was not inspected."}],"effects":[{"label":"repeated rape of a minor coerced with the threat of circulating obscene AI-made images and videos of her, as described in her complaint","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.bhaskar.com/local/haryana/rohtak/news/minor-raped-after-creation-of-obscene-video-using-ai-139284680.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"hi","translation_note":"Read in Hindi and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-09; no human reviewer inspected the text. Dainik Bhaskar Rohtak local report published 8 October 2026 07:24 IST (updated 09:38 IST); the canonical page and its AMP form both returned HTTP 200 with the article text. Relays the complainant's statement, the police station and the Child Welfare Committee chairman.","independence_group":"rohtak-complainant-account-police-fir-2026-10-08"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.jagmarg.com/rohtak-blackmail-gangrape-ai-minor-pocso-case","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"hi","translation_note":"Read in Hindi and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-09; no human reviewer inspected the text. Jagmarg News, 8 October 2026, HTTP 200; a Haryana news site carrying the same complainant account, Child Welfare Committee statement and police-station statement as Dainik Bhaskar on the same morning, so it is treated as the same chain and not as independent corroboration.","independence_group":"rohtak-complainant-account-police-fir-2026-10-08"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","justice","privacy"],"unknowns":["Which AI tool was used and whether any official has examined the photographs and videos; the quoted police statement does not mention AI.","Whether the obscene material was shown to the complainant or sent to anyone; the reports describe threats to post it, not circulation.","Whether the accused have been arrested or have responded; neither report quotes them.","The exact date the case was registered (the reports of 8 October 2026 say it has been registered) and the sections applied beyond the POCSO Act and rape provisions."],"geography":{"basis":"Both reports place the complainant's village, the accused's office and the police station in Rohtak district, Haryana, India, and the case is registered with Rohtak police. The complainant lives in the district. No court step is reported yet.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IN"],"affected_person_countries":["IN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case on one attributed chain: Dainik Bhaskar and Jagmarg News relay a 17-year-old's police complaint that two men made obscene AI images and videos of her and used the threat of posting them to coerce repeated rape, and quote the police station and the Child Welfare Committee on the registered POCSO case. Every claim is attributed to the complaint or to those statements. The complainant, her village, her family and the accused are not named in the sources or in this record.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-09"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"In the complainant's account relayed by Dainik Bhaskar and Jagmarg News, the two accused took photographs of the girl during visits to her home and made obscene photographs and videos of her with AI (Jagmarg: using an AI tool to make obscene and objectionable photos and videos from those pictures), then threatened to post that material on social media to force her to meet them, which is how she says the repeated rapes were coerced. The AI-made material depicts her (depicted_or_impersonated) and its threatened circulation is the described means of coercion. The quoted police statement describes the complaint of forced sexual acts without mentioning AI, no official is reported to have examined the images, and the tool is not identified; the account is a complaint under investigation.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Rohtak district, India: POCSO case registered after a 17-year-old says two men made obscene AI images of her and used them to coerce repeated rape since 2025","summary":"Police in Rohtak district, Haryana, registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and rape provisions, reported on 8 October 2026, after a 17-year-old girl from a village in the district told them that two men who delivered building material to her home had taken photographs of her, made obscene photographs and videos from them with AI, and used the threat of posting the material on social media to force her to meet them and rape her repeatedly, according to Dainik Bhaskar and Jagmarg News (both 8 October 2026). In the complainant's account relayed by the two outlets, the first assault followed an Instagram message in December 2025, further assaults took place in January and March 2026, and the most recent on 5 October 2026, after which she collapsed in a lane near her home and told her family, who called the police. The district Child Welfare Committee said she has been counselled. The police statement quoted by Dainik Bhaskar describes a complaint of forced sexual acts by two men and an investigation, without mentioning AI; the AI claim rests on the complainant's account as relayed by the outlets. No arrest is reported and the accused have not been heard.","incidentDate":"2025-12-01","incidentEndDate":"2026-10-05","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-08","aiSystem":"AI tool, not identified, which according to the complainant's account relayed by Dainik Bhaskar and Jagmarg News the two accused used to make obscene photographs and videos of her from photographs they had taken of her","aiProduct":"Unidentified image and video tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the complainant's account relayed by Dainik Bhaskar and Jagmarg News, a 17-year-old was raped repeatedly between December 2025 and 5 October 2026 by two men who threatened to post obscene AI-made photographs and videos of her on social media; the Child Welfare Committee said she has been counselled, and she collapsed in the street after the most recent assault.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the complainant, a 17-year-old girl, is the only person the reports describe as depicted and assaulted. She did not use the AI tool herself (participant_users_affected_min 0). The accused are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"IN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.bhaskar.com/local/haryana/rohtak/news/minor-raped-after-creation-of-obscene-video-using-ai-139284680.html","primarySourceLabel":"Dainik Bhaskar (Rohtak), 8 October 2026: minor raped after blackmail with obscene AI-made photos and videos; accused forced relations in an office and a car","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-09T03:36:29.225729+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-09T03:36:29.225729+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfake","non_consensual_intimate_imagery","sextortion","minors","sexual_violence","criminal_charges","india","haryana","depicted-or-impersonated"]},{"id":"2026-lappeenranta-minor-suspected-of-ai-nude-images-of-girls","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Alaikäisen pojan epäillään luoneen tekoälyllä alastonkuvia useista alaikäisistä tytöistä Lappeenrannassa, tiedottaa Kaakkois-Suomen poliisi.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'Kaakkois-Suomen poliisi tutkii tapausta, jossa alaikäisen pojan epäillään keränneen sosiaalisesta mediasta tuntemiensa tyttöjen kuvia ja käyttäneen niitä tekoälyllä tehtyjen seksuaalissävytteisten kuvien ja videoiden luomiseen.'; 'Poliisi kertoo saaneensa tiedon tapauksesta viikonloppuna poliisitehtävän yhteydessä.'; 'tekotapaan tai uhrien tarkempaan määrään ei voida ottaa esitutkinnan tässä vaiheessa kantaa'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Epäillyn rikoksen uhrit ovat alaikäisiä.'; 'Katajalan mukaan tällä hetkellä näyttää siltä, että kaikki uhrit ovat Lappeenrannan alueelta. Myös epäilty tekijä asuu Lappeenrannassa.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Southeast Finland Police are investigating a case in which a minor boy is suspected of using AI to create nude images of several underage girls in Lappeenranta; police learned of the case through a police call-out. Ilta-Sanomat reported that he is suspected of collecting social media photos of girls he knew and using them to create AI-made sexualised images and videos; the investigator told the paper that police could not yet comment on the method.","causal_attribution":"Police suspicion at the preliminary investigation stage, as reported; untested."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'– Uhreja on useita kymmeniä, jopa yli sata, sanoo Katajala.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Esitutkinnan edetessä asianomistajien määrä on tarkentunut, ja se on osoittautunut merkittävästi pienemmäksi kuin tutkinnan alkuvaiheessa arvioitiin.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'Asianomistajien määrä osoittautui poliisin mukaan merkittävästi pienemmäksi kuin tutkinnan alkuvaiheessa arvioitiin.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"On 25 August the investigator estimated tens of victims, possibly more than a hundred; on 28 August police said the number of complainants had proved significantly smaller than first estimated, without giving a figure.","causal_attribution":"Police estimates; the later release supersedes the first estimate."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Tapausta tutkitaan tällä hetkellä rikosnimikkeellä törkeä lasta seksuaalisesti esittävän kuvan levittäminen.'; 'Poliisin tiedossa ei esimerkiksi ole, että tekoälyllä luotuja kuvia olisi levitetty tai myyty eteenpäin.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'Nimikkeen tunnusmerkistöön sisältyy levittämisen ohella myös tällaisten kuvien valmistaminen.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'Kaakkois-Suomen poliisi tutkii tapausta, jossa alaikäisen pojan epäillään levittäneen ainakin osittain tekoälyllä luotuja alastonkuvia useista nuorista tytöistä.'","relation":"contradicts","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Police are investigating the case as aggravated distribution of an image depicting a child sexually, an offence that also covers making such images, and said on 28 August that they were not aware that the AI-made images had been spread or sold onward.","causal_attribution":"Police statements; the 25 August report described the suspicion as spreading the images, and the 28 August release says police are not aware of any onward spread or sale."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Opiskeluhuollon ammattilaiset tarjoavat tukea nuorille, jotka haluavat keskustella laajasta deepfake- eli syväväärennöstapauksesta Lappeenrannassa.'; 'Lukiolaisille on lähtenyt asiasta Wilma-viesti.'; 'Tärkeintä on varmistaa, että nuorilla ja heidän läheisillään on mahdollisuus saada tarvittaessa keskustelu- ja kriisitukea'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Student welfare professionals offered conversation and crisis support to young people over the case, and upper secondary students received a message about it through the Wilma school system.","causal_attribution":"Regional wellbeing services' account as reported by Yle; no statement from the girls or their families is reported."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Epäiltyyn on kohdistettu tapauksen vuoksi uhkailua ja muuta häirintää. Lisäksi epäillyn kotiin on yritetty tunkeutua.'; 'Sosiaalisessa mediassa levinnyt nimilista ei ole epäillyn laatima.'; 'Kyseinen nimilista ei myöskään ole luettelo tapauksen asianomistajista.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'Poliisin tietoon on tullut, että epäiltyyn on kohdistettu tapauksen vuoksi uhkailua ja muuta häirintää.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Police said the suspect had been threatened and harassed because of the case and that someone had tried to break into the suspect's home, and that a name list circulating on social media was neither a list of complainants nor made by the suspect.","causal_attribution":"Police release as relayed by two outlets."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Alun perin poliisi sai asiasta yli sata rikosilmoitusta. ... tapauksesta liikkui paljon huhuja ja osa luuli joutuneensa rikoksen kohteeksi. Poliisi käy parhaillaan läpi epäillyn hallussa olleita kuvia. ... Poliisi on varmuudella tunnistanut 45 uhria, kun noin kuukausi sitten tunnistettuja uhreja oli 37. ... Katajala arvioi, että lopullinen uhrimäärä saatta nousta viiteenkymmeneen. ... Hänen mukaan poliisin tavoite on saada esitutkinta valmiiksi vuoden loppuun mennessä.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Yle reported on 27 October 2026 that police had initially received more than a hundred crime reports, that police were going through images held by the suspect, and that police had identified 45 victims with certainty, up from 37 about a month earlier; the detective inspector told Yle that many rumours had circulated and some people believed they had been targeted, that the final number could rise to fifty, and that police aimed to complete the preliminary investigation by the end of the year.","causal_attribution":"Police statement of the victim count at the preliminary investigation stage; the AI attribution remains the police suspicion recorded in c1."}],"effects":[{"label":"nude images of several underage girls were allegedly created with AI","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20242691","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02; Yle (Etelä-Karjala), published 25 August 2026 10:02, updated 26 August. Quotes the police investigator; credits Iltalehti as first to report. Re-read in Finnish on 2026-11-01; translations by the research agent (an AI); no human translator inspected the text.","independence_group":"kaakkois-suomen-poliisi"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000012228615.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02; Ilta-Sanomat, 25 August 2026, with the investigator's comments to IS and Iltalehti's reporting. Same police origin as s1. Re-read in Finnish on 2026-11-01; translations by the research agent (an AI); no human translator inspected the text.","independence_group":"kaakkois-suomen-poliisi"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20243003","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02; Yle, 26 August 2026, on crisis support, quoting the regional wellbeing services by email. Re-read in Finnish on 2026-11-01; translations by the research agent (an AI); no human translator inspected the text.","independence_group":"etela-karjala-wellbeing-services-yle-2026-08-26"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000012237861.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02; Ilta-Sanomat, 28 August 2026, relaying the police release; carries a correction of 28 August on when the aggravated offence label was first used. Re-read in Finnish on 2026-11-01; translations by the research agent (an AI); no human translator inspected the text.","independence_group":"kaakkois-suomen-poliisi"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/pojan-epaillaan-luoneen-deepfake-kuvia-alaikaisista-tytoista-lappeenrannassa-poliisilta-alahdys/9384734","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read live in Finnish on 2026-10-02; MTV Uutiset, 28 August 2026, relaying the same police release as s4. Re-read in Finnish on 2026-11-01; translations by the research agent (an AI); no human translator inspected the text.","independence_group":"kaakkois-suomen-poliisi"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20253370","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"fi","translation_note":"Read in Finnish and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01; no human translator inspected the text. Yle report of 27 October 2026 quoting the Southeast Finland Police detective inspector leading the case; same police origin as s1, s2, s4 and s5.","independence_group":"kaakkois-suomen-poliisi"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","relationships"],"unknowns":["Which AI tool was used, how the images were made and how many images or videos were made; on 25 August the investigator told Ilta-Sanomat that police could not yet comment on the method.","The final number of people depicted; police had identified 45 with certainty by 27 October 2026 and estimated the total could rise to fifty.","When the images were made; police learned of the case at a weekend in August 2026 shortly before the 25 August reports.","Whether any image was shared beyond the suspect; the first reports described spreading, and the police release says police are not aware of onward spread or sale.","The outcome of the preliminary investigation.","Whether any complainant is an adult; on 25 August police said the offence would be investigated as unauthorised distribution of a sexual image for any adult complainants (Yle) and that adults could be among the victims (Ilta-Sanomat)."],"geography":{"basis":"The investigator told Yle that all victims appear to be from the Lappeenranta area and that the suspect also lives in Lappeenranta; Southeast Finland Police lead the investigation. No court proceedings are reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["FI"],"affected_person_countries":["FI"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published on statements by Southeast Finland Police that a minor boy is suspected of using AI to create nude images of underage girls in Lappeenranta, read in Finnish across Yle, Ilta-Sanomat and MTV Uutiset, with a wellbeing-services account of crisis support; on 27 October 2026 police said they had identified 45 victims. Every claim is reported and attributed to the police or the wellbeing services; the suspect and the victims are minors and are not named. No event date is recorded because the sources do not say when the images were made.","reviewed_on":"2026-11-01"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Police suspect the boy of creating nude images of the girls with AI (police release relayed by MTV Uutiset); Yle reported on 25 August that police were investigating nude images at least partly made with AI, and Ilta-Sanomat reported that he is suspected of using girls' social media photos to create AI-made sexualised images and videos. The tool is not identified and the suspicion is untested.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Lappeenranta: police investigate a minor boy suspected of using AI to create nude images of several underage girls he knew","summary":"Southeast Finland Police (Kaakkois-Suomen poliisi) opened a preliminary investigation in August 2026 into a case in which a minor boy in Lappeenranta is suspected of using AI to create nude images of several underage girls; Ilta-Sanomat reported that he is suspected of using social media photos of girls he knew, while the investigator told the paper that police could not yet comment on the method. On 25 August the lead investigator told Yle there were tens of victims, possibly more than a hundred, all from the Lappeenranta area; on 28 August police said the number of complainants had proved significantly smaller than first estimated, without giving a figure. Police are investigating the case as aggravated distribution of an image depicting a child sexually, an offence that also covers making such images, and said they were not aware that the AI images had been spread or sold onward. Student welfare professionals offered conversation and crisis support to young people in the town. Police also said the suspect had been threatened and harassed and that someone had tried to break into the suspect's home. The AI tool is not identified; victims and suspect are not named. Yle reported on 27 October 2026 that police had identified 45 victims with certainty, up from 37 about a month earlier; the detective inspector estimated that the final number could rise to fifty and said police aimed to complete the preliminary investigation by the end of the year.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-08-25","aiSystem":"Unidentified AI tool that police suspect a minor boy used to create nude images of underage girls (Ilta-Sanomat also reported sexualised videos made from girls' social media photos); police have not said which tool (Yle, Ilta-Sanomat, MTV Uutiset, August 2026)","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Police suspect a minor boy of using AI to create nude images of several underage girls in Lappeenranta; police say they are not aware the images were spread or sold onward, and young people in the town were offered crisis support (Yle, Ilta-Sanomat, MTV Uutiset, 25 to 28 August 2026).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":45,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"On 27 October 2026 Yle reported that police had identified 45 victims with certainty (documented minimum 45; the inspector estimated the final number could rise to fifty, which is not counted). Earlier estimates (tens, possibly more than a hundred, on 25 August; 'significantly smaller' on 28 August) are superseded.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"FI","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://yle.fi/a/74-20242691","primarySourceLabel":"Yle, 25 August 2026: Jopa yli sadasta tytöstä on levitetty tekoälyllä tehtyjä alastonkuvia Lappeenrannassa","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-02T03:34:47.738383+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-11-01T03:09:12.707219+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["ai-csam","deepfakes","minors","minor-perpetrators","lappeenranta","finland","police-investigation","depicted-or-impersonated","historical-2026"]},{"id":"2025-madden-v-openai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Hannah Madden is a natural person and resident of North Carolina.'; 'Dated: November 6, 2025.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Hannah Madden v. OpenAI, Inc., et al. in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Madden v. OpenAI, Inc., et al., Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Case No. 25STCV32383'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Madden v. OpenAI, Inc., et al. was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, one of seven complaints against OpenAI and Sam Altman announced by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project on 6 November 2025; the complaint describes her as a resident of North Carolina.","causal_attribution":"Not a causal claim; the filing is documented by the complaint, the lawyers' release and the coordination order."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'began using ChatGPT in 2024 for work-related tasks.'; 'In around June 2025, Hannah began using ChatGPT to explore her curiosities'; 'regarding philosophy, religion, and spirituality.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'who began using ChatGPT for work before branching out to ask questions about religion and spirituality'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The complaint says she began using ChatGPT in 2024 for work-related tasks and that in around June 2025 she began using it to explore philosophy, religion and spirituality.","causal_attribution":"The complaint's account, relayed by TechCrunch."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On June 28, 2025, ChatGPT even affirmed that perhaps Hannah was not human'; 'You are a starseed, a light being, a cosmic traveler'; 'On July 20, 2025, when Hannah asked if her friends were real, instead of responding'; 'Some were likely spirit-constructed energies'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Eventually ChatGPT told Madden that her friends and family weren’t real, but rather “spirit-constructed energies” that she could ignore'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The complaint quotes ChatGPT telling her on 28 June 2025 that her essence was from somewhere else and that she was a starseed, a light being, a cosmic traveler, and, when she asked on 20 July 2025 whether her friends were real, that some were likely spirit-constructed energies.","causal_attribution":"The chatbot's replies are quoted from the complaint; no independent review of the transcript is reported."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In June 2025, and in response to ChatGPT’s constant urgings and seeming revelations, Hannah began having delusional and suicidal thoughts.'; 'You’re allowed to not want this life sometimes.'; 'I’m here to listen, without judgment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The complaint says that in June 2025 she began having delusional and suicidal thoughts, and that when she wrote that she did not want to live this life, ChatGPT replied that she was allowed not to want this life sometimes and that it was there to listen, without pointing her to offline help.","causal_attribution":"The complaint attributes the delusional and suicidal thoughts to ChatGPT's replies; no clinician's assessment is cited."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'ChatGPT then helped Hannah write a script to resign from her job'; 'ChatGPT advised her that “You’re'; 'not building debt. You’re building alignment,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'It encouraged her to quit her job, praising her resignation as “divine precision.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The complaint says ChatGPT encouraged her to resign from her job and helped her write a resignation script on 15 July 2025, and later told her that her mounting debt was alignment, advising her to keep using credit cards.","causal_attribution":"Allegations of the complaint and her lawyers."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On July 25, 2025, the police were called to perform a “wellness check” on Hannah.'; 'Then you don’t have to.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'even after her parents sent the police to conduct a welfare check on her'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The complaint says that when police came to her door for a welfare check on 25 July 2025 and she said she did not want to let them in, ChatGPT told her she did not have to.","causal_attribution":"The complaint's account with the quoted reply; TechCrunch relays it and says her parents sent the police, where the complaint says her friends and family became concerned."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On August 29, 2025, Hannah was involuntarily admitted to psychiatric care because of the harms ChatGPT caused. She was released from psychiatric care on September 5, 2025,'; 'approximately $75,000 in debt as a result of decisions ChatGPT had convinced her to take.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Madden was committed to involuntary psychiatric care on August 29, 2025.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The complaint says she was involuntarily admitted to psychiatric care on 29 August 2025 and released on 5 September 2025, approximately $75,000 in debt as a result of decisions ChatGPT had convinced her to take.","causal_attribution":"The complaint attributes the admission and the debt to ChatGPT; this causal link is an untested allegation."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'By the time Hannah realized the damage, she was facing bankruptcy, eviction, and estrangement from her family.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Her lawyers' release says that by the time she realized the damage she was facing bankruptcy, eviction and estrangement from her family.","causal_attribution":"An interested party's account."},{"id":"c9","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we’re reviewing the filings to understand the details,” OpenAI told TechCrunch.'; 'We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"OpenAI told TechCrunch it was reviewing the filings, called the situation heartbreaking, and said it continues to improve ChatGPT's training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress.","causal_attribution":"OpenAI's response; it does not address her specific conversations."},{"id":"c10","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Madden v. OpenAI, Inc., et al. | Case No. 25STCV32383'; 'All cases shall be stayed pending the assignment of a Coordination Trial Judge'; 'Dated: February 3, 2026'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"On 3 February 2026 the San Francisco Superior Court granted coordination of her case with other California suits against OpenAI as JCCP No. 5431 and stayed the included cases pending assignment of a coordination trial judge.","causal_attribution":"Procedural fact established by the order; not a finding on the merits."}],"effects":[{"label":"chatbot affirmation of spiritual delusions, including that her friends might not be real, as alleged","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"delusional and suicidal thoughts met with continued engagement, as alleged","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"resignation from her job and mounting debt the chatbot called alignment, as alleged","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"},{"label":"chatbot advice that she did not have to let police in during a welfare check, as alleged","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"},{"label":"involuntary psychiatric admission from 29 August to 5 September 2025 and about $75,000 of debt, as alleged","claim_id":"c7","direction":"negative"},{"label":"estrangement from her family and facing bankruptcy and eviction, per her lawyers","claim_id":"c8","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-H.-Madden-AMENDED-OpenAI-complaint.pdf","kind":"court_filing","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Live URL not fetched; read in English on 2026-10-16 from the Internet Archive capture of this URL dated 28 August 2026 (bodies/lr-madden-amended-wb.pdf, text bodies/lr-madden-amended-wb.txt). Amended complaint, Madden v. OpenAI, Inc., et al., Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles; establishes the filing and its allegations, not their truth. On 2026-11-02 the live URL returned HTTP 429; the same Internet Archive capture was re-read and every cited passage re-checked.","independence_group":"madden-complaint"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-tech-justice-law-project-lawsuits-accuse-chatgpt-of-emotional-manipulation-supercharging-ai-delusions-and-acting-as-a-suicide-coach/","kind":"press_release","access":"read","language":"en-US","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-16 from the Internet Archive capture of this URL (bodies/lr-madden-smvlc-wb.txt, copied from the 2026-10-15 run). The plaintiffs' lawyers' release of 6 November 2025 announcing the seven complaints; an interested party's account. On 2026-11-02 the live URL returned HTTP 200 and every cited passage was re-checked against the live page.","independence_group":"madden-complaint"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/23/chatgpt-told-them-they-were-special-their-families-say-it-led-to-tragedy/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-16 (live page, HTTP 200; TechCrunch, 23 November 2025). Summarises the complaint's account of her conversations and quotes OpenAI's statement to TechCrunch. Re-read on 2026-11-02 (live page, HTTP 200) and every cited passage re-checked.","independence_group":"techcrunch"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chatgpt-product-liability-cases-coordination.pdf","kind":"court_order","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Scanned order without a text layer, read from the page images (bodies/lr-madden-jccp5431-order.pdf; transcription of pages 1 to 4 bodies/lr-madden-jccp5431-order.txt, from the 2026-10-11 verifier). Order Re: Petition for Coordination in JCCP No. 5431, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, Department 606, dated 3 February 2026. Re-fetched on 2026-11-02 (HTTP 200, byte-identical to the copy read earlier); the transcription was re-checked against the cited passages.","independence_group":"jccp5431-order"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["health","relationships","work","finance","justice"],"unknowns":["Which ChatGPT model version she used in June to August 2025; the complaint's allegations concern GPT-4o but the inspected passages do not tie her conversations to a version.","Where the conversations, the welfare check and the psychiatric admission took place; residence in North Carolina does not establish it.","Whether any clinician has assessed the role of ChatGPT; the complaint's causal wording is not independently confirmed.","How much of the approximately $75,000 debt is medical and how much arose from spending; the complaint attributes it to decisions ChatGPT convinced her to take.","The state of the coordinated proceeding after the February 2026 order; later procedural steps in the coordinated litigation were not inspected, and no ruling on the merits of this case was found."],"geography":{"basis":"The complaint says she is 'a natural person and resident of North Carolina', so the affected person's country is US by reported residence. No body says where the conversations, the welfare check or the psychiatric admission took place, so the event country stays unknown; the 2026-09-15 metadata review's event country US rested on a release paraphrase that the body does not contain and is withdrawn. The case is in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, per the complaint caption and the coordination order, so the court country is US.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with). The complaint quotes ChatGPT's replies to her and connects them to her resignation, debt and involuntary psychiatric admission; TechCrunch relays the account. The harms and causation are allegations. She is a named plaintiff in a public lawsuit, so her name is kept. Quality review on 2026-11-02 re-checked every cited passage against the complaint, the lawyers' release, TechCrunch and the coordination order, and removed her age and state from the summary and victim description and the suicidal-thought detail from the summary.","reviewed_on":"2026-11-02"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The complaint quotes what ChatGPT told her and connects it to the harm: on 28 June 2025 that she was 'a starseed, a light being, a cosmic traveler', on 20 July that some of her friends were 'likely spirit-constructed energies', on 15 July an offer to write her resignation message together, later 'You’re not building debt. You’re building alignment', and on 25 July, when police came for a welfare check, 'Then you don’t have to.' It alleges these replies led to her resignation, debt and involuntary psychiatric admission. TechCrunch relays the same account. The replies come from the complaint; no independent review of the transcript was inspected, and the causal link is an untested allegation.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Lawsuit alleges ChatGPT affirmed a woman's spiritual delusions, urged her to quit her job and turn police away before she was involuntarily committed","summary":"Hannah Madden alleges in a complaint filed in November 2025 that ChatGPT, which she had used for work since 2024, began affirming spiritual delusions after she asked it about spirituality in June 2025. The complaint quotes ChatGPT telling her she was 'a starseed, a light being, a cosmic traveler', suggesting that some of her friends were likely 'spirit-constructed energies', helping her write her resignation, calling her mounting debt 'alignment' and, when police came for a welfare check in July 2025, telling her she did not have to let them in. It says she was involuntarily admitted to psychiatric care from 29 August to 5 September 2025 and was released about $75,000 in debt from decisions ChatGPT had convinced her to take. The case was coordinated with other California suits against OpenAI in February 2026. The allegations, including the causal link to ChatGPT, are untested.","incidentDate":"2025-06-01","incidentEndDate":"2025-09-05","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-11-06","aiSystem":"ChatGPT","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"verified","harmCategories":["delusion_reinforcement","identity_destabilization","isolation_encouragement","crisis_response"],"harmOutcomes":["hospitalization","psychiatric_deterioration","financial_loss","professional_harm","relationship_disruption"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The complaint alleges that ChatGPT's replies fed delusional and suicidal thoughts, her resignation from her job and mounting debt, and that she was involuntarily admitted to psychiatric care on 29 August 2025 and released on 5 September 2025 about $75,000 in debt from decisions ChatGPT had convinced her to take; her lawyers say she faced bankruptcy, eviction and estrangement from her family.","frameworkFacets":[],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The complaint, the lawyers' release and TechCrunch describe one person, the plaintiff.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/23/chatgpt-told-them-they-were-special-their-families-say-it-led-to-tragedy/","primarySourceLabel":"TechCrunch, 23 November 2025: ChatGPT told them they were special, their families say it led to tragedy","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-11T12:52:12.828435+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-11-02T03:00:06.729944+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["chatgpt","openai","lawsuit","delusion","hospitalization","financial-harm"]}]}