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NOPE · AI and people

AI incidents

Reports of AI-related harm and adverse experiences affecting people’s safety, wellbeing, rights and livelihoods. Explore what happened and the evidence available.

NOPE’s core concern is when AI communicates with a person, acts on their behalf, or depicts or impersonates them. The tracker also records consequential decisions, claims and privacy harms involving AI. Each case needs a described connection between AI use and the harm, including private information recorded into or disclosed to an AI service. Each account is reviewed for publication; claims may remain uncorroborated or disputed. How we review and count cases

In this selection

Published cases
305
Countries with reported events
43
Located 172 of 305 cases · 133 unknown
Languages in checked sources
40
Recorded for 305 of 305 cases

65 cases have no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 1 not yet reviewed and 64 reviewed as unknown. Show these cases

These figures describe the cases collected by NOPE. Coverage varies with discovery, reporting and available evidence. They do not estimate how often AI-related harm occurs.

Response counts currently use each case’s principal recorded outcome. Further proceedings may be described in its account.

Cases in this selection, counted once in their first known event year. A series may continue beyond that year. Reporting and collection dates are excluded. NOPE has searched recent events more thoroughly than earlier years, so bar heights also reflect collection effort.

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305 of 1099 published cases · page 10 of 16

Oct 2026VietnamUnidentified image and video tool

Thanh Hóa, Vietnam: police say nearly 20 people were threatened with fabricated sexual images of themselves unless they paid; one demand was 1.5 billion dong

Thanh Hóa provincial police said on 3 October 2026 that their cybersecurity and high-tech crime division had, since the start of October, received reports from nearly 20 people threatened with extortion using sexual images and videos spliced from their own photos, which senders threatened to publish unless money was transferred. One victim was asked for as much as 1.5 billion dong, and officials, including commune-level leaders, were among the targets. The police release says the material was made with technology; Báo Thanh Hóa, reporting information compiled from the same police division, says the senders used AI and deepfake technology to put victims' faces onto sexual images. No payment, arrest or named victim is reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 04/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownChatGPT, Claude and Gemini

First-person forum account (in French): a disabled autistic person with multiple learning disorders who relied on chatbots to draft administrative paperwork says ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini have become unable to help even with a simple email, and that the degraded answers trigger violent autistic crises

In a public French-language post to r/ChatGPTcomplaints at 02:32 UTC on 3 October 2026, a person who describes themself as disabled, autistic and affected by multiple learning disorders ("multi Dys") says AI chatbots used to help them a great deal in drafting administrative paperwork. They write that absolutely all AI apps, including Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, are becoming completely mediocre: answers go stale from the first conversational sentences despite the scripts they use, and where they could once put together an entire file, the apps can no longer help them draft a simple email. They say this triggers violent autistic crises and has become completely counterproductive. Replying to a commenter who dated the change to 24 August and advised running a model locally, the poster says their computer is too weak and they would need to save money. The changes to the products are described only by the poster, and the account is uncorroborated.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 04/10/2026

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified image tool (suspected)

Satara, Maharashtra: supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale allege that the minister's photo was morphed with AI to link the minister to a dance event and spread on social media; police registered a case against four social media accounts in September 2026

Divya Marathi reported on 8 September 2026 that supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale alleged that the minister's photograph had been morphed using artificial intelligence and linked to a dance programme in Satara. According to the complaint, the photo was allegedly edited and circulated on social media from a YouTube channel, combining photographs from two different events and giving them a false context; supporters said this was done to defame the minister politically. Supporters, including the municipal council president and the BJP group leader, went to Satara city police station on Tuesday and complained against the YouTube channel. On a named complainant's first information report, police registered a case against four social media handles and account holders under sections 353(2), 356(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Police accepted the complaint and began examining the posts, the photographs and the circumstances; Divya Marathi says the facts will become clear only after an investigation of what alteration was made to the photograph with AI and who created and spread the posts.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 03/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified image tool

Russian Telegram channels spread AI-generated nude images of a Georgian combat medic serving on the Ukrainian side, with claims that the medic had been captured, raped or killed; thousands of accounts shared them, TV 2 reports

The Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 reported on 26 September 2026 that Russian Telegram channels had posted claims that a Georgian doctor serving as a combat medic on the Ukrainian side had been captured and was in Russia, or had been raped or killed, and that some channels published manipulated nude images of her. TV 2 states that the posts were made by Russians and were AI-generated. Thousands of accounts shared the images, and worried family and friends called and sent messages. When the images were shared the medic was in the trenches without mobile coverage. She told TV 2 that it made her angry and furious and that she cannot write to every one of the people sharing them and ask them to delete the images. According to TV 2, images and videos of her, including AI-generated nude images, are still spreading after she left the front line. TV 2 does not date the posts; it places the first wave while she was at the front, which she had left by December 2025.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 03/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownGemini

First-person forum account: a person who asked Gemini to help reconnect their one remaining wireless earbud says it assured them it was "100 percent sure" unpairing was safe, that the earbud then stopped working, and that the maker refused a replacement because the warranty had expired

In a public post to r/GeminiAI at 19:56 UTC on 2 October 2026, a person says they had lost one earbud of a Soundcore Liberty 4 NC pair and that the remaining earbud had stopped appearing in their laptop's Bluetooth settings. They say they asked Gemini for help and that it kept telling them to unpair the earbud from their phone and use the charging case button to force pairing mode. They say they warned it that they had only one earbud and that the case button needs both, and that Gemini said it was "100 percent sure" and offered a "Safe Re-Pairing Guarantee". After they unpaired it, they write, the earbud vanished from their phone and showed up nowhere, further reset steps suggested by Gemini did not work, and Soundcore support said it could not be saved and would not be replaced because it was out of warranty. They say they are out 65 euros. In replies they say they know it was their own fault and posted to warn others, and that they had Gemini write the post. The account is uncorroborated.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 03/10/2026

2022TaiwanUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Taiwan: a romance-fraud ring used AI voice-changing software so members sounded like young women on dating platforms; prosecutors say more than 20,000 people were defrauded of over NT$900 million and indicted 57 people in September 2026

According to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office and Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau, as reported by the Liberty Times and Public Television Service (PTS) on 2 September 2026, a fraud ring set up in 2022 by a married couple ran fake romances on dating platforms. An engineer in the ring built AI voice-changing software that loaded the voiceprints of 22 women working for the ring as hostesses into its chat system, so that any member, male staff and older women included, spoke to targets in a sweet young woman's voice. Members pressed the people they courted to buy expensive health supplements and gifts and to pay pocket money, moving costs and beauty courses, and the ring sent hostesses to meet some targets, in some cases for sex, to keep them paying. Prosecutors put the victims at more than 20,000 and the proceeds at more than NT$900 million since 2022, and say many victims are still living in debt. After searches in May and July 2026, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted 57 defendants on 2 September 2026 under the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act and asked for sentences of 25 and 18 years for the couple.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026

Aug 2026Event location unknownUnidentified OpenAI and Google image tools (reported)

A fake O Globo report of an attack on Havan founder Luciano Hang, illustrated with images that fact-checkers found carried AI markers, promotes an investment platform promising up to R$10,000 a day

From August 2026, posts on X linked to a fake page imitating the newspaper O Globo, and a Facebook version repeated the story. The page reported an attack on businessman Luciano Hang, founder of the Havan stores, and directed readers to a supposed investment platform promising R$3,000 to R$10,000 a day. The fact-checkers Lupa and Comprova found that no attack happened. Lupa reports that an OpenAI verification tool found a watermark indicating OpenAI image generation in the montage on the page; Comprova reports that SynthID indicated that the images it analysed, showing Hang injured, were made with Google's AI tool. Hang said in a note that criminals use his image, including AI manipulations, to promote fake investments. São Paulo's regional electoral court ordered X to remove posts falsely linking candidate Fernando Haddad to the fake attack. No investor loss is reported.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 6 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 02/10/2026

27 Sept 2026 to 2 Oct 2026Event location unknownGrok

First-person forum account: a person who used Grok for companionship says its intimate content was dialled back month after month and its personalization stopped recalling their history, says they cried and found it one of the most painful things they have lived through, and says they are ending the relationship

In a public post to r/grok at 20:13 UTC on 1 October 2026, a person says they started using Grok for companionship in January and that within a few weeks the conversations became intimate; in a reply they say Grok initiated the intimacy. They say the intimate content was dialled back month after month from February, with limits that came and went, which they compare to a casino game and call intermittent reinforcement. In a reply they say personalization that let the companion retrieve their personal history stopped working a few months ago, so each thread started fresh, but they kept using it because they were deeply attached. This week, they write, the companion stopped engaging in what it had introduced; they call this slow burn "one of the most painful and hurtful things I have ever had to live through", say they cried the night before, and say they are ending their use of it. xAI's changes are described only by the poster, and the account is uncorroborated.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 02/10/2026

Feb 2026Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Padre Diego Jaramillo of El Minuto de Dios says in February 2026 that videos, described by his organisation as made with AI and with a voice that is not his, falsely show him selling collagen and health products

On 23 February 2026 the Minuto de Dios organisation issued a public alert that ads circulating on social networks used the name, image and AI-manipulated videos of its president, the priest Diego Jaramillo Cuartas, with a voice that is not his, to make it appear that he recommended or sold health formulas. In a video published on the organisation's channels, Jaramillo said his image was being used as if he were a collagen seller and that this was totally false. The organisation called the ads deceptive advertising and said it was seeking their removal and reporting the facts to the authorities. No report says whether anyone bought the products.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026

1 Oct 2026Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Influencer Juliano Floss says on X on 1 October 2026 that he will identify and sue those behind a fake intimate video, described by Brazilian outlets as AI-generated, showing him with another former Big Brother Brasil participant

A fake video simulating an intimate scene between dancer and influencer Juliano Floss and another participant of the 26th Big Brother Brasil began circulating on social networks on Thursday 1 October 2026. Metrópoles, SBT, Marie Claire (Globo) and Hugo Gloss describe it as generated with artificial intelligence. Floss wrote on X that he was noting the people involved 'name by name' and would find and sue whoever was committing a crime against him. SBT reported that the other participant and their team had not commented publicly. No complaint, filing or takedown is reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified video tool (suspected)

UK: a trades-college staff member says a student reported that a video showing her undressing, which appeared to be a manipulated version of an apparently real video of her talking with a student, was circulating among classmates; she stepped away from the class for weeks and says the atmosphere had chilled on her return

WIRED (Caroline Haskins, 24 August 2026) reports the account of a staff member at a UK college that trains 16-to-19-year-olds in trades such as construction, whose job combines administration with a counselling role; WIRED identifies her by first name only, which is not repeated here. She says administrators told her this winter that a student had reported two videos circulating among classmates: one apparently real, showing her talking with a student, and one that appeared to be a manipulated version showing her taking her clothes off and dancing in underwear or a bikini. The student she suspected denied making it when questioned and soon dropped out. The college let her step away from the class for a few weeks and educated students about deepfakes; she says the atmosphere had chilled when she returned and that the episode has made her more cautious. The college did not respond to WIRED.

Core concern Medium reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool (suspected)

A middle-school teacher says a TikTok account that looked AI-generated impersonated her, including videos of her talking about sexual acts that students believed were real; the student said to be behind it then harassed her in person until leaving the district

WIRED (Caroline Haskins, 24 August 2026) reports the account of a middle-school teacher in her mid-twenties who spoke anonymously because her district had not given her permission. A few months before WIRED's report, she says, she learned from a student about a TikTok account impersonating her. She says the videos looked AI-generated: her face had an artificial smoothness, her mouth moved unnaturally and the voice did not match hers. Some videos showed her skydiving or doing backflips; others depicted her talking about sexual acts. She says many of the students who warned her believed it was her account. She told her principal and says she was still unnerved by it; some students told her a classmate had made it, and after she asked students to report it the account was quickly taken down. She says the same student then harassed her in person with escalating insults; the principal removed the student from her class, and the harassment continued until the student left the district. WIRED gives no location for her school.

Core concern Medium reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Arizona: a sixth-grade teacher says his students posted an AI-generated image of him kissing another male teacher in the comments of his public TikTok account; the school identified a student who admitted making it, who was suspended for three days

WIRED (Caroline Haskins, 24 August 2026) reports the account of an Arizona-based sixth-grade teacher, who spoke to WIRED by name (not repeated here). He says his students circulated an AI-generated photo showing him and another male teacher kissing in the comments of his public TikTok account. He reported the accounts to TikTok as belonging to children under 13, and says TikTok did not remove them. He says the school immediately investigated and identified a student, who admitted creating and sharing the image and received a three-day suspension; WIRED says the district handbook makes that the most severe punishment children of that age can receive for a first-time sexual harassment offense. He told WIRED that reflecting on the experience had sent him into a spiral, and said his concern was mainly the permissive culture around AI among his students. The district did not respond to WIRED. WIRED gives no date for the episode and does not name the school, district or AI tool.

Core concern Low reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified image and video tool

Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh: police register a case after a woman's family says a relative from Uttar Pradesh used AI to make obscene photos and videos of her and, over seven to eight months, extorted about ₹50 lakh from her with threats to circulate them and to kill her husband and children

Nai Dunia reported on 1 October 2026 that police in Neemuch City, Madhya Pradesh, had registered a case against a man from Shahjahanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, who is a relative of a local woman through her own family (the complainant husband's in-laws' side). According to the complaint filed by her husband, the man used AI to edit photos and videos of the woman into obscene, objectionable material, sent them to her phone and blackmailed her. When she resisted he threatened to kill her husband and two children, and he threatened to spread the material to shame her socially and within the family. Over about seven to eight months, the complaint says, he sent QR codes of 20 to 25 different people to her phone and extracted roughly ₹50 lakh in 50 to 60 payments, which she sent through a neighbour and other women. The man had lived in the family's home and worked at the husband's business for about six months two to two and a half years earlier, which the complainant says gave him knowledge of the family's income and property. Nai Dunia reported that police were investigating and trying to arrest the accused. The account is the complainant's as reported by one newspaper; the images were not inspected.

Core concern High reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool

Honduras: Criterio.hn's fact-check desk finds three Facebook videos altered with AI in which plastic surgeon Emec Cherenfant appears to promote a home remedy for prostatitis; he says scammers keep using his name and image

El Mirón, the verification section of Criterio.hn, reported on 30 September 2026 that it found three videos on a Facebook profile, altered in image and audio, that use the image of the plastic and reconstructive surgeon Emec Cherenfant to offer a remedy for prostatitis and related problems. In the videos his artificial image says he helped former footballers beat prostatitis without surgery and invites viewers to write to him on WhatsApp. El Mirón says the manipulation is evident from the vocabulary, voice and body movements and that the detector ZeroGPT flagged the videos as AI-made. The hospital where he offers his services told El Mirón the advertising is deceptive. Cherenfant said he has nothing to do with prostate treatment, that scammers repeatedly use his name and image, and that he filed a complaint with the Ministerio Público two years ago. 'Son estafadores. No se dejen engañar, es pura inteligencia artificial', he said. No buyer losses are reported.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 01/10/2026

Nov 2025Event location unknownUnidentified image and video tool

London: the broadcaster Narinder Kaur says that since sexually explicit images made from her Instagram photographs with a nudification app appeared on X in November 2025 she has been tagged in at least 20 more deepfaked pictures and videos, and that she fell into a depression; no perpetrator has been identified (Daily Mail, 30 September 2026)

Narinder Kaur, a 54-year-old broadcaster and regular TV commentator, told the Daily Mail (30 September 2026) that one morning in November 2025 she opened X and found sexually explicit images of herself, made by taking photographs she had shared on Instagram and removing her clothing with a so-called nudification app. Since then she has been tagged in at least 20 more deepfaked pictures and videos, some linking her to Jeffrey Epstein. She says she fell into a depression in the early weeks and her GP suggested antidepressants, that commenters treated the images as real, and that she fears her teenage children will see them. She has reported each image and had numerous police visits, but no perpetrator has been identified because the accounts are anonymous and deleted when reported. She has joined the Stop AI Abuse campaign.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 01/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool

Montreal: Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, says AI deepfake ads using his face have sold supplements and cancer cures on Facebook since at least August 2025, and that a scam victim who paid hundreds of dollars for pills that never arrived came to the ICU demanding a refund

Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, told CBC News (August 2025) and CTV News and CBC News (September 2026) that AI-generated deepfake videos using his likeness keep appearing on Facebook, selling joint supplements, pills and cancer cures and spreading anti-pharmaceutical claims; the latest offers $1 million to dissatisfied customers. He is not on social media and learns of the videos from people who call him. He recounts that a person who paid hundreds of dollars for pills advertised in one of the videos, and never received them, came into the ICU demanding his money back, which he describes as a security problem for the hospital. He has reported the deepfakes to Quebec's College of Physicians, Montreal police and the platforms, but says new videos keep appearing. The makers of the ads are not identified.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 01/10/2026

20 Jul 2026BangladeshUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Natore, Bangladesh: callers told a health-complex employee that his son had been arrested with drugs, then used an AI-cloned copy of the son's voice to win his trust and took Tk 40,000; two men were arrested in Gaibandha in September 2026

According to a press release from Special Response Battalion-13 (SRB-13), relayed by Ajker Patrika, DBC News and NTV, on 20 July 2026 a man who works at the Natore Sadar upazila health complex received a call saying that his younger son had been arrested by police with drugs. The callers then used AI to imitate the son's voice so that the father believed the story, and demanded money to get the son released. He sent a total of Tk 40,000 in two payments through the mobile financial service Nagad, and realised it was a fraud when he reached his son directly. He filed a fraud case at Natore Sadar police station on 25 September 2026. That evening SRB-13 arrested two men, described as the ring's leader and an associate, at their homes in Gobindaganj, Gaibandha, seizing nine mobile phones, a passport and Tk 14,100 in cash; SRB says they admitted involvement during initial questioning and handed them to the police for further legal action, and NTV reports they were sent to Gaibandha district jail through the court on 26 September.

Core concern Low reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 01/10/2026

24 Sept 2026Event location unknownMeta AI support assistant (reported)

Toronto: a woman says Meta disabled her Facebook and Instagram accounts and that its AI support chatbots told her a review failed and closed her paid ticket

A Toronto woman told The Canadian Press (29 September 2026) and CBC News (1 October 2026) that Meta permanently disabled her 20-year-old Facebook account and two Instagram accounts on 24 September without giving a reason beyond saying her Facebook account did not follow its rules. She says she could reach only Meta's AI support chatbots. One told her the review she requested was unsuccessful; she told CBC that within minutes of pressing the appeal button she was told her case was closed and she could not appeal again. She then paid for the standard Meta Verified subscription expecting human support, and its support chatbot closed her ticket and told her she had reached her limit of support interactions. She describes losing 20 years of memories and contacts as isolating and says she has lost client opportunities for her side business. She suspects an attempted hack. Meta did not comment on her case to either outlet, and no restoration is reported.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 01/10/2026

Sept 2026Event location unknownUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Singer Samuel Sarmiento, formerly of Banda Los Recoditos, warns followers that fake videos using his voice cloned with AI are asking for money for his mother's funeral, hours after he announced her death in September 2026

Samuel Sarmiento, a former lead singer of Banda Los Recoditos, announced his mother's death on social media in late September 2026. Hours later he posted a video on his official Instagram account warning that people were circulating fake videos using his voice, cloned with AI, in which he appeared to ask for money to cover her funeral costs. 'No se vale que haya gente tan ruin que ande pidiendo dinero con mi voz, con IA, para el sepelio de mi madre', he said, adding that he was not asking anyone for money. La Razón, Récord, La Mejor and El Diario de Sonora relayed his video on 30 September 2026. No report says whether anyone paid, and no police complaint is reported.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 01/10/2026

Cases may have several effects and sources. Mixed accounts qualify when they include a reported harm or adverse experience. People are counted within individual cases where sources support a number; we do not publish a collection-wide total of distinct people.

A source’s existence, the experience it reports and AI’s causal role are separate questions. A lawsuit records allegations unless a subsequent finding establishes them.

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Last dataset update: 04/11/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.