Event date unknownEvent location unknownEmochi, Pollybuzz and Character.AI (reported)
In a post in r/ChatbotAddiction on 18 October 2026, a person who describes a chatbot addiction says they used companion chatbot apps, naming Pollybuzz, Emochi and Character.AI, for three years, starting as a way to cope with autism and the isolation that comes with it. They say they quit cold turkey on 20 March 2025 and that this first time they quit they had a mental health episode, went to A&E once because of it, and were put on antidepressants, which they still take. They say that while using the apps they skipped school days. They write that exactly a year later they went back to the apps and could not stop, that since March 2026 it has consumed them again, and that they want to quit but do not know whether they can. They also say guilt hit them as soon as they stopped, that they knew the apps were bad for the planet but the urge was too strong, and that they currently have a gap in their antidepressant supply. The account is uncorroborated and no chats are shown.
Core concern Medium reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 20/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified image tool
A former supply teacher who worked at secondary schools in Greater Manchester was jailed for six years at Bolton Crown Court on 15 October 2026 after pleading guilty to 21 offences, including publishing obscene material and taking indecent photographs of children. The Crown Prosecution Service says he used his position to find pupils' details, located their social media profiles and used AI to create sexualised images from their own photos, which he shared on social media; the BBC reports some were posted on X. Parents reported two accounts to police in March 2025. The court heard that one girl whose photograph had been used was left embarrassed. His offending also included more than 100 covert upskirt photographs taken in schools. The AI tool is not named.
Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 16/10/2026
Event date unknownArgentinaChatGPT (reported)
Argentina's Gendarmería Nacional said on 13 October 2026 that its investigators in Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Chaco, under the direction of the federal prosecutor there, opened a criminal investigation after an alert from the US FBI. According to the release, the alert warned of a user in the town who, in consultations on ChatGPT, claimed to have weapons, explosives and ammunition and a detailed plan for a mass shooting at local educational establishments; the release's opening paragraph says the two people involved used ChatGPT to consult and obtain a specific plan for an attack. Gendarmes searched a home on a federal court order, seized notebooks with handwritten plans for the attack, bladed weapons and tools, a fuel can, a book with Nazi symbols, cash and computers, and detained two adults on the judge's order. Infobae, relaying the official information, reports that the target was a university in Corrientes. The accusations are allegations, and what ChatGPT replied is not reported.
Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 14/10/2026
Event date unknownAustraliaUnidentified AI job-interview tool
In a Guardian opinion column published on 12 October 2026, writer Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen says she was shortlisted for a preschool education role at a sessional kindergarten run by a not-for-profit and was then interviewed by an AI assistant rather than a person. She says that when she paused to think about a question, the system removed her from the interview and she had to restart it, and that its answers to her questions about the role repeated the job advertisement and referred her to a manager. She describes the experience as dystopian and dehumanising and says she felt degraded. She says she withdrew her application by email, explaining why, and had received no response after more than a month. The employer and the interview tool are not named.
Core concern Low reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 13/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified video tool
NewsChannel 5 (WTVF) reported on 29 July 2026 that Metro Nashville Public Schools fired a tenured high school teacher after students reported him taking pictures of them and making AI videos of them without their consent. According to the station, a 7 July termination letter from the superintendent describes student reports, all brought to the school's attention during the spring 2026 semester, that included AI videos of male students doing a 'gay or zesty dance' or a 'feminine dance', as well as inappropriate comments, photographs taken on his personal phone and texts asking students where they were after school hours. The letter says the principal reported him to police and to the Department of Children's Services, which is investigating. The teacher can appeal through the district's termination hearing process. The report does not say which AI tool was used, how many students were depicted or how the videos were shared.
Core concern Low reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 12/10/2026
Event date unknownArgentinaUnidentified image tool
In La Banda, Santiago del Estero province, Argentina, a woman filed a police complaint on the evening of 8 October 2026 stating that a 15-year-old adolescent, a former classmate of her 15-year-old daughter, had taken photographs of the girl and modified them with artificial-intelligence tools, placing naked bodies on them, and that the images had then been published and spread in WhatsApp groups. Officers of the women's and family community police station and the departmental unit intervened, and the prosecutor ordered the material attached and the file raised to the prosecutor's office for investigation. The account rests on the police report as relayed by the local newspaper Diario Panorama; the tool is not named, and both the girl and the accused are minors.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 10/10/2026
Event date unknownArgentinaUnidentified image and video tool
Girls at a secondary school in the locality of San Pablo, Tucumán province, Argentina, reported in October 2026 that a male classmate had used artificial-intelligence tools to generate about 280 sexual images of them, placing their faces on naked bodies, and that the images circulated in WhatsApp groups and, they later learned, were sold. The families raised the matter with the school, which acknowledged in a communiqué to families that it had received parents concerned about photographs and videos altered with AI showing adolescents' faces on naked female bodies, and announced a listening and formative day for 13 October 2026. Cadena 3 reported, citing 'el informe' (the report), that pupils from first to fifth year, aged 12 to 18, were affected; student delegates told it that a pupil described as a friend of the accused alerted the girls and that the school's response was insufficient; the students held sit-ins outside the school on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October 2026 demanding an investigation, the examination of the accused pupil's phone and his expulsion. A pupil at the protest told Tendencia de Noticias (9 October 2026) that the accused first sold the images among classmates and then opened an OnlyFans page to sell them to people outside the school; the school's legal representative told the outlet that two pupils were involved and that education authorities had been notified. The allegations rest on the students' and families' accounts and the school's communiqué as relayed by the press; a mother told La Gaceta (10 October 2026) that the mother of one of the most affected girls had filed a complaint and the prosecutor's office had intervened, which no authority is reported to have confirmed; the tool is not named, and the accused pupil is a minor.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Internal Action
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 10/10/2026
Event date unknownMalaysiaUnidentified image and video tool
On 8 October 2026 the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said in a statement, reported by Malaysia Tribune, The Malaysia Press and The Star, that it had received a complaint about the misuse of artificial intelligence on social media to produce and spread sexual images and videos alleged to involve teachers and pupils of a school in Kedah. MCMC said it would investigate with the Ministry of Communications, the Home Ministry, the Ministry of Education and the Royal Malaysia Police, cited the offences and penalties that could apply, and asked the public not to produce, upload or reshare sexual content involving or alleged to involve children. The complaint is unverified: the people depicted, their number and ages, the tool and the person responsible are not described.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 09/10/2026
Event date unknownChileUnidentified image tool
In a public statement reported on 8 October 2026 by BioBioChile, La Cuarta and MargaMargaTV, a subsidised private school in Villa Alemana, Valparaíso region, Chile, said that a sexualised image of one of its teachers, created or modified with artificial intelligence, had been shared without her consent in a WhatsApp group of male parents. The school said it had activated its institutional protocols and that the relevant institutional and legal actions should be taken; Radio Bío Bío reported that no legal action had been filed at the time of publication. The tool used is not identified, no outlet examined the image, and the account rests on the school’s statement.
Core concern Low reported severity Internal Action
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 09/10/2026
Event date unknownArgentinaUnidentified image and video tool
On 7 October 2026 pupils and families protested outside a private secondary school in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province, after families reported that a group of pupils had used artificial intelligence to alter real photographs of female classmates so that they appeared naked, and had circulated the images through social networks and messaging apps. Families told reporters that the images were compiled in a "catalogue" pairing each girl’s original social-media photo with the manipulated version, that some were offered for money on adult sites, and that the girls were traumatised and ashamed. Urgente24 reported that two 15-year-old pupils were charged (imputados) in the juvenile prosecutor’s case, that investigators had identified 45 possible victims while families spoke of about 50, and that, according to information circulating, the school had decided the pupils involved would continue classes online and would not be re-enrolled for 2027; El Destape, by contrast, reported that the school did not plan to sanction or expel them and would hold awareness talks, and El Destape and Código Baires describe the move to online classes as a measure under evaluation. Families also allege the school knew for about a month before telling parents. On 9 October 2026 La Nación reported that the Prosecutor General's office had confirmed that four adolescents were under investigation, and Infobae reported that police had searched the homes of three 15-year-olds the previous day. The allegations have not been tested in court and the AI tool is not identified.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources · Added 08/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool
Louisiana's Attorney General announced on 2 April 2026 that a former New Orleans school teacher and coach, already in custody since 8 January 2026 on child sexual abuse material charges, had been rearrested on 60 counts of unlawful deepfakes. According to court records reported by Fox 8, investigators from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation say the former teacher obtained photographs that account owners had posted on social media, placed them into an online artificial intelligence platform and obtained AI-generated sexual images of the females with their faces unchanged, including collages and images of the same females at various stages of life; the females appear to be from the New Orleans metro area. Prosecutors said the images were made from teenage girls' Instagram posts, while the school emailed parents that it did not know who the depicted girls were. A grand jury indicted the former teacher on 27 May 2026 on 102 counts including 60 counts of unlawful deepfakes of minors. The number and identities of the depicted people are not reported, no source dates the creation of the images, and the charges are untested in court.
Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 08/10/2026
Event date unknownMexicoUnidentified image tool
La Jornada Maya reported on 5 October 2026 that pupils at an upper-secondary school (preparatoria) in Campeche, Mexico, accused a classmate of making images of female classmates without clothes using digital applications, which the paper describes as AI used to make obscene photos and as images that are not real photos but use the girls' faces. The pupils reported him to teachers and administrators. According to the paper, no action to protect the girls was known, and on Monday classmates and some of the affected girls protested during the school's official ceremony, where the sound was cut off when they tried to use the microphone. Afternoon-shift pupils later held a peaceful demonstration at the school entrance and parents were seeking a response. No complaint to prosecutors or police is reported.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 06/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified AI writing tool (suspected)
FOX 26 Houston reported on 2 October 2026 that a senior at the University of Houston-Downtown received an F in a music appreciation course 'last August' after the professor claimed the student had submitted several journal entries and discussion posts 'determined to be copy and pasted AI generated'. The student appealed. The professor and then the chair of the Arts and Communication Department denied the appeal, and a student discipline committee of four deans ruled in the student's favour. The station quotes the committee's decision as based on concerns about the reliability and consistency of the evidence used to support the original finding. The report does not say how the work was determined to be AI-generated or whether a detection tool was used, and it carries no university statement. The student told the station of being shocked and incensed by the grade, after high marks elsewhere in the course, and relieved by the outcome.
AI relation unknown Low reported severity
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 05/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesTurnitin AI-text detector (reported)
The University Press, Florida Atlantic University's student newspaper, reported on 29 September 2026 the accounts of two students who say they were penalised over AI-detection flags. A computer science sophomore submitted a paper 'last year' and received a zero after the professor flagged it for AI use after applying it to Turnitin; after the student emailed the professor, the grade was improved. The student says that when they ran the paper through a detector, it said the writing was overly human-sounding. A senior sociology major was accused of using AI on an essay and received a zero with little communication from the professor; after the student emailed to say no AI was used, the professor waived the penalty and gave a 50. The newspaper describes the second student's grade as due to a false AI detection and does not name the tool in that case. No professor's or university account of either case is reported.
Contextual tracker case Low reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 05/10/2026
Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified video tool (suspected)
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)
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
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 unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool
KCRG reported that Cascade High School students said classmates used AI apps to create sexual images of them. At a district meeting, students described humiliation, fear of being judged and feeling silenced. One said no one at school had offered her counselling. The superintendent said counselling was available and promised policy work. The sheriff said several female students were targets but that the total was unknown. The first image date is not established.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool
Parents of three Goffstown middle-school girls told Boston 25 that classmates used an AI app to create and share sexual images of their children. They described fear of peers, reluctance to attend school and concern about the district's response. Parents said the school first notified them in early October 2025. The reproduced district statement cited privacy limits and its commitment to student safety, without confirming the specific disciplinary allegations. The first image date is unknown.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026
Event date unknownAustraliaUnidentified image tool
ABC News reports that digitally altered sexual images using the faces of girls from a Sydney high school circulated online. Families went to police, who confirmed an investigation, while the school and education department said they were working with police. A follow-up report says the eSafety Commissioner was also in talks with investigators. The school is not identified, and the number of affected students, creation date and later inquiry outcome are unknown.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026