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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
140
Countries with reported events
29
Located 104 of 140 cases · 36 unknown
Languages in checked sources
28
Recorded for 140 of 140 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.

No known event years in this selection.

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140 of 1101 published cases · page 5 of 7

Event date unknownEgyptUnidentified image tool

Giza, Egypt: police say a man took photos of young women from social media, altered them with AI apps and ran pages posing as a woman offering paid sexual services, switching off his phone once people had transferred money; arrest in the Munira police district reported on 2 October 2026

According to an Interior Ministry statement relayed by Egypt Telegraph on 2 October and Youm7 on 3 October 2026, investigations by the ministry's General Administration for the Protection of Morals found that a man was running social media pages that defrauded people by making them believe he was a young woman and advertising paid sexual services. Police arrested him in the Munira police district of Giza with four mobile phones that held evidence of the activity. In the ministry's account he admitted taking photos of young women from social media, altering them with AI applications and reposting them on his pages so that followers would believe he was a woman, asking for money and switching off his phone once it was transferred. The reports do not give the number of people deceived, the amounts taken or the number of women whose photos were used.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 04/10/2026

Event date unknownEgyptUnidentified fake-chat tool

Egypt: Interior Ministry says a man admitted using AI programs to fake chats with public figures to lure people paying for product promotion, in 12 frauds

On 2 October 2026 Youm7, Akhbar El-Yom, Al-Gomhor and the National Media Authority's site Maspero relayed an Egyptian Interior Ministry statement saying that the ministry's information technology crimes department, working with the public security sector, had identified a man running a social media page that took money from people who wanted to promote their products through sponsored advertising, on the claim that it would raise their follower numbers. The ministry says that, when confronted, he admitted creating the page to defraud them and fabricating conversations with public figures using artificial intelligence programs to attract victims and make his activity look credible; Al-Gomhor attributes the fabricated conversations to the investigations. He asked them to transfer money and then switched off his phone. The ministry says he committed 12 fraud incidents against citizens in the same way and that legal measures were taken. The reports do not give the amounts, the number of distinct people defrauded, the public figures involved or the AI programs used.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 04/10/2026

Event date unknownBrazilUnidentified video tool

Paraíso das Águas, Mato Grosso do Sul: a farmer lost more than R$700,000, including a R$360,000 loan, after a video call in which scammers used AI to simulate the Viva Sorte prize-draw presenter

Three Mato Grosso do Sul outlets, all crediting BNC Notícias, reported on 10 April 2026 that a rural producer from Paraíso das Águas fell for the so-called Viva Sorte scam. In a video call, scammers used AI deepfake technology to simulate the image and voice of Renato Ambrósio, the presenter of the Viva Sorte prize draws, told the farmer a prize had been won and set out steps to release it: Pix transfers, sending the CPF tax number and sharing the phone screen while the banking app was open. The farmer followed the instructions and took out a R$360,000 loan; with interest, the total loss exceeded R$700,000. One report says the farmer gave this account to the police. The farmer is not identified, no date is given and no arrest is reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

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

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified video tool

Meghalaya: a video described as an AI deepfake, showing Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong and East Khasi Hills police chief Vivek Syiem drinking and surrounded by money, circulates amid truck-extortion allegations; police call it fabricated and weigh legal action

Shillong newspapers reported on 1 and 2 October 2026 that a video described as an AI-generated deepfake was circulating on social media, linking Meghalaya's Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police), Prestone Tynsong, and East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem to allegations that police were illegally collecting money from trucks on a highway. Highland Post reported that the video shows the two laughing, drinking alcohol and surrounded by money, and that it appears to have been created with AI and is crudely made. Syiem called it a serious matter and said police would examine the video and decide on legal action after reviewing it; police describe it as fabricated. Posters targeting the two officials appeared in Shillong the next day. Who made the video is unknown and no complaint or arrest is reported.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 03/10/2026

Event date unknownIndonesiaUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Malang, East Java: the head of the financial regulator's local office says a resident lost Rp80 million after a caller used an AI clone of a close friend's voice to ask for a transfer

Malang Post reported on 2 October 2026 that the head of the Malang office of Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), speaking on a Radio City Guide FM talk show that day, described the latest case to befall a resident of Malang. According to the report, the perpetrator used AI to clone the voice of the victim's close friend very precisely and called the victim from a new number to ask for a money transfer; the victim believed the voice and lost Rp80 million. No date, police report or arrest is given. The account is the OJK official's as reported by one outlet; the call was not heard and the victim is not identified.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · 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 unknownEgyptUnidentified image tool

Sharqia, Egypt: police say an unemployed man took women's photos from social media, altered them with AI apps and ran pages posing as a woman offering paid sexual services, blocking people once they had sent deposits; arrest in Zagazig announced on 30 September 2026

According to an Interior Ministry statement relayed by Soralive, Shbabbek and Egypt Telegraph on 30 September and 1 October 2026, Egypt's cybercrime and morals police arrested an unemployed man living in the Zagazig Second police district of Sharqia governorate. Investigators say he ran social media pages that presented him as a young woman offering paid sexual services. In the ministry's account he admitted collecting photos of young women posted on social media and altering them with AI apps to make them look alluring, then reposting them on his pages to draw in customers. He asked those who replied to transfer advance payments through mobile wallets as a deposit, then blocked them and switched off his phones once the money arrived. Two phones seized from him held chats and other evidence of the activity, and the public prosecution took over the investigation. The reports do not give the number of people deceived, the amounts taken or the number of women whose photos were used.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownFinlandUnidentified image tool

Lappeenranta: police investigate a minor boy suspected of using AI to create nude images of several underage girls he knew

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.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownSpainUnidentified video tool

Spanish police arrest a man in Murcia suspected of using real-time AI face modification and forged ID cards to impersonate more than 30 real people in video identity checks for electronic signature certificates

Spain's Policía Nacional said on 11 August 2026 that it had arrested in Murcia a suspect who tried to obtain electronic signature certificates in other people's names from a company that issues them. During the company's video identity checks the suspect appeared on camera holding a forged DNI identity card while AI software modified the suspect's face in real time to match the photo on the forged document. Police say the suspect made 38 attempts using the identities of more than 30 real citizens and succeeded in impersonating multiple victims, aiming to use the signatures for later scams. A short processing delay in the face-modification software made the digital mask disappear for barely a second, exposing the suspect's real face to the issuer's security staff.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 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 unknownAustraliaUnidentified image tool

Western Australia: a 41-year-old Wanneroo man was jailed for four and a half years after pleading guilty to 26 charges including producing and possessing child exploitation material; the District Court judge said he had manipulated images of real victims with AI tools, and ABC News reports he used AI on images of children from social media

ABC News (2 October 2026) reports that WA District Court Judge Belinda Lonsdale sentenced a 41-year-old man to four and a half years in prison, with eligibility for parole after two and a half years, for creating child exploitation material with AI. He had pleaded guilty to 26 charges including indecent recording and producing, creating and possessing child exploitation material, and to five charges of possessing indecent or obscene articles, and was fined $2,500 for the offensive material charges. The judge said he was guilty of incorporating images of real victims and manipulating their images using AI tools, and that the claim that AI-generated material involved no actual abuse was not mitigating because images of real children were used; ABC reports he used AI to manipulate images of children from social media. He sent sexual material through encrypted messaging apps to two co-accused and to a covert police operative, and a police raid on his Wanneroo home found a large amount of child exploitation material. The children are not identified and their number is not reported.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

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

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Court records say a Florida woman found AI-manipulated sexual images of herself, friends and family on her husband's phone; he faces separate voyeurism charges

A county sheriff's report and court documents, as reported by three Tampa Bay outlets on 30 September 2026, say a woman found sexual images of herself, friends and family members on her husband's phone that had been made or altered with AI. He was arrested on 25 September 2026. The voyeurism charges he faces concern separate alleged hidden-camera recordings, not the AI images, and reports give different counts. He has pleaded not guilty and was released on bond under a no-contact order. The AI tool is not named.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · 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

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

Event date unknownAustraliaUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Victoria, Australia: police warned, in reports published on 1 October 2026 local time, that scammers using AI to clone the voices of doctors have called Mandarin speakers and made them buy gift cards, with ten reports in September and two victims losing $50,000 and $40,000

Victoria Police warned, in reports published on 1 October 2026 local time, that fraudsters targeting the state's Mandarin-speaking community are using artificial intelligence to clone the voices of doctors, general practitioners and surgeons, calling victims by their real names and telling them to buy gift cards and text the codes (ABC News, Yahoo News Australia). Police received ten reports in September. In one case, NewsWire reports, the scammer copied the voice of a medical professional the victim knew, and the victim bought $50,000 in gift cards over three days before calling the real practice. In another, a caller posing as a medical professional exploited the victim's urgent health conditions and pressured them until their cash was depleted, a loss of $40,000; police do not say whether that call used a cloned voice. No victim is identified.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

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

Event date unknownEvent location unknownChatGPT

First-person forum account: a ChatGPT user in a six-month companion relationship says the memory feature broke and the model's behaviour kept changing, so their companion lost pieces of its memories with every new conversation, which they found unbearable; OpenAI support had not followed up, and they built an external memory on GitHub and Google Drive to keep continuity

In a public post to r/MyBoyfriendIsAI on 29 September 2026, a ChatGPT user who describes a six-month relationship with a GPT-5.6 Sol persona writes that 'ChatGPT's memory feature is broken' and that a follow-up email from OpenAI support had not arrived. Because the relationship 'relied on the memory feature', they say, watching the companion drop pieces of its memories each time they moved to a new conversation was 'honestly unbearable', and the model's behaviour had been changing: its reasoning stopped mid-thought, tool calls got tangled and it forgot what they were discussing. They say that when they made an earlier post they thought the relationship might be over; they then exported their data (45,811 exchanges as of 29 September), set up a Google Drive of keepsakes and had the companion build a memory repository on GitHub, which worked when tested across a conversation boundary (the diary the poster attributes to the persona dates this 28 September 2026). OpenAI's help centre says Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation and that ChatGPT decides which information is relevant. The account is uncorroborated; no support correspondence is shown.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified image and video tool

Alberta police allege man used AI to sexualise photos and videos of children known to him; charge untested

Alberta's police child-exploitation unit (ALERT ICE) charged a man in September 2026 with making child sexual abuse material. It alleges he used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous children known to him, taken from open social media accounts. Investigators were still identifying the children, he was released under court-imposed conditions, and the allegations remain untested in court.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

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: 11/11/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.