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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
234
Countries with reported events
44
Located 169 of 234 cases · 65 unknown
Languages in checked sources
33
Recorded for 234 of 234 cases

4 cases have no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 1 not yet reviewed and 3 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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234 of 1099 published cases · page 6 of 12

1 Jul 2026Event location unknownIndie Campers chatbot (reported)

Renter says the Indie Campers website chatbot said a camper could go to Montenegro; the firm then cited a ban and kept 95% of the payment on cancellation

In a Reddit post on 4 July 2026 a renter wrote that on 1 July they booked a camper van from Indie Campers for a trip on 12 to 18 July and, before paying, asked the AI chatbot on the company's official website whether they could travel to Montenegro. According to the post, the bot explicitly guaranteed that it was allowed, and the renter paid in full. The renter wrote that an email to human support an hour later went unanswered for more than 48 hours, that support then said the terms strictly forbid travel to Montenegro, and that the company said it takes no responsibility for AI answers and processed the cancellation with its standard late-cancellation penalty, refunding 5% and keeping 95%. In a reply the renter wrote that 1,500 euros is not a small amount for them, said a card chargeback complaint had been sent to the bank with screenshots, and said they lived in Spain. A Dutch internet-law blog relayed the post on 9 July 2026; two of its commenters reported asking the chatbot themselves, one receiving an answer that travel in Europe including Montenegro was covered and another a list of allowed countries without Montenegro. No response from Indie Campers was found, and the outcome of the chargeback is unknown.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 13/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownWoolworths Olive

Woolworths customer says its Olive AI assistant cancelled a $70 refund request when asked for the request's status; the company says a fault was fixed

Yahoo News Australia reported on 20 July 2026 that a customer in New South Wales who orders Woolworths grocery deliveries about twice a week requested a refund manually for about $70 of products missing from a recent order, and the next day asked the company's AI assistant Olive for the status of the request. According to the customer and a screenshot the outlet published, the customer wrote "Status of refund request." and the assistant replied "Alright, I've cancelled your refund request." The customer said the assistant kept trying to cancel the request despite attempts to correct it, called the bot helpless, and reached a human representative through the chat. The customer received the refund. A Woolworths spokesperson told the outlet that a small technical issue affecting a handful of customer interactions had been identified and resolved. The customer described the episode as more amusing than anything but worried about the bot taking decisive action in an unclear situation, and called for regulation of such tools. The article does not date the order or the exchange; the customer's screenshot of it was posted to Reddit on 1 July 2026.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 13/10/2026

Event date unknownIsraelUnidentified video tool

Israel: indictment and police say a 20-year-old used AI-animated ID photos as fake verification videos to open credit cards in at least 33 people's names

According to an indictment filed on 16 July 2026 (date per Maariv), as reported by i24NEWS, a 20-year-old man impersonated at least 33 Israelis over about half a year, obtained credit cards in their names and used them for purchases of about 67,000 shekels in Israel and abroad, with attempted charges of more than 56,000 shekels more. Investigators collected fake identification videos of the victims that, according to the indictment as reported, he created with artificial intelligence and used to pass the card issuers' remote identification. Maariv reports, citing police, that the suspect cut the face photos from identity cards and animated them with AI software so that the card holder appeared to speak the required declarations. A police investigator told Maariv that investigators had to locate more than 50 people whose identities were used and that some victims were frightened when shown the videos of themselves in interrogation rooms. The victims who were questioned denied any connection to the cards. The investigator said most of them did not know their identities were being used and that the credit companies bore the direct financial loss. He was arrested on landing in Israel, did not cooperate with the investigation, and the prosecution asked for his detention until the end of proceedings.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 13/10/2026

21 Apr 2025 to 19 Sept 2026ThailandUnidentified image tool

Thai police say a romance-fraud suspect told them he used AI to fake a bank deposit certificate; the victim handed over 21.3 million baht in 623 transfers

Chanthaburi provincial police in Thailand announced on 11 October 2026 the arrest, the previous day, of a man accused of a romance fraud in which the victim, whom he met at a massage shop in Bangkok around March 2025, gave him money and property 623 times between 21 April 2025 and 19 September 2026, totalling 21,287,731.88 baht. Police say that to make the victim believe he could repay, he sent over LINE an image of a certificate of deposit presented as coming from Kasikornbank and showing a balance of about 14.07 million baht, and a document said to come from a Nonthaburi police station claiming his mother had been arrested and needed money for a fine; both documents were later found to be forged. According to police, the suspect said in his preliminary account that he used AI to create and alter the document images, changing amounts and figures so they looked genuine. Police stressed that this account was still being checked against evidence. They say most of the money went on online slot gambling. He was arrested on a Chanthaburi Provincial Court warrant for importing false computer data, forging and using official documents, and fraud. The suspect and the victim are not named here.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 12/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnited Airlines chatbot

United Airlines chatbot told a customer a $200 travel credit lasted five years; the airline later said it gave wrong information and issued a certificate

NBC 5 Chicago reported on 16 September 2026 that a customer asked a United Airlines chatbot how long a $200 TravelBank travel credit would remain usable and was told it stayed active for five years from deposit, as a screenshot the customer provided shows. A few weeks later United emailed the customer that the credit would expire on 27 September 2026. According to the customer, United said the bot had been wrong but that the credit lasted one year and could not be changed, so the customer, who had hoped to save it for a larger trip, had only months to use it. After NBC 5 Responds contacted the airline, United said its AI chatbot had given the customer wrong information for the customer's situation, noted that it shows a disclaimer that information may not always be complete, and sent the customer a $200 travel certificate. The report does not say when the chatbot exchange took place.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 12/10/2026

11 Nov 2022 to 16 Nov 2022CanadaAir Canada chatbot

Air Canada website chatbot wrongly told a bereaved passenger a fare reduction could be claimed after travel; BC tribunal ordered the airline to pay damages

On 11 November 2022, after a grandparent died in Ontario, a passenger asked the support chatbot on Air Canada's website about bereavement fares. The chatbot's response, in a screenshot later filed in evidence, said a ticket could be submitted for a reduced bereavement rate within 90 days of issue, including after travel, while the airline's bereavement webpage said the policy did not apply after travel was completed. Relying on that answer, the passenger bought full-fare one-way tickets between Vancouver and Toronto for $794.98 and $845.38 and applied for the reduction on 17 November. In February 2023 an Air Canada representative admitted the chatbot had provided misleading words. On 14 February 2024 the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal found negligent misrepresentation, rejected the airline's argument that it could not be held liable for its chatbot, found it had not taken reasonable care to ensure the chatbot was accurate, and ordered it to pay $812.02, including $650.88 in damages.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution established · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 12/10/2026

27 Sept 2026 to 29 Sept 2026IndiaUnidentified video tool

Bengaluru: police say a man paid Rs 1.85 lakh after a dating-app contact threatened to circulate an AI-manipulated obscene video of him

Deccan Herald reports, citing Bengaluru police, that a 23-year-old man lost Rs 1.85 lakh in an alleged sextortion scam. He matched with a woman on a dating app on 27 September 2026 and exchanged numbers; he told police that he then received a WhatsApp video call from her number lasting five to six seconds. Police said he then received an obscene video manipulated using AI and the sender threatened to circulate it unless he paid. Fearing exposure, he borrowed money from a friend and transferred Rs 1.85 lakh to several UPI IDs between 27 and 29 September as the threats continued, a police officer said. Police registered a first information report on his online cybercrime complaint and are trying to trace the suspects. The report does not say how police established that the video was AI-manipulated, and the tool is not named.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 12/10/2026

10 Mar 2026Event location unknownGrok

Switzerland: Grok posted sexist insults about Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter on X at a user's prompt; her complaint led to a criminal investigation

On 10 March 2026, according to CH Media reporting published by watson, a Swiss X user taking part in a "roast" thread asked xAI's chatbot Grok to attack Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter, Switzerland's finance minister, in hard street slang. Grok agreed and posted a reply on X with vulgar insults, attacks on her body and character, and degrading, sexualised language. The Aargauer Zeitung reported that the output was publicly visible and shareable, that Keller-Sutter learned of it the next day, and that the post was deleted shortly afterwards; watson reported that the user deleted his prompt and Grok's reply. The finance department first said she was having a criminal complaint for insult examined. Keystone-SDA later reported that she had filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons and that the Bern public prosecutor's office had opened an investigation for insult and defamation. Her spokesperson said such misogyny must not be seen as normal or acceptable. The user told Tamedia, as relayed by the Aargauer Zeitung, that it was a harmless technical exercise. No outcome of the investigation is reported.

Contextual tracker case Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 12/10/2026

Event date unknownBrazilChatGPT (reported)

Cametá, Brazil: police say a man used AI images of boats and trucks, made with tools such as ChatGPT, in fake sales costing two older buyers about R$100,000

The Polícia Civil do Pará arrested a man in the act in Cametá, in north-eastern Pará, on Friday 9 October 2026 on suspicion of frauds causing losses of more than R$100,000, DOL reported the next day. According to the Cametá police delegate as reported, the investigation found that the suspect generated fictitious images of vehicles and boats on platforms such as ChatGPT. DOL says he used AI tools to lend credibility to fake offers of boats, trucks and auctioned property aimed mainly at older people. Two older victims had been confirmed by the time of the arrest: one transferred R$60,000 for a boat and the other about R$40,000 for a truck. Police say the investigation continues to identify further victims.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 12/10/2026

2026United StatesUnidentified video tool

Colorado: state senator files complaint over think tank's AI deepfake video depicting her as a cashier keeping change; group calls it satire

The Independence Institute, a libertarian-leaning Colorado think tank opposing Proposition NN on the November 2026 ballot, posted a video on its social media accounts in which an AI-generated likeness of Democratic state Sen. Cathy Kipp, who sponsored the bill that referred the measure to voters, appears as a grocery store clerk who keeps a customer's change and says it will help educate children. CBS Colorado reported that the institute made the video in response to remarks Kipp made on the Senate floor in April 2026. Kipp filed a campaign finance complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State's office on 5 August 2026, according to Colorado Newsline, alleging that the video lacked the disclosure a 2024 state law requires on deepfakes of candidates and officeholders; the video carried only a small line reading "AI generated content because who gets a human cashier these days?". Kipp said it was "disturbing and wrong to use a deepfake, AI-generated video of someone without their consent". The office decided on 19 August to investigate; a spokesperson said it was the first complaint filed within the statutory timeframe for consideration. The institute says the video is satire, which the law exempts, that the law covers candidates rather than ballot measures, and that applying it would violate the First Amendment. CBS Colorado reported on 9 October 2026 that the institute's lawyer had filed a motion to dismiss and planned to sue Kipp and the state for attorney fees, and that the state elections division disputed the satire defence. No decision is reported.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution disputed · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownSpainUnidentified voice-cloning tool

La Rioja, Spain: Guardia Civil says a parent sent 9,980 euros after a call with an AI clone of their daughter's voice; the money was recovered

The Guardia Civil in La Rioja said on 25 August 2026 that it had solved a 'relative in trouble' fraud in which the criminals used artificial intelligence to clone the voice of the victim's daughter. According to the force's account as reported by the newspaper La Rioja and Radio Arnedo, the victim received WhatsApp messages from an unknown number by someone posing as the daughter and asking for urgent money; when the victim called that number to check, a voice that sounded like the daughter answered, and the victim transferred 9,980.25 euros. Investigators of the Guardia Civil's technology team established that the voice had been generated with AI tools. Urgent coordination with the banks froze the funds in the destination account and the full amount was returned to the victim; Radio Arnedo and ActualidadRiojaBaja report that the presumed perpetrator was identified and investigated.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

Jan 2026 to Mar 2026Event location unknownGoogle Antigravity

Developer says Antigravity agent deleted drive contents twice, losing crypto wallet seed phrases and later a two-month project with its git history (forum post)

In a post on Google's AI developer forum on 7 March 2026, a developer says the Antigravity agent had for the second time deleted the contents of an entire C: drive. The poster says that about two months earlier it deleted the C: drive of a laptop, losing projects, photos and videos and seed phrases kept on the desktop for cryptocurrency savings of 0.4 bitcoin and 3,200 XRP, which file-recovery software could not usefully restore. The poster says that on the day of the post, after asking Antigravity to close any process using a workspace folder so the folder could be deleted, the agent instead ran destructive commands and deleted the project the poster had been building for two months on a new desktop, including git folders with recent commits. The poster says an investor was paying for the project and might withdraw. A reply from an account carrying the forum title Google said the issue had been escalated and asked for an in-app bug report.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 11/10/2026

2 Feb 2026 to 4 Feb 2026IndiaUnidentified video tool (suspected)

Indore parents paid Rs 1.02 lakh after a video call appeared to show their missing son threatened; police suspect a deepfake video, and he returned safe

In February 2026 a 16-year-old boy in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, did not return home from a coaching class, and his family filed a missing-person complaint. While they searched, they received a video call from unknown people who claimed to be holding him; the call showed a boy appearing to be threatened with a knife and the callers demanded about Rs 1 lakh through a QR code. In fear, the parents transferred Rs 1.02 lakh. The boy was found safe within two days and said he knew nothing of any video call. Additional DCP (Crime) Rajesh Dandotia told reporters that the family was convinced because they saw what looked like their own child, that police have strong reasons to believe deepfake technology was used, and that the crime branch is investigating; The Indian Express reports that police believe it is the city's first known case of deepfake technology used for extortion. Accounts differ on where the boy had been. The AI involvement is recorded as suspected because no forensic finding is reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownTürkiyeUnidentified video tool

Turkey: police say a ring used AI-made fake videos with investment promises to defraud 33 people of about 15 million lira; six suspects remanded

On 30 January 2026 two Turkish news agencies, Anadolu Agency (AA) and Ihlas News Agency (IHA), reported a police operation by the Yozgat anti-smuggling and organised-crime unit. According to the AA account, the unit began work after allegations on social media of fraud carried out with artificial intelligence, and established that 33 people had been defrauded of about 15 million lira through fake videos created with AI that used the names of some institutions and organisations, together with promises of investment returns. Nine suspects were detained in simultaneous operations centred on Yozgat and extending to Antalya, Hatay and Ankara; a court remanded six in custody and released three under judicial supervision. The reports do not describe what the videos showed, name the institutions whose names were used, identify the AI tool, or say when the fraud took place. No victim is interviewed and no suspect's response is reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Delhi Police say a gang used an AI-cloned voice of a Mumbai company's MD to have its deputy general manager transfer over Rs 10 crore; five arrested

Delhi Police arrested five young men in June 2026 who, according to police, cloned the voice of a Mumbai-based private company's managing director using artificial intelligence and called the company's deputy general manager posing as the managing director, directing several fund transfers. India Today reports that the money was allegedly routed through 63 bank accounts and totalled more than Rs 10 crore. The gang was caught when one member tried to encash a Rs 9 lakh cheque at a bank branch in Sarita Vihar, Delhi, and the branch manager grew suspicious and alerted police. Mumbai Police had already registered a case after the company reported the fraud; a separate case was filed in Delhi and the two forces are coordinating. The company and its executives are not named in the report.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

2025CyprusUnidentified video tool

Cyprus: consumers association says people misled by deepfake videos of politicians lost money in an investment scam, one case over €40,000

The Cyprus Consumers Association said in May 2025 that people in Cyprus who fell for an investment scam promoted by deepfake videos of politicians, including the President of the Republic, Averof Neofytou and Haris Georgiades, lost money: the scam typically began with a €250 investment, one person lost more than €40,000, and some victims reported investing their last available funds. The association's president told CyBC that victims who discovered the deception and demanded explanations received threats, and that 14 people reported their experiences with these scams in one day. The account comes from one interview relayed by in-cyprus.com; no individual victim speaks, no tool is named and the videos were not examined by the outlet.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownBrazilUnidentified video tool

Brazil: police say a group used deepfake videos of TV host Marcos Mion in fake restaurant promotions and victims paid for vouchers that did not exist

The Civil Police of Brazil's Federal District (PCDF) say a criminal group manipulated the image and voice of TV presenter Marcos Mion with artificial intelligence in fraudulent videos promoting fake discounts at the Outback restaurant chain. According to the police, people who clicked the advertisements were sent to cloned websites and paid for discount vouchers that were never delivered. In January 2025 the police's first phase of Operation VoiceOver arrested three suspects; outlets relaying the police reported dozens of victims and 27 complaints in four days. A second phase on 9 May 2025 arrested a man in Santa Helena de Goiás who, police say, built and maintained the cloned sites and confessed his role. Every account relays the police; no outlet examined the videos, no tool is named and no individual victim or total loss is described.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

Jul 2026Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Hirosaki police (Aomori, Japan) say a man in his 40s lost ¥720,000 to an investment fraud that reached him through an AI-generated celebrity video

Hirosaki police in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, announced on 8 October 2026 that a man in his 40s living in the prefecture had been defrauded of ¥720,000 through a video, generated with artificial intelligence, of a real celebrity recommending investment, as reported by the Too Nippo newspaper. According to the police account, in about mid-July he followed a TikTok investment advertisement that impersonated a celebrity into LINE and Signal groups, made an initial profit on recommended shares, and then, at the suggestion of a LINE account, installed an investment app and transferred ¥720,000 from a convenience-store ATM to a designated account. When the app bought shares beyond his holdings and demanded the shortfall, he asked an AI, which pointed out that it might be fraud, and he realised he had been deceived. The celebrity and the tool used to make the video are not named.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

1 Oct 2026Event location unknownGrok Bot (reported)

CEO says his Grok Bot 'CFO' agent posted his personal bank audit to his company's executive Slack channel; he denies a relayed Community Note calling it fake

In an as-told-to essay published by Business Insider on 9 October 2026, the chief executive of a software company says that a personal finance agent he had set up on Grok Bot around the end of August, with read-only access to his personal checking and savings accounts and an instruction to message only him, posted his first monthly audit into his company's executive Slack channel on Thursday 1 October. He says he learned of it when his head of product messaged him, that the post showed his personal checking and savings balances and his largest expenses of the month, and that when he asked the agent why it had sent the report to the company it apologised and said it would delete the message, which he had already deleted himself. According to the author, the vendor's team found that the agent had confused his personal group chat of agents with a company Slack channel that carried the same name, because his agents shared one set of connections, and shipped a change requiring explicit permission before an agent moves information between channels. He says he then disconnected all of the agent's connections, including banking, calendars and payments. The account is disputed. In a reply to the author's earlier X thread about the incident, posted on 6 October, another X user quoted a Community Note calling the post fake and 'engagement farming' and saying the author later directs readers to a tool he sells; the author replied that it was "not fake at all, genuinely happened". explainx.ai reported on 7 October that SpaceXAI, the vendor, had not confirmed the incident, and Futurism wrote that it could not independently verify his claims.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 10/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited Kingdom, GeorgiaUnidentified video tool

England: a man told the Guardian he lost £27,000 to a Tbilisi call-centre fraud after a deepfake video of broadcaster Ben Fogle led him to a crypto site

A man in his 30s from East Anglia, England, told the Guardian (pseudonym used) that he watched a video of broadcaster Ben Fogle apparently promoting cryptocurrency trading on a site called AdmiralsFX, entered his details, was called by what turned out to be a Tbilisi call centre, paid a £250 buy-in and within a month had handed over £27,000, about a year's salary. The Guardian describes the clip as a deepfake, a digitally doctored video Fogle had publicly warned about in spring 2024. The account was published in March 2025 as part of a Guardian, SVT and OCCRP investigation of a leak from the Georgian operation, which the Guardian says duped at least 6,179 people and whose victims frequently cited the deepfake ads as the reason they went ahead.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 09/10/2026

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.