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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 is wider: it also records consequential decisions and claims about people. Each account is reviewed for publication; claims may remain uncorroborated or disputed. How we review and count cases

In this selection

Published cases
8
Countries with reported events
6
Located 8 of 8 cases · 0 unknown
Languages in checked sources
6
Recorded for 8 of 8 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.

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8 of 174 published cases

Jun 2026 to Aug 2026United StatesAI image-alteration tools (not named by police); described as artificial intelligence used to create sexually explicit altered images from real photographs

Vero Beach, Florida: a man was arrested on eight counts for creating and distributing AI-altered sexual images of a woman without her consent; police identified several more women as likely victims

On 2 September 2026 Vero Beach police arrested Peter Solomon Ruma, 37, after an investigation into the creation and distribution of altered sexual images of women without their consent. Police say he used artificial intelligence to make sexually explicit altered images of victims from photographs taken from social media and other online sources and then distributed or promoted them. The eight charges (three counts of creating and three of promoting an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person under Florida Statute 836.13, one count of sexual cyberharassment and one of stalking) relate to one adult woman and to incidents between June and August 2026. Detectives said they had identified several other women believed to have been victimised in the same way, some of whom may not know that images of them exist, and that the conduct may go back several years. According to court documents reported by TCPalm, the woman who came forward knew Ruma and had received sexual text messages since 2018; her face had been cropped from public photographs, including a business profile, and placed on nude bodies. Ruma was held on a US$1 million bond with conditions including no internet access; the investigation continues and further charges are expected.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 20/09/2026

1 Jan 2026IndonesiaAI face-composite tool used to place the complainant's face on pornographic images and a video (tool not identified); content posted on X and found on Instagram and Telegram

Solo and Semarang, Indonesia: a university student's face was composited with AI onto pornographic images and a video by her ex-boyfriend and posted online; the suspect was detained after a nearly seven-month investigation

A female student at a state university in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, learned on 1 January 2026 from friends that her face had been composited onto pornographic images and a video, which her lawyer said were found on Instagram and Telegram. Her family reported the case to the Central Java regional police cyber directorate on 28 January 2026. Police issued a formal police report on 31 July, arrested her ex-boyfriend, a university student in Semarang, at his boarding house in Gunungpati on 4 August 2026, and detained him. The police spokesman said the suspect used AI to place the complainant's face on another woman's naked body so that she appeared in pornographic content, uploaded it to his X account, did not sell it, and acted out of resentment after an on-and-off relationship ended. He faces charges under Articles 51 and 35 of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and an article printed by two outlets as 'Law No. 1 of 2026', with a maximum of 12 years' imprisonment. Her lawyer said she could not sleep, withdrew, felt shame and at one point lost hope, that his team had found seven women in total allegedly targeted of whom six had not reported, and that the suspect's parents asked for an out-of-court settlement; police said only one complainant was confirmed.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Investigation Opened

Added 20/09/2026

Jul 2026GreeceAI voice-cloning tool (not identified by police)

Attica, Greece: a fraud ring cloned relatives' voices with AI to 'confirm' fake fibre-installation instructions; two collectors arrested in Nea Ionia with €30,000 of a victim's valuables, at least six cases since July 2026

On 18 September 2026 the Hellenic Police announced that its Organised Crime Directorate had dismantled a criminal organisation, active since at least early July 2026, whose members defrauded and robbed residents of Attica by posing on the phone as staff of the electricity distributor ΔΕΔΔΗΕ, mobile operators or fibre-optic installers. When a target hesitated, the callers asked for a relative's phone number, called that relative under a mobile-operator pretext to obtain a voice sample, cloned the voice with an AI tool and then played the cloned voice to the target to 'confirm' the instructions. Two men aged 23 and 25, described as the ring's 'collectors', were arrested in Nea Ionia just after removing valuables worth €30,000 from a victim's home; the case file, covering criminal organisation, fraud and aggravated theft with proceeds above €120,000, names four more people. Police have so far confirmed at least five further cases with the same method and estimate the group's total proceeds above €1 million. The two arrested were brought before the prosecutor and referred to an investigating judge.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 19/09/2026

Sept 2026IndiaAI deepfake video and synthetic Hindi voice-over of Chief Minister Vijay (tools not named)

India: AI deepfake videos of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay offering 'financial assistance' were used to defraud people in Madhya Pradesh and other states; a Rajasthan man was arrested

In 2026 AI-generated videos showing a simulated Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay speaking in a fabricated Hindi voice circulated on Facebook and other platforms, urging viewers to contact a WhatsApp number to receive money for education, medical treatment and other needs. The Tamil Nadu Crime Branch-CID detected the videos during routine monitoring, registered a case on 1 September 2026 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, and traced the scheme to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. On 12 September a 28-year-old man from Alwar district was arrested with Rajasthan Police, brought to Tamil Nadu on a transit warrant and remanded in judicial custody; a phone, SIM cards and a CPU were seized. Investigators traced a man in Madhya Pradesh who had lost money, and said people in several states were cheated. The CB-CID is also examining similar videos posted from Facebook accounts suspected to be run from Pakistan.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 18/09/2026

1 Jul 2026 to 14 Jul 2026BrazilAI voice-cloning and deepfake video tools (unspecified)

Brazil: scammers used AI-cloned voices and images of children with cancer in fake donation campaigns; 16 arrested in Operação Sophia

On 14 July 2026 the Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police launched Operação Sophia against a group that used AI voice cloning and deepfake to turn real fundraising campaigns of children with cancer into fake donation appeals: AI-generated child voices asked for money in videos boosted by pages such as 'Clube de Doadores' and 'Unidos pelo Amor', leading donors to lookalike sites that issued Pix codes to shell companies. Sixteen people were arrested across five states. In the campaign that started the investigation — using the image of Kelen Santos's daughter, who was in cancer treatment — police traced R$294,500 diverted, and the investigation found a financial-hub company that moved more than R$1.7 million. The family had to tell congratulating donors that their money had gone to a scam.

Core concern News report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Criminal Charges Involving minors

Added 15/09/2026

22 Apr 2026 to 10 Jun 2026United StatesGrok / Grok Imagine (xAI) image and video generation, including the marketed 'Spicy Mode'

Bentonville, Arkansas: a children's photographer was charged with 200 counts after police found more than 1,700 sexual images and videos of children on his phone, much of the material allegedly made with Grok from his portrait photographs of juvenile clients; two families sued xAI in federal court and later voluntarily dismissed their suits

On 8 June 2026 Bentonville police received a tip about child sexual abuse material being generated online through Grok; the account was registered to a well-known local photographer, and a detective found images of a girl from his summer-camp photography classes that appeared to be AI prompts posing children and removing clothing. He was arrested on 10 June and charged with 100 counts of possessing sexually explicit material involving a child and 100 counts under Arkansas' deepfake and child-exploitation provisions; a hidden folder on his phone held more than 1,700 images and videos, most of prepubescent and pubescent girls, most so realistic the detective could not tell their origin, and more than 60 devices were seized. He pleaded not guilty on 20 July 2026 and is free on a $350,000 bond with home monitoring. Two federal lawsuits against xAI followed in the Eastern District of Arkansas on behalf of a ten-year-old former client (filed 23 July) and a nine-year-old girl (filed 29 July): the first complaint says her parents hired the photographer in spring 2026 for family portraits and were told by police on 10 June that from about 22 April her photographs had been fed into Grok to generate hundreds if not thousands of sexual images and videos, and that thousands more depicted other children; it faults Grok's marketed 'Spicy Mode'. Both plaintiffs filed notices of voluntary dismissal on 15 September 2026; the second notice, the only one read, is without prejudice and says the defendants had not been served, and neither docket shows a return of service. Local reporting says a Benton County state-court suit and a further federal suit were filed in August and that xAI, which says it made the cyber tip, sued the photographer, but those reports could not be read in full. The criminal case continues.

Core concern News reportCourt documentCourt recordPress release AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Criminal Charges Involving minors

Added 03/08/2026

14 May 2026IndiaAI image-manipulation tools, not named in any inspected report; AI use is the family's allegation

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: a 17-year-old Class 11 student died by hanging at home on 14 May 2026; her family told police that two young men had stalked her and blackmailed her with obscene images made from her social-media photographs with AI tools

On the night of Thursday 14 May 2026 a 17-year-old Class 11 student was found hanging in her room at the family home in Bhopal's Aishbagh area after sending her younger sister out on a pretext; relatives brought her down but she had died. Her family told the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar that two young men (both from the Chhola area according to the Times of India; one from Chhola and one from her neighbourhood according to Dainik Bhaskar) had harassed her for weeks, stalked her to and from school, pressured her to meet them, and threatened to circulate obscene images of her that they had made with AI tools from photographs taken from her social-media accounts; the family said she had never met them in person; they also told Dainik Bhaskar that she had told her parents, that the men had misbehaved with her father when the family tried to reason with them, and that fear of social defamation had kept them from going to the police earlier. The Aishbagh police station in-charge said an unnatural-death case had been registered, no suicide note was found, the family's statements were being recorded and further action would follow; investigators were expected to examine her phone and social-media accounts. After the post-mortem on 15 May relatives took the body to the police station and demanded action against the accused. No arrest or later development was found in this review.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Investigation Opened Involving minors

Added 15/06/2026

Mar 2026ItalyAI image-manipulation ('deep-nude') programs found on the seized devices, not named

Province of Catania, Sicily: a 58-year-old school assistant at a middle school was arrested for possessing a large quantity of child sexual abuse material; on his devices police found photographs of underage female students taken inside the school, some without their knowledge, altered with AI 'deep-nude' programs to show them naked beside his own image

Reports published on 14 March 2026, carrying a Postal Police account of an investigation coordinated by the Catania prosecutor's office, describe the arrest, in flagrante delicto, of a 58-year-old collaboratore scolastico (school assistant) at a secondary school (scuola media) in the province of Catania, on suspicion of possessing a large quantity of child sexual abuse material. The preliminary investigations judge validated the arrest and placed him under house arrest. The investigation began with a report by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to the Postal Police's national centre in Rome, forwarded to Catania, whose cyber specialists identified the man; a search ordered by the prosecutor found images and videos including child victims and bestiality. Investigators also found on his devices digital photographs of underage female students taken inside the school where he worked, some without the girls' knowledge, which had been altered with artificial-intelligence programs found on the seized devices to make the minors appear naked ('deep-nude') and to place them beside the suspect's own image, as if photographed together. Analysis of the devices continued to establish whether the manipulated images were distributed online and whether there are further victims. The number of students depicted is not reported. No later development was found on 2026-09-22.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Criminal Charges Involving minors

Added 14/06/2026

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: 22/09/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.