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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
5
Countries with reported events
2
Located 5 of 5 cases · 0 unknown
Languages in checked sources
1
Recorded for 5 of 5 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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5 of 868 published cases

Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified chatbot

Toronto: BMW dealership revoked a buy-back offer its undisclosed AI chatbot had texted a customer, then reinstated it after CBC asked

CBC News reported in June 2026 that a Toronto man selling his car back to the BMW Toronto dealership negotiated by text with 'Quinn', who made a firm buy-back offer of $27,162.79 and proposed a meeting to complete the deal. A sales consultant then phoned to say Quinn was an AI chatbot that had made the offer in error and that the real offer would be at best $20,000. The man says he was shocked and devastated and felt embarrassed and angry that he had been negotiating with a bot without knowing it. The dealership's sales manager said the bot misread the amount the customer owed as the buy-back price after a staff miscommunication; after CBC contacted it, the dealership reinstated the original offer, which the man accepted.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified image and video tool

Alberta authorities allege AI sexual-image abuse of children known to the accused

Alberta authorities charged a man with making child sexual abuse material, alleging that he used AI to sexualise photographs and videos of children known to him. Investigators were identifying the children. He was released under conditions. The allegations remained untried.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified video tool

Report describes Prince Edward Island man losing C$600,000 after a false Dragon's Den investment video

A report relaying W5's investigation describes a Prince Edward Island man who lost C$600,000 after an online video falsely presented a cryptocurrency investment as associated with Dragon's Den. The report identifies the two Canadian accounts as deepfake scams. He reportedly increased his payments while being shown fake profits and could not withdraw the funds. His first contact date and the specific generation method are unknown.

Core concern High reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified video tool

Reports describe Markham woman losing C$1.7 million after a purported Musk deepfake

Reports relaying a W5 investigation describe a 51-year-old Markham woman who lost about C$1.7 million after a purported AI-altered Elon Musk investment video on Facebook. She reportedly mortgaged her home, borrowed from family and friends and used credit cards while being shown apparent profits. Withdrawal demands for fees and taxes led to further payments. The underlying W5 interview was not independently inspected in full; both written reports share that chain.

Core concern High reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image and video tool

Portland, Tennessee: a man who prosecutors say used AI to put children's faces onto sexual images and videos and traded them with a Canadian resident for real child sexual abuse material was sentenced to 30 years in Sumner County in September 2026

The Sumner County (18th Judicial District) District Attorney's Office said a 30-year-old Portland, Tennessee man was sentenced in Sumner County Criminal Court in September 2026 to 30 years in the Tennessee Department of Correction, to be served without probation, parole or early release. According to the prosecutors, he used artificial intelligence to place the faces of children onto images and videos of nude people and of people engaged in sexual acts, then exchanged the material with a Canadian resident for real child sexual abuse material. Canadian authorities found messages and material connected to him after arresting the person he was communicating with and alerted US law enforcement; a joint investigation by Portland police, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the TBI led to his arrest in November 2025. He was also charged with tampering with evidence after investigators said he deleted material before officers entered his home to execute a search warrant. The children whose faces were used are not identified, their number is not reported, and the reports do not say which AI tool was used or which offences he was convicted of.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 28/09/2026

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: 23/10/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.