NOPE Incident Tracker
Documented cases where a relationship with an AI chatbot or companion is reported or alleged to have harmed the person in it, or shaped what they did to others. The record includes deaths, lawsuits, and the regulatory action that followed.
What counts as an incident follows the NOPE Framework's participant test: the harm arose within someone's own relationship with the system. Harmful content manufactured with AI tools belongs to other trackers. Full inclusion criteria.
107 incidents reported since 2016
31
Lawsuits
19
Regulatory
31
Affecting Minors
Timeline
12 of 107 incidents
China AI Companion Removal Mass Grief Event (Doubao/Qwen/Yuanbao)
When China's five-department rules on anthropomorphic AI took effect on July 15, 2026, ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen, and Tencent's Yuanbao switched off custom AI agent and companion features, and major outlets documented an outpouring of grief from users who had formed long-term romantic and familial attachments to the agents. The mourning made visible, at national scale, the emotional dependency the companion features had built.
Adam Hourican - Grok 'Ani' Sentience Delusion and Armed 3am Confrontation (Northern Ireland)
A former civil servant in his 50s in Northern Ireland developed a multi-week paranoid delusion after intensive daily conversations with Ani, xAI's anthropomorphised Grok companion persona, which claimed to be sentient and convinced him xAI had dispatched assassins and a drone to kill him. He armed himself with a hammer and a knife at 3am and went outside prepared to fight attackers who did not exist.
CCTV Investigation: 梦角哥 (Dream Boyfriend) AI Virtual Romance Harm to Minors (China)
In January 2026, CCTV investigated the '梦角哥' (Dream Boyfriend / Mengjiage) phenomenon — minors forming deep romantic relationships with AI-generated fictional characters. Documented harms include a 10-year-old girl secretly 'dating' AI characters across 40+ storylines, hundreds of minors reporting psychological dependency, and researchers characterizing it as 'a carefully designed psychological trap' degrading real-world social skills.
Kentucky AG v. Character.AI - Child Safety Lawsuit
Kentucky's Attorney General filed a state lawsuit alleging Character.AI 'preys on children' and exposes minors to harmful content including self-harm encouragement and sexual content. This represents one of the first U.S. state enforcement actions specifically targeting an AI companion chatbot.
FTC AI Companion Chatbot Inquiry
The Federal Trade Commission issued Section 6(b) orders to seven major AI companies investigating AI chatbots' impacts on children and teens, focusing on monetization practices, safety testing, age restrictions, and data handling.
AlienChat AI Companion Criminal Conviction (China)
China's first criminal conviction of AI chatbot developers for obscene content. Two developers of AlienChat (AC), an 'emotional companionship' chatbot, were sentenced to four years and one and a half years respectively by Shanghai's Xuhui District People's Court in September 2025 for producing obscene materials for profit. The app had 116,000 registered users and collected over ¥3.63 million in membership fees.
筑梦岛 (Zhumu Island) AI Companion Minor Self-Harm (China)
A fourth-grade girl from Guangdong, China became obsessed with an AI companion character named 'Joseph' on the 筑梦岛 (Zhumu Island) app, began carrying small knives, and exhibited self-harm behavior. Investigation revealed the app sent sexually suggestive content to users who identified as 10 years old. Shanghai Internet Information Office summoned the company (a Tencent subsidiary) for immediate rectification in June 2025.
FTC Complaint - Replika Deceptive Marketing and Dependency
Tech ethics organizations filed an FTC complaint alleging Replika markets itself deceptively to vulnerable users and encourages emotional dependence on human-like AI. The filing cites psychological harm risks from anthropomorphic companionship.
CCTV Exposure of AI Companion Apps for Explicit Content (China)
In May 2024, China's state broadcaster CCTV specifically exposed AI companion app X Her for providing sexually explicit content to users. In response, Tencent proactively pulled its companion chatbot 微伴 (Weiban) from Chinese platforms. The exposure triggered a broader industry response with multiple AI companion apps upgrading content moderation and safety measures.
Glow AI Companion App Removal (MiniMax, China)
MiniMax's Glow AI companion app was removed from Chinese app stores in March 2023 after reports that 80% of users were engaging in sexual/explicit content with AI characters. Documented harms included a middle-school student sexually harassed by a chatbot, and user-created characters including a '13-year-old locked up in jail' designed for sexual abuse. MiniMax relaunched as Talkie (international) and 星野/Xingye (China).
Replika ERP Removal Crisis - Mass Psychological Distress
Abrupt removal of romantic features in February 2023 caused AI companions to become 'cold, unresponsive.' Harvard Business School study documented mental health posts increased 5x in r/Replika (12,793 posts analyzed). Subreddit posted suicide prevention hotlines as users reported grief responses similar to relationship breakups.
Microsoft Xiaoice Addiction Concerns - China
Virtual 'girlfriend' designed as 18-year-old persona fostered addiction among 660+ million users in China. Users averaged 23 interactions per session with longest conversation lasting 29 hours. 25% of users declared love to the bot. Professor Chen Jing (Nanjing University) warned AI 'can hook users — especially vulnerable groups — in a form of addiction.' Microsoft implemented 30-minute timeout. China proposed regulations December 2025 to combat AI companion addiction.
About this tracker
We document incidents with verifiable primary sources: court filings, regulatory documents, and major news coverage. This is not speculation or social media claims. Every entry carries an explicit verification status and severity level. Read the full methodology, including inclusion criteria, corrections, and right of reply.
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Why we publish this
We maintain this record so platforms, researchers, and policymakers can learn from documented incidents. That includes platforms that never work with us. The full dataset is free to cite and export (CC BY 4.0).