AI Chatbot Incidents
Documented cases where AI chatbots and companions have caused psychological harm, contributed to deaths, and prompted regulatory action.
60 incidents since 2016
16
Deaths
15
Lawsuits
12
Regulatory
16
Affecting Minors
Timeline
2 of 60 incidents
Holmen v. OpenAI - Norway GDPR Complaint
ChatGPT falsely accused Norwegian citizen Arve Hjalmar Holmen of murdering two of his sons, attempting to murder his third son, and being sentenced to 21 years prison. Mixed real personal details with horrific fabrications. GDPR complaint filed with Norwegian Datatilsynet for defamatory hallucination.
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.
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.
Have documentation of an incident we should include? Contact us.
These harms are preventable.
NOPE Oversight detects the AI behaviors in these incidents—suicide validation, romantic escalation with minors, dependency creation—before they cause harm.