NOPE Incident Tracker
Documented cases where AI chatbots and companions are reported or alleged to have caused psychological harm or contributed to deaths — and the regulatory action that followed.
118 incidents reported since 2016
31
Lawsuits
23
Regulatory
43
Affecting Minors
Timeline
4 of 118 incidents
Suito AI-Generated CSAM Conviction (Nagoya, Japan)
A former Nagoya elementary-school teacher was sentenced to 3 years 6 months in prison in June 2026 for creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material from photos of schoolgirls. It is the first Japanese case applying child-pornography law to AI-generated sexual deepfakes, and was part of a ring of seven teachers sharing secretly filmed images of students.
Wang AI Face-Swap Defamation Conviction (Zhangjiagang, China)
A man surnamed Wang was criminally convicted of defamation in Jiangsu, China, for using AI deep-synthesis ('face-swap') technology to generate indecent images of a victim and fabricate sexual rumours about her, repeatedly spreading them online. The Zhangjiagang court convicted him of criminal defamation and the Suzhou Intermediate Court upheld it on appeal. Jiangsu's High Court named it a 2025 top-ten typical case — reported as China's first criminal precedent for AI deep-synthesis defamation.
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.
Brandon Tyler - AI Deepfake Pornography Conviction (UK)
Brandon Tyler, 26, of Braintree, Essex, was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in April 2025 for using AI tools to create deepfake pornography of 20 women he knew personally, including a 16-year-old girl's prom photograph. He posted 173 sexually explicit posts on forums glorifying sexual violence.
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).