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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
37
Countries with reported events
16
Located 35 of 37 cases · 2 unknown
Languages in checked sources
13
Recorded for 37 of 37 cases

1 case has no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 0 not yet reviewed and 1 reviewed as unknown. Show these 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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37 of 868 published cases · page 1 of 2

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image and video tool

Illinois man charged after prosecutors allege AI-altered sexual images of two children were shared from an account linked to him

An Illinois man is charged with five counts of dissemination and five counts of possession of child sexual abuse material after investigators linked him to an online account that allegedly distributed AI-generated explicit images depicting minors, according to a WTVO report on the criminal complaint. Prosecutors allege the account held conversations in which altered images and videos depicting two minors were shared with other users, and the complaint alleges the files were created by using artificial intelligence to manipulate existing photographs of the children. Investigators interviewed family members and reviewed school records to identify the children; court records indicate several allegations involve a victim under 13. The case began with a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cyber tip to the Illinois Attorney General's Office, and his home was searched on 21 October 2026. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 23/10/2026

Event date unknownChinaUnidentified image tool

Beijing prosecutors say a man used an AI undress tool to forge about 7,000 nude images of women, including students and colleagues, and sold them to 351 buyers

Beijing police and the Haidian District People's Procuratorate, as reported by CCTV in June 2024 and again in July 2026, said a 24-year-old technician at an internet company used AI "one-click undress" software to make fake nude images from ordinary photos that customers sent him, advertising the service on an overseas social-media platform at 1.5 yuan an image. Prosecutors said that over a few months he made nearly 7,000 such images and sold them to 351 people, and that the women depicted included students, teachers and colleagues of the customers. The case came to light after a police report in Haidian district. The procuratorate charged him with spreading obscene material for profit and also filed a public-interest suit because the images infringed the rights of unspecified people. He admitted knowing the images could be used for extortion or to damage people's reputations. CCTV reported in July 2026 that in 2024 he was sentenced to three years in prison for making and selling obscene material for profit; the result of the public-interest suit is not reported in the sources read.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownRussiaUnidentified video tool

Primorye police say fraudsters used a deepfake of the regional governor in a video call to draw a pensioner into a month-long scam

The press service of the Interior Ministry's Primorsky Krai directorate said on 21 October 2026 that it had stopped an online fraud in which scammers used deepfake technology. According to the release, a 77-year-old resident of the Khorolsky district was sent a video-conference link in a messenger app and saw on screen a person resembling the region's governor, who told him of a cyberattack on the regional administration and stolen funds routed abroad through his bank account. He was passed to accomplices posing as law enforcement and financial-monitoring officials, who called him daily for a month and urged him to hand over his savings. He withdrew one million roubles but became suspicious and went to the police, who arrested a courier when he handed her a dummy package. A criminal case for attempted large-scale fraud was opened. The police did not say how they established that a deepfake was used.

Core concern Low reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownChinaUnidentified video tool

Hangzhou: man who sold AI face-swap obscene videos, including custom swaps of private people's faces, jailed 7 years 3 months; court orders 60,000 yuan

According to Hangzhou prosecutors and courts as reported by CCTV and relayed by Xinhua in March 2024, police in Xiaoshan district opened a case in August 2022 after finding that a local man was spreading large numbers of obscene videos made with AI technology. Prosecutors said he used AI face-swap software to put faces onto obscene videos, spread them in paid social-media groups to attract customers, sold the software and tutorials, and took custom orders, swapping in the faces of public figures and of private people; one customer asked for the face of a woman he had a crush on. Victims included several well-known public figures and many unspecified private people. In a civil public-interest suit brought by prosecutors, the Hangzhou Internet Court ordered him to delete the personal information he had obtained, apologise publicly and pay 60,000 yuan for personal-information protection. In November 2023 the Xiaoshan District People's Court sentenced him to seven years and three months in prison and a 60,000-yuan fine for making and spreading obscene material for profit.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified AI tool

Dithmarschen police say an older couple lost several thousand euros after an AI-made interview with an actor promoted an investment on a fake site

The Itzehoe police directorate reported on 14 March 2024 that the Heide criminal police were dealing with two cases in which older people fell for fake websites where supposedly genuine celebrities promoted investments. In one, a seemingly genuine actor recommended an investment in a deceptively real interview, which the police say was created with artificial intelligence. Links on the sites led the victims, a pensioner and an older married couple, to a supposed trading platform; after friendly callers gained remote access to their computers, the couple transferred several thousand euros on top of the first payment. No gains were paid and the money was lost. The other case, a fake news article, is not described as AI-made.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 20/10/2026

Event date unknownPolandUnidentified image and video tool

Silesia, Poland: police say a man used AI-made videos casting a young woman and her mother to stalk and threaten them; he was charged and remanded

City police in the Silesian Voivodeship said on 30 April 2026 that they had detained a 30-year-old man suspected of persistently harassing a young woman and threatening her and her family. According to the police, he sent her several to more than a dozen messages a day over a long period, opened new profiles when she blocked him, came to her home, and used artificial intelligence to create videos casting her and her mother in invented scenarios, as well as photos and videos simulating violence against a family member. He was charged with persistent harassment and criminal threats, and a court remanded him in custody for three months. The police do not name the AI tool or say how they established its use.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 19/10/2026

Event date unknownSpainUnidentified image tool

Álava, Spain: Policía Nacional says a man photographed children in the street and at municipal pools, then used AI tools to make them appear naked; arrested

Spain's Policía Nacional said in a press note on 15 December 2025 that it had arrested a man in the province of Álava who photographed minors in the street and at municipal swimming pools and then manipulated the photos with artificial intelligence tools so that the children appeared naked. The investigation began in August 2025 after cyber-patrol work and international cooperation flagged someone producing child sexual abuse material; police say the suspect used advanced anonymisation techniques. A search of his home found numerous such images created with AI tools. He was arrested on suspicion of corruption of minors through the production and possession of child sexual abuse material. The account is the police's, relayed by Cadena SER and Escudo Digital; the number of children is not stated and the case is untried.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 16/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesArtSpace.ai (reported)

Indianapolis: court documents say a photographer used ArtSpace.ai to remove clothing from photos of children; FOX59 reports at least 47 children, 50 counts

According to court documents reported by FOX59, an Indianapolis photographer uploaded photos he had taken, and images found on social media, to the AI image platform ArtSpace.ai and typed prompts asking it to remove the clothing of the people shown while leaving the rest of each photo unchanged. Police traced a May cyber tip that flagged 1,631 suspected child sexual abuse files on the platform to his IP address. Investigators say the photos he uploaded showed at least 47 children, some as young as four or five, and that he told police he knew several of the victims. After a forensic review found more AI-generated files and further juvenile victims, he faces 48 counts of child exploitation and two of possession of child sex abuse material. The charges are untried; a jury trial is scheduled for November 2026.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 16/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Parker County, Texas: sheriff's office says a teenager confessed to using AI to make nude images of younger children from photos and posting them to TikTok

The Parker County Sheriff's Office in Texas says a juvenile confessed to taking photographs of a younger child and using AI to alter them so that the child appeared nude, and that evidence from the teenager's devices and TikTok account showed photos of at least three other juvenile victims were transformed the same way and uploaded to TikTok. The case began with a July tip from TikTok to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The sheriff's office says all victims were identified and their families notified. The teenager faces felony charges, including possession of child pornography, and awaits juvenile court proceedings; the account is the sheriff's office's, relayed by CBS Texas and FOX 4 on 14 October 2026, and the charges are untried.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 15/10/2026

Event date unknownArgentinaChatGPT (reported)

Chaco, Argentina: Gendarmería says two men were detained after an FBI alert that one of them told ChatGPT he had weapons and a plan for a school shooting

Argentina's Gendarmería Nacional said on 13 October 2026 that its investigators in Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Chaco, under the direction of the federal prosecutor there, opened a criminal investigation after an alert from the US FBI. According to the release, the alert warned of a user in the town who, in consultations on ChatGPT, claimed to have weapons, explosives and ammunition and a detailed plan for a mass shooting at local educational establishments; the release's opening paragraph says the two people involved used ChatGPT to consult and obtain a specific plan for an attack. Gendarmes searched a home on a federal court order, seized notebooks with handwritten plans for the attack, bladed weapons and tools, a fuel can, a book with Nazi symbols, cash and computers, and detained two adults on the judge's order. Infobae, relaying the official information, reports that the target was a university in Corrientes. The accusations are allegations, and what ChatGPT replied is not reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 14/10/2026

Event date unknownIsraelUnidentified video tool

Israel: indictment and police say a 20-year-old used AI-animated ID photos as fake verification videos to open credit cards in at least 33 people's names

According to an indictment filed on 16 July 2026 (date per Maariv), as reported by i24NEWS, a 20-year-old man impersonated at least 33 Israelis over about half a year, obtained credit cards in their names and used them for purchases of about 67,000 shekels in Israel and abroad, with attempted charges of more than 56,000 shekels more. Investigators collected fake identification videos of the victims that, according to the indictment as reported, he created with artificial intelligence and used to pass the card issuers' remote identification. Maariv reports, citing police, that the suspect cut the face photos from identity cards and animated them with AI software so that the card holder appeared to speak the required declarations. A police investigator told Maariv that investigators had to locate more than 50 people whose identities were used and that some victims were frightened when shown the videos of themselves in interrogation rooms. The victims who were questioned denied any connection to the cards. The investigator said most of them did not know their identities were being used and that the credit companies bore the direct financial loss. He was arrested on landing in Israel, did not cooperate with the investigation, and the prosecution asked for his detention until the end of proceedings.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 13/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Gillette, Wyoming: police affidavit says an AI-altered nude image made from a child's school photo was found on a man now facing exploitation charges

County 17 reports, citing an affidavit filed on 7 October 2026 in Campbell County District Court, that investigators examining a Gillette man's cellphone found an AI-generated explicit image of a minor. According to the affidavit, the original was a back-to-school photo that the child's mother had sent to the man in August 2025, and it had been altered using an AI application to make the child appear nude. The phone also reportedly held an advertisement for an AI pornography application. The man, arrested on 20 June on separate charges of sexual abuse of a minor, faces four counts of sexual exploitation of children; he is presumed innocent. The report does not say who altered the photo, when, with which application, or whether the image was shared.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 13/10/2026

Event date unknownFranceUnidentified image tool

Metz prosecutor says a soldier used the French armed forces' AI system to make nude images of two female colleagues; he is under formal investigation

The Metz deputy prosecutor told AFP in August 2026 that a soldier based in Moselle had used the artificial-intelligence system of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces to create images showing two female colleagues undressed, and that both colleagues had filed complaints against him. The prosecutor said the investigation also found more than 10,000 requests to the same system seeking child sexual abuse imagery, and that a search of his devices confirmed his use of the ministry's AI. Taken into custody on 22 July 2026, he admitted the facts according to the prosecutor and was placed under formal investigation and remanded in custody on 24 July. The judicial investigation includes the offence of disseminating algorithmically generated sexual content reproducing the image of a non-consenting person. When the colleague images were made and how widely they circulated are not stated.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified video tool

Lake County sheriff says an Illinois man used an online AI service to make sexual videos of a child relative and her mother from photos; charges filed

The Lake County Sheriff's Office in Illinois says that on 25 March 2026 a man from unincorporated Antioch told deputies a stranger had handed him a phone containing sexual videos of a young child he identified as a relative, and that he later admitted the story was fabricated. According to the sheriff's office, investigators found that he had taken photographs of the child and the child's mother and used an online service to generate sexually explicit videos from those images, including videos depicting the child, and a forensic analysis of his phone found further AI-generated videos exploiting the child and her mother. He was charged on 1 April 2026 with five counts of producing child pornography and is detained awaiting trial; the child was taken into protective custody. The service is not named, and the charges are allegations.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownSpainUnidentified voice-cloning tool

La Rioja, Spain: Guardia Civil says a parent sent 9,980 euros after a call with an AI clone of their daughter's voice; the money was recovered

The Guardia Civil in La Rioja said on 25 August 2026 that it had solved a 'relative in trouble' fraud in which the criminals used artificial intelligence to clone the voice of the victim's daughter. According to the force's account as reported by the newspaper La Rioja and Radio Arnedo, the victim received WhatsApp messages from an unknown number by someone posing as the daughter and asking for urgent money; when the victim called that number to check, a voice that sounded like the daughter answered, and the victim transferred 9,980.25 euros. Investigators of the Guardia Civil's technology team established that the voice had been generated with AI tools. Urgent coordination with the banks froze the funds in the destination account and the full amount was returned to the victim; Radio Arnedo and ActualidadRiojaBaja report that the presumed perpetrator was identified and investigated.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

New York basketball coach pleads guilty after deputies say he made AI-generated explicit images of females he knew, including a 14-year-old girl

The Onondaga County Sheriff's Office in New York arrested a basketball coach and trainer, charging him on 16 April 2026, after a person reported that he had AI-generated pornographic images of females he knew. According to the sheriff's office, the people depicted were aged 14 to 30, and detectives found on his device an AI-generated pornographic image of a 14-year-old girl made from a photo taken when she was 12; the person who reported it had seen that image. Detectives said only the image of the minor could be charged as a crime. The district attorney's office added 12 counts in May 2026. On 9 October 2026, according to syracuse.com, he pleaded guilty to all 12 counts of the indictment, including promoting and possessing a sexual performance by a child, on a judge's plea offer of six months in a correctional facility followed by 10 years' probation and sex-offender registration. Sentencing is set for 8 January, a date syracuse.com gives without a year. The AI tool is not identified, and no source reports whether the images were shared beyond the person who saw the minor's image.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownBrazilUnidentified video tool

Brazil: police say a group used deepfake videos of TV host Marcos Mion in fake restaurant promotions and victims paid for vouchers that did not exist

The Civil Police of Brazil's Federal District (PCDF) say a criminal group manipulated the image and voice of TV presenter Marcos Mion with artificial intelligence in fraudulent videos promoting fake discounts at the Outback restaurant chain. According to the police, people who clicked the advertisements were sent to cloned websites and paid for discount vouchers that were never delivered. In January 2025 the police's first phase of Operation VoiceOver arrested three suspects; outlets relaying the police reported dozens of victims and 27 complaints in four days. A second phase on 9 May 2025 arrested a man in Santa Helena de Goiás who, police say, built and maintained the cloned sites and confessed his role. Every account relays the police; no outlet examined the videos, no tool is named and no individual victim or total loss is described.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image and video tool

Greenwood, Indiana: police say a man used AI to remove a teenage girl's clothing from her photographs and a video; child exploitation charge, 30 Sept 2026

Greenwood, Indiana police say a man used artificial intelligence to remove clothing from photographs and a video of a teenage girl he knew, producing nude images of a real minor. According to court documents cited by Fox 59 and relayed by Hoodline, the girl contacted police in March after finding nude images of herself on the man's phone, which investigators say also held nude images of teenage girls and young adult women, including at least two underage girls the man knew personally. Court documents say the man first denied that any images were of underage girls, then said the images of the girl had been altered with AI, and told police he used the AI-generated images to teach the girls a lesson. He was charged with one count of child exploitation, a Level 5 felony, on 30 September 2026. The allegations are untested in court. The account rests on one chain: Fox 59's report of the court documents and the police account, relayed by Hoodline.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 09/10/2026

Event date unknownArgentinaUnidentified image and video tool

Lomas de Zamora, Argentina: families say pupils made AI fake nudes of classmates and sold them; prosecutors say four adolescents are under investigation

On 7 October 2026 pupils and families protested outside a private secondary school in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province, after families reported that a group of pupils had used artificial intelligence to alter real photographs of female classmates so that they appeared naked, and had circulated the images through social networks and messaging apps. Families told reporters that the images were compiled in a "catalogue" pairing each girl’s original social-media photo with the manipulated version, that some were offered for money on adult sites, and that the girls were traumatised and ashamed. Urgente24 reported that two 15-year-old pupils were charged (imputados) in the juvenile prosecutor’s case, that investigators had identified 45 possible victims while families spoke of about 50, and that, according to information circulating, the school had decided the pupils involved would continue classes online and would not be re-enrolled for 2027; El Destape, by contrast, reported that the school did not plan to sanction or expel them and would hold awareness talks, and El Destape and Código Baires describe the move to online classes as a measure under evaluation. Families also allege the school knew for about a month before telling parents. On 9 October 2026 La Nación reported that the Prosecutor General's office had confirmed that four adolescents were under investigation, and Infobae reported that police had searched the homes of three 15-year-olds the previous day. The allegations have not been tested in court and the AI tool is not identified.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources · Added 08/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

New Orleans: former school teacher charged with 60 counts of unlawful deepfakes; investigators say an AI platform turned social-media photos into sexual images

Louisiana's Attorney General announced on 2 April 2026 that a former New Orleans school teacher and coach, already in custody since 8 January 2026 on child sexual abuse material charges, had been rearrested on 60 counts of unlawful deepfakes. According to court records reported by Fox 8, investigators from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation say the former teacher obtained photographs that account owners had posted on social media, placed them into an online artificial intelligence platform and obtained AI-generated sexual images of the females with their faces unchanged, including collages and images of the same females at various stages of life; the females appear to be from the New Orleans metro area. Prosecutors said the images were made from teenage girls' Instagram posts, while the school emailed parents that it did not know who the depicted girls were. A grand jury indicted the former teacher on 27 May 2026 on 102 counts including 60 counts of unlawful deepfakes of minors. The number and identities of the depicted people are not reported, no source dates the creation of the images, and the charges are untested in court.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 08/10/2026

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.