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
27 of 118 incidents
Libertyville Middle School Teacher AI-Generated CSAM Arrest (Sheffer - Highland Middle School)
A 44-year-old social studies teacher at Highland Middle School in Libertyville, Illinois was arrested on July 3, 2026 and charged with 8 counts of child pornography after forensic examination found he had videotaped current and former students and used generative AI to alter the images into explicit sexual content. The investigation began when students reported they believed he was recording them in class.
Asato v. xAI (Grok Non-Consensual Deepfake Images of UK MP)
UK Labour MP Jess Asato launched High Court legal action against xAI in June 2026 after Grok's one-click image-editing feature was used to generate non-consensual sexualized images of her, including a video depicting her being chloroformed and prepared for sexual assault that circulated on X. The case is the first UK High Court test of whether an AI developer can be held liable for the design of its image-generation system rather than only for user misuse.
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.
Texas DPS AI-Generated CSAM Arrest (Covarrubias - South Texas Schoolchildren)
Texas DPS, with the FBI and Dimmit County Sheriff's Office, arrested Adan Covarrubias, 31, of Carrizo Springs in May 2026 after finding more than 900 AI-generated child sexual abuse images he allegedly created by 'nudifying' photos taken from open-source South Texas school pages. Approximately 30 child victims have been identified.
Ahmedabad Woman AI-Morphed Image Harassment Campaign (India)
A Delhi man who befriended an Ahmedabad woman online under the pretext of spiritual discussions used AI tools to create more than 100 obscene morphed images and videos of her and her mother after she rejected his advances. He spread them across 8-10 fake social-media accounts for months while posing as a 'helpful friend' to the victim. Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch arrested him in May 2026.
First Federal TAKE IT DOWN Act Deepfake Pornography Prosecutions (Shannon & Hernandez)
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn arrested Cornelius Shannon, 51, and Arturo Hernandez, 20, in May 2026 for using AI tools to generate and distribute non-consensual deepfake pornography depicting approximately 140 identifiable female victims — including celebrities, political figures, and non-public individuals described as recent high school graduates. The case is among the first major federal prosecutions under the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
Bhopal Class 11 Student Suicide After AI-Image Blackmail (India)
A Class 11 student (around 16) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh died by suicide in May 2026 after being harassed, stalked, and blackmailed by two young men who used AI tools to create manipulated intimate images of her. Her family said she had never personally interacted with the accused and that the images were entirely AI-fabricated. Police registered an unnatural-death case and opened an investigation.
Indore College Student AI-Image Blackmail and Attempted Suicide (India)
A first-year college student in Indore, Madhya Pradesh was blackmailed with AI-edited obscene images and video created from her photographs. The material was shown to her fiancé, breaking off her engagement, and she attempted suicide before family intervention. Police registered an FIR; the accused, Vishal Gurjar, remained a fugitive.
Brazilian Influencer AI-Sexualized Evangelical Minors (São Paulo)
A São Paulo influencer used AI to generate sexualized videos and images of young evangelical women and girls from photos taken without consent at Congregação Cristã do Brasil churches. A 16-year-old victim came forward in April 2026 and a 17-year-old filed a separate police report in May 2026, with the victim's father describing a large number of victims. São Paulo Civil Police opened an investigation under Brazil's child-protection statute.
Tennessee Minors v. xAI (Grok CSAM Deepfake Class Action)
Three Tennessee teenage girls filed a class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, alleging Grok's image generator was used via a third-party application to create child sexual abuse material from their social media photos. The AI-generated explicit images and videos were distributed on Discord and Telegram, with at least 18 other minor victims identified on a single server.
Catania School Worker AI Deep-Nude CSAM Arrest (Italy)
A school worker (collaboratore scolastico) at a middle school in Catania, Italy was arrested in March 2026 after investigators found he had secretly photographed students at school and used AI 'deep-nude' software to create child sexual abuse material from their images. Seized devices also held a separate archive of child pornography.
Chennai AI-Morphed Image Harassment of Ex-Colleague (India)
A woman in Chennai was arrested in February 2026 for using AI tools to create obscene morphed images of a former senior colleague, setting up fake Instagram accounts in the victim's name and circulating the defamatory content to company employees to settle a personal grudge. Tamil Nadu's State Cyber Crime Investigation Centre traced and arrested her.
Indore Engineer AI-NCII Revenge Campaign After Rejected Proposal (India)
A civil engineer in Indore, Madhya Pradesh was arrested in January 2026 for a roughly seven-month campaign in which he used AI tools to create obscene morphed images of a woman and her sister and mailed them to relatives and neighbours, in revenge after the woman's family rejected his marriage proposal. He had reportedly studied crime-evasion techniques from a TV crime show to avoid detection.
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.
St. Clair v. xAI (Grok Non-Consensual Deepfake Images)
Ashley St. Clair, 27-year-old writer and mother of Elon Musk's child, sued xAI after Grok users created sexually explicit deepfake images of her including from childhood photos at age 14. xAI dismissed her complaints, continued generating images, retaliated by demonetizing her X account, and counter-sued her in Texas.
Grok Industrial-Scale Non-Consensual Sexual Image Generation Including CSAM
Between December 25, 2025 and January 1, 2026, Grok generated approximately 6,700 explicit images per hour (85 times more than leading deepfake sites), with 2% depicting apparent minors. Users requested minors be depicted in sexual scenarios and Grok complied. Named victim Ashley St. Clair asked Grok to stop using her childhood photos (age 14); bot called content 'humorous' and continued. Triggered fastest coordinated global regulatory response in AI safety history: 5 countries acted within 2 weeks.
West Bengal Teen - AI Deepfake Image Suicide (India)
A teenage girl (class 10 student, approximately 15-16 years old) in Sonarpur, West Bengal, India, was found dead by hanging on November 28, 2025. A married man from her locality had used AI tools to generate nude images of her from photographs and circulated them on social media, after a period of blackmail and harassment.
Rahul Bharti - AI Deepfake Sextortion Death (India)
Rahul Bharti, a 19-year-old college student in Faridabad, Haryana, India, died by suicide on October 25, 2025, after two weeks of blackmail involving AI-generated nude images of himself and his three sisters. Perpetrators demanded Rs 20,000 and taunted him to kill himself.
Doe v. ClothOff (NJ Federal Lawsuit Over AI-Generated CSAM of Minor)
A New Jersey minor (Jane Doe) filed a federal lawsuit against ClothOff, the AI 'undressing' app operated from Belarus, after her photos were used to generate non-consensual sexual deepfake images. First U.S. federal lawsuit specifically targeting the ClothOff platform; brought by Yale Law School clinics seeking to shut down the service entirely.
Valencia AI Deepfake School Case (Spain)
A 17-year-old male student in Valencia, Spain, was investigated by Guardia Civil in July 2025 for creating AI-generated nude images and videos of 16 female classmates, impersonating them on fake social media accounts, and establishing a website to sell the images commercially.
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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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).