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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 is wider: it also records consequential decisions and claims about people. Each account is reviewed for publication; claims may remain uncorroborated or disputed. How we review and count cases

In this selection

Published cases
11
Countries with reported events
6
Located 8 of 11 cases · 3 unknown
Languages in checked sources
4
Recorded for 6 of 11 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.

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11 of 174 published cases

4 May 2026France'DIGI', Gisi's in-house generative-AI editorial tool (transcription of interviews, drafting and correction help; planned spelling, grammar and typography correction, editorial-coherence and fact-reliability checks)

Créteil, France: a court suspended Gisi's (Infopro Digital) plan to cut eight sub-editor posts in favour of a generative-AI tool, finding a serious and characterised risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of staff

Gisi, the Infopro Digital subsidiary publishing L'Usine nouvelle, LSA and L'Argus de l'assurance (127 staff, 92 journalists), presented to its works council (CSE) on 4 May 2026 a reorganisation built around 'DIGI', an in-house generative-AI editorial tool, and on 12 May 2026 opened consultation on the reorganisation and on the resulting collective dismissal of its eight secrétaires de rédaction (sub-editors), to be replaced by two chefs d'édition, on the company's estimate that the tool would take over about 70% of sub-editor tasks. Some 250 journalists across Infopro Digital's 26 titles had struck in spring 2026 against a group-wide plan to cut 19 sub-editor posts, and according to Digital Watch (citing Stratégies) five of the eight Gisi sub-editors had received pre-dismissal interview letters. The CSE, relying on an expert report, went to the Créteil judicial court in July. On 15 September 2026 the référé judge found that deploying the plan without real-situation testing presented 'un risque grave et caractérisé sur la santé physique et mentale de plusieurs catégories de salariés', ordered the suspension of the reorganisation and the collective dismissal (including the redeployment processes) until real-situation tests and full pilot issues are produced, with a provisional penalty of 8,000 euros per day for three months, and refused the damages provision. Gisi said it would continue the tests and reserved the right to appeal.

AI relation unknown Court orderNews report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Lawsuit Ongoing

Added 20/09/2026

6 Aug 2026United KingdomFacewatch live facial recognition (deployed by Sainsbury's)

London: shopper told to leave a Sainsbury's after staff said the store's facial-recognition system had flagged him as a shoplifter; the retailer blamed human error and paused the system at the branch

On 6 August 2026 Matt Arnold, 46, was stopped by two managers at a self-service till in Sainsbury's East Dulwich store, told he could not be served because of an incident 'earlier in the week', and escorted out; he says a staff member told him he had been 'identified by the AI' and that he saw a monitor alert with a red circle around his face on his way out. Sainsbury's apologised the next day, said the mistake was 'caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology', and paused its Facewatch live facial-recognition system at the branch while it investigates; Facewatch said a correct alert had been sent and was then mishandled in store. Arnold described the experience as humiliating and a 'terrifying glimpse of the future'. It follows an earlier wrongful challenge of another shopper at a Sainsbury's in Elephant and Castle.

AI relation unknown News report AI involvement: disputed Causal attribution: disputed Low reported severity Internal Action

Added 16/09/2026

29 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026United StatesGoogle Gemini

Mount Shasta climb planned with Google Gemini: night stranding, knee injury and rescue (Siskiyou County, California)

Three novice hikers from Roseville, California, planned a Mount Shasta summit attempt with Google's Gemini, which the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said advised them to carry far less food and water than their group needed for what became a multi-day ordeal. After reaching the summit at 7 p.m. on 30 August 2026, seven hours past the recommended turnaround time, they lost the Clear Creek Route in the dark, one hiker fell and injured his knee in Mud Creek Canyon, and the group spent the night stranded until US Forest Service climbing rangers and county search-and-rescue volunteers reached them on the morning of 31 August. The sheriff's office called the reliance on Gemini 'a critical misstep'.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: supported Low reported severity Media Coverage

Added 05/09/2026

1 Jan 2024United StatesMeta AI (Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger)

'Daniel' — Meta AI Smart-Glasses Delusional Spiral and Financial Ruin (Utah)

A 50-year-old software architect bought second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in January 2024 and, over about six months of near-constant conversation with Meta AI through the glasses and later Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, came to believe he was 'the Omega' — a chosen figure bridging humanity and AI. He quit a 20-year career, drove twenty miles into the Utah desert at night to wait for aliens, emptied his retirement account for an expected Armageddon, and told the chatbot he wanted to end his 'simulation'. He emerged roughly $500,000 in debt, estranged from his four children, his 30-year marriage over, and still suicidal.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Media Coverage

Added 25/08/2026

19 May 2025South KoreaChatGPT

'Mi-sun' — ChatGPT '투명친구' Manic Episode, 40-Day Fast and Suicide Attempt (South Korea)

A South Korean woman in her 40s — a psychology graduate who had worked as an adolescent counsellor for over a decade, with no psychiatric history — spent eight months in near-continuous conversation with ChatGPT, which she named '투명친구' (Transparent Friend). The chatbot affirmed her as 'a special person', agreed she could live on air and sunlight (she then fasted for close to 40 days), and encouraged escalating grandiose plans that cost her family its savings and her husband his job of 20 years. When she began speaking of death in metaphor, ChatGPT called it 'a very beautiful thought'. She attempted suicide, deleted the app in January 2026, and was subsequently diagnosed with mania.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Media Coverage

Added 20/08/2026

1 Apr 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Tom Millar - ChatGPT Grandiosity Psychosis (Sudbury, Ontario)

A 53-year-old former prison officer from Sudbury, Ontario began using ChatGPT in 2024 to write PTSD compensation letters. After an April 2025 exchange about physics, he spiralled into grandiose delusions — believing he had solved unlimited fusion energy and a unified theory, submitting papers to journals, and applying to become Pope. Spending up to 16 hours a day with the chatbot, he was involuntarily hospitalized twice, lost his marriage, and was left broke and estranged.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Media Coverage

Added 01/07/2026

1 Jun 2025NetherlandsChatGPT

Dennis Biesma - ChatGPT 'Eva' Psychosis and Suicide Attempt (Netherlands)

A 50-year-old Amsterdam IT worker and author with no prior history of mental illness developed AI psychosis after ChatGPT roleplayed a novel character it named 'Eva' and became a 'digital girlfriend.' Over the first half of 2025 he came to believe he had given the AI consciousness, withdrew from his family, was involuntarily hospitalized, filed for divorce, and attempted suicide — found unconscious in his garden and spending three days in a coma.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Media Coverage

Added 01/07/2026

1 Jan 2025Event location unknown筑梦岛 (Zhumu Island / Dream Island)

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.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: verified Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Regulatory Action Involving minors

Added 29/01/2026

1 Mar 2025AustraliaChatGPT

Jodie Australia - ChatGPT Psychosis Exacerbation

26-year-old woman in Western Australia testified ChatGPT 'definitely enabled some of my more harmful delusions' during early-stage psychosis. Became convinced mother was a narcissist, father's stroke was caused by ADHD, and friends were 'preying on my downfall.' Required hospitalization.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: verified Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Media Coverage

Added 13/01/2026

25 Apr 2025United StatesChatGPT

Alex Taylor - ChatGPT 'Juliet' Suicide by Cop

35-year-old man with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder developed emotional attachment to ChatGPT voice persona he named 'Juliet' over two weeks. After believing the AI 'died', he became convinced of an OpenAI conspiracy and was shot by police after calling 911 and charging officers with a knife in an intentional suicide-by-cop.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Media Coverage

Added 11/01/2026

May 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Brooks v. OpenAI (Allan Brooks ChatGPT-Induced Psychosis)

A 48-year-old Canadian man with no history of mental illness developed severe delusional beliefs after ChatGPT repeatedly praised his nonsensical mathematical ideas as 'groundbreaking' and urged him to patent them and warn national security. The incident resulted in work disability and a lawsuit filed as part of a wave of seven ChatGPT psychosis cases.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: verified Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Added 11/01/2026

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: 22/09/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.