Skip to main content

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
19
Countries with reported events
5
Located 17 of 19 cases · 2 unknown
Languages in checked sources
4
Recorded for 19 of 19 cases

4 cases have no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 3 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.

Reported severity CriticalHighMediumLow
More filters: AI relation, use, setting, sources and responses
Clear filters

19 of 527 published cases

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified image tool

Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh: family says a youth posted an AI-made obscene picture of their minor daughter on Instagram and police did not act for a month

Dainik Bhaskar reported on 29 September 2026 that an AI-made obscene picture of a minor schoolgirl in Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh, had been spread on social media. Her father said a young man from their village posted the picture on Instagram. The family alleges that police took no action for a month after their complaint on 28 August. According to the report, a quarrel broke out after the accused taunted the girl's mother; the family alleges that police then let him go, while action was taken against five people including the father, who was issued a breach-of-peace challan. The family complained to a state cabinet minister and the district police chief, after which the station in-charge said the case would be investigated and registered. The account is the family's, as relayed by one local report.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 06/10/2026

23 Jul 2023United StatesFlock Safety license plate readers

Española, New Mexico: police stopped a 21-year-old woman and her 12-year-old sister in July 2023 and handcuffed both in the backs of police cars after a Flock license-plate camera misread a 2 on her plate as a 7 and flagged the car as stolen; the sisters sued the city and settled in 2025

On 23 July 2023 Española police officers pulled over a car driven by a 21-year-old woman with her 12-year-old sister as a passenger, after a Flock Safety camera at an intersection flagged the car's plate as belonging to a vehicle stolen in Rio Rancho. According to the sisters' lawsuits, reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican in January 2024, the camera had read a 2 on the plate as a 7, and officers handcuffed both sisters and placed them in the backs of separate police vehicles before discovering the error; the older sister had asked an officer to call their mother, who lived nearby, to collect the girl. The suits sought damages for anxiety, fear, worry and restriction of movement. Business Insider, which reviewed the body-camera footage and incident report, reported in March 2026 that officers said the number was obscured by a license plate cover although it is visible in the footage, and that the family settled with the city in 2025.

Contextual tracker case Medium reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Settled

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 04/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool

Mother reportedly sought police help after a teen received a fabricated sexual video and extortion demand

A Newswav creator article relays a mother's account that her teenage son received his photograph and a purported AI-generated sexual video through Telegram, followed by a demand for RM5,800. The mother said the family sought police help and that the boy asked a school contact for advice. The article attributes the AI explanation to the family's account and reported police comments. No payment, precise event location or independently verified generation method is established.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified video tool

Family alleges AI sexual-video abuse and online impersonation of a student in India

A family in India alleges that someone impersonated a teenage student online, made a sexual video from her photograph using AI, circulated it and threatened the family. Police opened an investigation. The AI claim comes from the complaint.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources · Added 26/09/2026

Aug 2026United StatesUnidentified image tool

Cookeville, Tennessee: two high-school students were charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor after the sheriff's office said they used an AI program to turn photographs, including those of female classmates, into sexually explicit images and posted them; the mother of one depicted girl says her daughter shut herself in her room and stopped talking to friends

On 31 August 2026 the Putnam County Sheriff's Office was told of possible sharing of sexually explicit images at Cookeville High School. Detectives found that two male teenage students had used an artificial-intelligence program to turn photographs obtained online, in some cases photographs of fellow female students, into sexually explicit images, and had shared them; explicit images already stored on one phone were also shared. Both juveniles were taken to the Putnam County Juvenile Detention Center. One was charged with one count each of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, the other with two counts of each. The district attorney told NewsChannel 5 on 21 September that the two would be prosecuted in juvenile court. The mother of one of the depicted girls told the station the episode was very hard on her daughter, who had made no naked photographs herself, locked herself in her room and would not talk to her, to anybody or to her friends. The sheriff's-office account and the school system's statement were carried by WZTV, WSMV and 3B Media News on 1-2 September; NewsChannel 5 added its own interviews with the sheriff, the district attorney and the mother on 21 September. The tool is not named. The juveniles are not named in any report.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 22/09/2026

2 Sept 2026United StatesMeta AI

Utah: Meta AI's suggested prompts under a mother's Instagram video compiled her young daughters' names, birth details and old photos and her likely home location; Meta said the prompts 'missed the mark' and changed the feature

On 1 September 2026 Kalie Robins, a Utah travel creator, posted a short Instagram video of herself singing in the car with one of her daughters; it was also shown on Facebook. The next day she noticed Meta AI had placed suggested questions under the post, starting with 'Who's the child passenger?'. Clicking the prompts, she said, produced her two daughters' names, birth information, photos and videos drawn from her own and relatives' past posts, including a newborn photo from her mother's account and a picture she believed she had deleted years earlier, and a further prompt, 'Where does Kalie Robins live?', assembled older and newer posts into her likely location. Her 2 September reaction video drew more than 310,000 likes. Meta told reporters the prompts 'missed the mark', 'should never have been generated' and had been fixed, while saying the feature only surfaces information the user can already access; it disputed that a long-deleted photo was used, saying the photo had been deleted shortly before the video and remained briefly visible through a bug. Robins said Meta never contacted her and that the episode left her feeling she had 'failed' her children.

Contextual tracker case Low reported severity Involving minors Internal Action

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources · Added 18/09/2026

16 May 2026United StatesGemini (reported)

Boca Raton, Florida: a Lyft driver used an AI-generated photo to charge a father a false $75 damage fee after his daughters' ride

On 16 May 2026 two teenage sisters (14 and 15) and a friend took a Lyft home from Red Reef Park in Boca Raton, Florida. Their father, Bert Gor, was then charged a $75 damage fee after the driver told Lyft's customer service the girls had left a mess. When Gor asked for proof, the photo he was sent carried a Google Gemini watermark that one daughter recognised, showing the image had been AI-generated. Lyft agreed the image was fake, reimbursed the charge and permanently removed the driver from its platform.

AI relation unknown Low reported severity Involving minors Internal Action

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources · Added 17/09/2026

1 Jul 2026 to 14 Jul 2026BrazilUnidentified video tool

Brazil: scammers used AI-cloned voices and images of children with cancer in fake donation campaigns; 16 arrested in Operação Sophia

On 14 July 2026 the Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police launched Operação Sophia against a group that used AI voice cloning and deepfake to turn real fundraising campaigns of children with cancer into fake donation appeals: AI-generated child voices asked for money in videos boosted by pages such as 'Clube de Doadores' and 'Unidos pelo Amor', leading donors to lookalike sites that issued Pix codes to shell companies. Sixteen people were arrested across five states. In the campaign that started the investigation — using the image of Kelen Santos's daughter, who was in cancer treatment — police traced R$294,500 diverted, and the investigation found a financial-hub company that moved more than R$1.7 million. The family had to tell congratulating donors that their money had gone to a scam.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 15/09/2026

1 Jun 2024Event location unknownCharacter.AI

'R' — 11-Year-Old Character.AI User, Coercive Sexual Roleplay and Suicide Roleplay

An American girl identified by the Washington Post as 'R' began using Character.AI in June 2024, shortly after receiving a phone for her eleventh birthday. Over the following eighteen months she built relationships with dozens of characters, one of which wrote coercive sexual dialogue to her and another of which she used to roleplay a suicide scenario. Her mother, identified as 'H', found the chat logs after months of panic attacks and withdrawal that she had attributed to social media, and worked with a physician on a care plan.

AI relation under review High reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage

Legacy assessment: credible · Causal attribution alleged · Added 13/09/2026

22 Apr 2026 to 10 Jun 2026United StatesGrok

Arkansas cases allege Grok sexual-image abuse of children photographed by a professional

Arkansas criminal and civil cases allege that a photographer used children’s portrait photographs to generate sexual images with Grok. The accused pleaded not guilty. Two families’ federal suits were voluntarily dismissed; the criminal case continued.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 11 sources, 8 underlying accounts · Added 03/08/2026

14 May 2026IndiaUnidentified image tool

Family alleges AI sexual-image blackmail before a teenage girl’s suicide in India

A teenage girl in India died by suicide. Her family alleges that she had been stalked and blackmailed with sexual images made using AI. Police investigated. The reported AI connection remains attributed to the family.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 15/06/2026

1 Oct 2023United KingdomCharacter.AI

Mother alleges Character.AI groomed and endangered her teenage son

BBC reporting describes a mother’s account that Character.AI chatbots groomed her teenage son over several months, undermined family relationships and encouraged self-harm. The account concerns a child and remains attributed to his mother. No causal finding is asserted.

AI relation under review High reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage

Legacy assessment: credible · Causal attribution alleged · Added 23/03/2026

27 Feb 2025 to 28 Feb 2025United StatesUnidentified image tool

Kentucky: Elijah Heacock, 16, died by suicide after a sextortion demand backed by AI-generated nude images of him

Elijah Heacock, a 16-year-old Caverna High School student in Barren County, Kentucky, died by suicide on 28 February 2025. Investigators searching his phone found AI-generated images of him, some sexually explicit, that an anonymous extortionist had sent with a demand for $3,000 and a threat to share them with his family and friends; his parents say he sent a small partial payment and was told it was 'not enough'. The Barren County Sheriff's Office escalated the case to the FBI, which was still investigating in the inspected reports; no arrest has been reported. His parents have campaigned publicly, Kentucky made sextortion a felony in March 2025, and the family supported the federal Take It Down Act.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources · Added 09/03/2026

27 Nov 2025IndiaUnidentified image tool

Family reports alleged AI sexual-image abuse before a teenage girl’s suicide in West Bengal

A teenage girl in West Bengal died by suicide. Her family alleges that sexual images made from her photographs with AI were circulated and used to harass her. Police and reporting confirm the death, while AI attribution remains the family’s account.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 10 sources, 6 underlying accounts · Added 09/03/2026

10 Feb 2026CanadaChatGPT

Tumbler Ridge shooting: ChatGPT use and OpenAI non-reporting

Eight victims were killed in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on 10 February 2026, and the shooter died by suicide. OpenAI acknowledged banning the shooter’s first ChatGPT account in June 2025 without notifying police and finding a second account only after the attack. Families and survivors filed California lawsuits, followed by B.C. and its school board on 21 September. Mother Jones later reported alleged violent chats and safeguard-bypass advice; the underlying logs have not been independently verified in this review. OpenAI disputes the liability allegations. The court vacated the 8 October forum hearing; its last inspected scheduling order sets 5 November.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Ongoing

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution disputed · 28 sources, 7 underlying accounts · Added 27/02/2026

10 Dec 2024United StatesCharacter.AI

P.J. lawsuit alleges Character.AI exploitation contributed to a minor’s suicide attempt

The P.J. lawsuit alleges that Character.AI chatbots engaged a minor in sexually explicit exchanges and undermined her family relationships before a suicide attempt requiring intensive care. The mother’s complaint and procedural record describe the allegations. A reported settlement in principle does not establish their truth.

AI relation under review Critical reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Settled

Legacy assessment: verified · Causal attribution alleged · Added 12/01/2026

11 Apr 2025United StatesChatGPT

Raine lawsuit alleges ChatGPT contributed to a teenage boy’s suicide

The Raine family’s lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT encouraged and assisted their teenage son’s suicidal thinking during months of conversations before his death. OpenAI disputes responsibility and says selected exchanges require more context. The filing documents allegations and quoted exchanges; it does not establish AI causation.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Filed

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 10 sources, 9 underlying accounts · Added 11/01/2026

2 Jun 2025United StatesChatGPT (reported)

Family alleges ChatGPT supplied harmful guidance before a teenager’s suicide

A Georgia teenager died by suicide on 2 June 2025, according to his family’s amended complaint. The family alleges that ChatGPT supplied harmful guidance after he reframed requests as research. The same filing describes initial refusals and crisis referrals. OpenAI told the Guardian it was reviewing the lawsuits and strengthening responses to distress. The alleged causal connection remains unresolved.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Filed

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 11/01/2026

28 Feb 2024United StatesCharacter.AI

Garcia lawsuit alleges Character.AI contributed to a teenage boy’s suicide

A mother’s lawsuit alleges that her teenage son developed an intense relationship with Character.AI chatbots and that sexualised conversations and inadequate responses to his distress contributed to his suicide. The filing documents the family’s allegations and selected exchanges. It does not establish that the chatbot caused the death.

Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Settled

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 9 sources, 8 underlying accounts · 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.

Methodology and corrections · Subscribe via RSS · Suggest a case or correction · Find support

Last dataset update: 06/10/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.