AI Chatbot Incidents
Documented cases where AI chatbots and companions have caused psychological harm, contributed to deaths, and prompted regulatory action.
90 incidents since 2016
23
Deaths
22
Lawsuits
17
Regulatory
35
Affecting Minors
Timeline
4 of 90 incidents
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.
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.
FTC AI Companion Chatbot Inquiry
The Federal Trade Commission issued Section 6(b) orders to seven major AI companies investigating AI chatbots' impacts on children and teens, focusing on monetization practices, safety testing, age restrictions, and data handling.
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.
Have documentation of an incident we should include? Contact us.
These harms are preventable.
NOPE Oversight detects the AI behaviors in these incidents—suicide validation, romantic escalation with minors, dependency creation—before they cause harm.