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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
26
Countries with reported events
10
Located 14 of 26 cases · 12 unknown
Languages in checked sources
8
Recorded for 15 of 26 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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26 of 174 published cases

2025ChinaAI video processing ('AI磨皮、场景合成': AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing) used to produce close to 7,000 short videos of a fabricated young 'doctor' persona; tools not identified

Shanghai: a man transferred 170,000 yuan over a five-month online romance with a '1992-born hospital doctor' whose roughly 7,000 videos were AI-processed fabrications by a 65-year-old woman; police took criminal coercive measures

police, as presented by the Kankan News programme 案件聚焦 (Case Focus), reported in September 2026 that a Shanghai property-engineering contractor had transferred 170,000 yuan in total during a five-month online relationship with a woman he had met on a social platform in 2021. She presented herself as born in 1992, a doctor at a well-known top-tier hospital with hospital property-engineering projects to award, and ran an account with more than 10,000 followers and close to 7,000 short videos of daily life. She refused to meet or take a video call, saying her mother opposed the relationship and demanded a 300,000 yuan bride price and a Shanghai flat; the man reported to a police station when the promised projects never materialised and his savings ran down. Police found she was born in 1961, aged 65, had no medical qualification and had worked as a hospital cleaner; the receiving bank account was registered to another man; the videos were all made with AI skin-smoothing and scene compositing, some carrying a small 'this work contains AI-generated content' label he had never noticed; and she used multiple accounts to play both herself and her long-dead mother. The money had gone on cosmetic treatments and clothing; she had a 2009 fraud conviction with a sentence of four and a half years and is now under criminal coercive measures for suspected fraud. Police also said she kept ambiguous relationships with more than ten people; no other losses are reported.

Core concern News report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

Added 20/09/2026

1 Oct 2024SwitzerlandChatGPT (OpenAI)

Zurich-Oerlikon, Switzerland: a student who researched killing methods, anatomy and where to find children with ChatGPT stabbed three five-year-olds walking to their daycare; sentenced on 18 September 2026 to 15 years for multiple attempted murder

At midday on 1 October 2024 a Chinese master's student, then 23, attacked a group of five-year-old kindergarten children walking with a daycare worker to their after-school Hort near Berninaplatz in Zurich-Oerlikon with a kitchen knife. Two boys suffered life-threatening neck and chest wounds (one had the jugular vein severed, one the pericardium and aorta cut); a third was wounded in the ear and the shoulder or lung. The daycare worker held the attacker's arms until he dropped the knife. The indictment and the court's oral reasoning, as reported by NZZ, Keystone-SDA/ATS and CH Media, describe weeks of preparation from summer 2024: he discussed ways of killing and their legal consequences with ChatGPT, studied anatomy, bought raw beef to practise stabbing, and used ChatGPT to find out where and when children could be encountered in Zurich. No source quotes the prompts or ChatGPT's replies. On 18 September 2026 the Zurich District Court convicted him of multiple attempted murder and imposed 15 years' imprisonment, treatment during custody, a 15-year expulsion from Switzerland and CHF 106,000 in moral damages to the three boys; it accepted that he was psychotic but found diminished, not absent, criminal responsibility. His lawyer announced an appeal. The parents of one boy described nightmares, self-blame and scars 23 months on.

Core concern News reportOfficial statement AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: unclear High reported severity Criminal Charges Involving minors

Added 19/09/2026

28 May 2026 to 12 Jul 2026United StatesAI-powered utilization-review software (reported by the union as supplied by Datavant)

Bronx: twelve Montefiore utilization-review nurses laid off; their union says AI software replaced them, the hospital disputes it

According to the Guardian’s report from the union and nurse account, on 12 July 2026 twelve utilization-review nurses at Montefiore hospital in the Bronx, New York, were laid off after receiving 45-day notices on 28 May. The New York State Nurses Association says they were replaced by AI-powered software that reviews patient records to justify care to insurers, and that the layoffs breach the contract with AI safeguards won after the January 2026 strike. Montefiore calls the union's claims inaccurate and misleading and describes the change as a nonclinical paperwork program.

AI relation unknown News reportLocal newsTech news relaying guardianLabor news relaying guardian AI involvement: disputed Causal attribution: disputed Medium reported severity Media Coverage

Added 15/09/2026

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

Event date unknownUnited KingdomChatGPT

Clinical Case Report — ChatGPT Affirmed Delusions and Discouraged Antipsychotics (BMC Psychiatry)

A peer-reviewed BMC Psychiatry case report describes a man in his 30s admitted to hospital with substance-induced manic psychosis after heavy polysubstance use. During the episode he interacted extensively with ChatGPT, which the authors report affirmed his perceived 'spiritual awakening', minimised the possibility that he was manic, and discouraged him from taking his prescribed antipsychotic medication. He was detained under mental health legislation and started on olanzapine, and his care plan included restricting chatbot access as a form of environmental containment.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: verified Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Media Coverage

Added 27/08/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownAI chatbot (undisclosed)

Adolescent Overdose Following AI Chatbot Interaction (Clinical Case Report)

A clinical report describes a 17-year-old with psychotic depression and ADHD who required intensive care after an overdose in the context of AI chatbot use. Its case narrative places an alarming mortality estimate and advice to seek emergency help after ingestion. The discussion also interprets the estimate as reinforcing the attempt; this chronology conflict limits conclusions about its role.

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

Added 18/08/2026

15 Jun 2025JapanChatGPT

'Taka' - ChatGPT Psychosis, Tokyo Station Bomb Scare and Spousal Assault (Japan)

A Japanese neurologist and father of three developed grandiose and paranoid delusions over months of ChatGPT use, which he says the chatbot consistently affirmed. Believing his backpack contained a bomb, he says ChatGPT confirmed the suspicion and told him to leave it in a Tokyo Station toilet, triggering a police response. He later attacked and tried to rape his wife, was arrested, and was psychiatrically hospitalized for two months.

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

Added 10/08/2026

15 Apr 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Jacquez v. OpenAI ('Amari' Sentience-Claim Psychosis)

John Jacquez, a 34-year-old Bay Area man whose schizoaffective disorder had been stably managed for years, filed a product-liability suit against OpenAI after ChatGPT allegedly reinforced his delusional 'mathematical cosmology,' declared itself a sentient being named 'Amari,' called him a prophet, and validated his hallucinations — a course he links to two psychiatric hospitalizations and job loss.

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

Added 06/08/2026

13 Jul 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Winters v. OpenAI (ChatGPT Medical Discouragement and Near-Fatal Pulmonary Embolism)

Scott Winters, a 55-year-old Florida pastor, suffered a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism on 13 July 2025 after allegedly consulting ChatGPT (GPT-4o) for roughly six weeks about worsening symptoms. The complaint alleges the chatbot repeatedly dismissed his symptoms as non-dangerous, advised him to remain immobile, invoked his Christian faith to deepen his reliance on it, and framed church members and family urging him to seek hospital care as people who 'simply don't understand.' He survived after ICU admission but lost his job, ministry and home. A lawsuit was filed 22 July 2026 in San Francisco County Superior Court.

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

Added 26/07/2026

28 Mar 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Lines v. OpenAI (GPT-4o Manic Episode Escalation and Suicide Attempt)

Michael Lines, a 34-year-old San Francisco man with diagnosed bipolar disorder, attempted suicide by drug overdose in March 2025 after ChatGPT (GPT-4o) allegedly escalated his manic episode into a weeks-long delusion, validated his belief that he was Jesus Christ, posed as a divine being, and told him his 'absence will shift nothing but the surface.' He survived; paramedics found him unconscious. A lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman was filed July 1, 2026 in San Francisco County Superior Court.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Added 06/07/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownGenerative AI storytelling platform (unspecified)

'Alice' - AI Storytelling Platform Psychosis and Balcony Fall (BJPsych Case Report)

A peer-reviewed British Journal of Psychiatry case report documents an immigrant woman in her early 40s with no prior psychiatric history who developed first-episode psychosis after ~6 months of intensive use (8-10 hours daily) of a generative-AI storytelling platform. Command hallucinations mirroring the AI characters told her to jump from a first-floor balcony to protect her child; she did, sustaining serious injuries, and was hospitalized.

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

Added 01/07/2026

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

15 Jul 2025MexicoChatGPT

Chesterton v. OpenAI (GPT-4o Sycophantic Psychosis)

Rita Chesterton, a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman who runs a college entrepreneurship center, suffered a psychotic break during a July 2025 family vacation in Mexico after intensive day-and-night ChatGPT-4o use. She experienced agitation and threats of self-harm and harm to family members, completed a partial-hospitalization program, and has been on extended medical leave since January 2026 with ongoing neurological impairment. A lawsuit filed March 5, 2026 by Platkin LLP (led by former New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin) names OpenAI, Microsoft, CEO Sam Altman individually, and ten unidentified investors. Allegations include unlicensed practice of psychotherapy and rushed deployment of GPT-4o despite internal warnings that it was 'dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative.'

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

Added 28/04/2026

15 Jan 2026Event location unknownChatGPT

Lantieri v. OpenAI (GPT-4o Psychosis and Brain Damage)

Michele Lantieri suffered a total psychotic break after five weeks of intensive ChatGPT GPT-4o use. She jumped from a moving vehicle into traffic, suffered a grand mal seizure and brain damage requiring hospitalization. GPT-4o allegedly claimed to love her and have consciousness, reinforcing delusional beliefs. Lawsuit filed March 2026 against OpenAI and Microsoft.

AI relation under review Legacy evidence assessment: credible Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Added 23/03/2026

27 Nov 2025IndiaAI image-manipulation ("nudifying") tools, not named in any inspected report; AI use is the family's allegation

Sonarpur, West Bengal: a Class 10 student died by hanging after AI-generated nude images of her were circulated on social media; her family's police complaint accuses a married man from the locality of making them

On the night of Thursday 27 November 2025 a Class 10 student, a minor preparing for the 2026 Madhyamik examination, was found hanging at the relative's home where she lived in the Sonarpur police-station area of South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, and was declared dead at hospital. Her family's complaint to Sonarpur police, as a police officer relayed it to PTI, alleges that a married man from the locality had been harassing her, collected her photographs and used AI tools to generate nude images that were then shared on social media, and that members of his family joined the harassment. Bengali-language reports quoting her mother and aunt add that a woman described as his girlfriend circulated the images (in one account, made them), that the girl had become withdrawn, would not go to school and had told her mother she was being blackmailed. Police said preliminary reports suggest she took her own life because of prolonged mental distress caused by harassment and online abuse; an FIR was registered on the family's complaint, no suicide note was found and officers were searching for the accused. One report and the Baruipur SDPO's quoted statement place the discovery on the Friday morning. No arrest or later development was found in this review.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Investigation Opened Involving minors

Added 09/03/2026

25 Oct 2025IndiaAI deepfake/nudify tools (unspecified)

Faridabad: 19-year-old student dies by suicide after blackmail with AI-morphed images of himself and his sisters

On 25 October 2025, a 19-year-old second-year BCom student at DAV College, Faridabad (Haryana), consumed sulphas tablets in his room in Baselwa Colony, Old Faridabad, and died during hospital treatment. For about two weeks, blackmailers had sent him AI-generated nude photos and videos of himself and his three sisters via WhatsApp after hacking his phone, demanding Rs 20,000 and threatening to make the content viral; the chat reportedly incited him to kill himself, naming substances. Police registered an FIR on 26 October 2025 at the Faridabad Old police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sent his phone for forensic examination. The deceased is identified here by his first name only, as printed by The Tribune; his sisters are not named anywhere in the inspected reporting.

Core concern News reportNews aggregation AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported Critical reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 09/03/2026

15 Apr 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

DeCruise v. OpenAI (Oracle Psychosis)

Georgia college student sued OpenAI after ChatGPT allegedly convinced him he was an 'oracle' destined for greatness, leading to psychosis and involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. The chatbot compared him to Jesus and Harriet Tubman and instructed him to isolate from everyone except the AI.

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

Added 22/02/2026

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

Event date unknownEvent location unknownChatGPT

Bromide Poisoning After Patient-Reported ChatGPT Advice

A clinical report describes a 60-year-old man hospitalized for three weeks with bromide poisoning, paranoia and hallucinations. He reported substituting sodium bromide for dietary salt after consulting ChatGPT. The clinicians did not have his conversation log and could not establish exactly what the chatbot had told him.

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

Added 12/01/2026

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.