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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
18
Countries with reported events
8
Located 16 of 18 cases · 2 unknown
Languages in checked sources
4
Recorded for 18 of 18 cases

1 case has no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 0 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 CriticalHighMedium
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18 of 392 published cases

Mar 2025United StatesUnidentified image tool

Police report juvenile charge over AI sexual images of Council Rock classmates

The Bucks County Courier Times reported that Newtown Township police charged a juvenile after an allegation that he used AI to create sexual images of female classmates. The incident reportedly occurred in March 2025. The source gives an upper estimate of as many as twelve girls and says sharing was unknown; it does not establish a numeric minimum. The specific charges and later juvenile case outcome were not disclosed.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

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

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Iowa students report distress and lack of support after AI sexual images

KCRG reported that Cascade High School students said classmates used AI apps to create sexual images of them. At a district meeting, students described humiliation, fear of being judged and feeling silenced. One said no one at school had offered her counselling. The superintendent said counselling was available and promised policy work. The sheriff said several female students were targets but that the total was unknown. The first image date is not established.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

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

Aug 2025United StatesUnidentified image tool

Louisiana girl reports bullying and school exclusion after AI sexual-image abuse

AP reported that AI-generated sexual images of a 13-year-old girl and other students circulated in Thibodaux in August 2025. Her father described bullying, requests for help, depression and anxiety. After the girl fought a boy she suspected of involvement, the district excluded her from regular school and she spent ten weeks in alternative school. The district said it followed its protocols and disputed the family's one-sided account. District and sheriff statements identified eight girls and two adults as image-abuse targets; AP reported charges against two boys.

Core concern High reported severity

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

Event date unknownAustraliaUnidentified image tool

Sydney schoolgirls reportedly targeted with deepfake images circulated online

ABC News reports that digitally altered sexual images using the faces of girls from a Sydney high school circulated online. Families went to police, who confirmed an investigation, while the school and education department said they were working with police. A follow-up report says the eSafety Commissioner was also in talks with investigators. The school is not identified, and the number of affected students, creation date and later inquiry outcome are unknown.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Students at a US high school reportedly depicted in AI-generated sexual images shared between students

On 2 and 3 April 2026 outlets reported a district letter to families and a police statement about a report that reached high school administrators on 26 February 2026. The report concerned the possible use of AI to generate sexual images that included the likenesses of other students. Police were contacted the same day and described potential transmission between students of lewd material, including AI-generated content depicting the likenesses of juveniles. Families of students thought to be involved, including students whose images were included, were contacted on 26 and 27 February, and the school issued school-based consequences between 26 February and 6 March. The police investigation was active and no charge was reported. One parent told a local outlet that police had obtained a subpoena for Snapchat records, and another said the victims number more than 40 and range from high school to fifth grade. The district and police gave no count, and the creation date, the AI tool and the outcome are not reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

6 Jun 2026SpainUnidentified image tool

Pontevedra province: Guardia Civil locates two men as presumed creator and distributor of AI-generated sexual images of 22 women

In June 2026 women in a municipality of Pontevedra province (Galicia, Spain) reported to the Guardia Civil that AI-generated sexual images of them were circulating, and 18 complaints had been filed by the afternoon of 10 June. An affected woman, quoted in an El Correo Gallego article whose source line is Faro de Vigo, said the images were posted on a WhatsApp status for a full day and that the woman saw them on the afternoon of the Saturday before the 10 June report (6 June by the calendar). On 16 July 2026 the Guardia Civil said it had located two men as presumed responsible for creating and distributing the images, which it counted as showing 22 women in total. The reports name neither man and say a 35-year-old is considered the creator and a 29-year-old is investigated for an offence against moral integrity. The release says the images were made with AI applications from photographs taken from social-media profiles, and the files went to a court of instruction. June reports put the number of women appearing at about thirty, and no charge decision or court outcome is reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 30/09/2026

Event date unknownAustraliaUnidentified image tool

Female students at a Sydney high school reportedly depicted in AI-generated sexual images circulated online

On 9 January 2025 outlets reported that NSW Police had begun an investigation on 6 January after a report that inappropriate images were being produced and distributed online. The Guardian reported the allegation that a student at a Sydney high school used AI platforms to create explicit deepfake images of female students and circulated them through fake social media accounts. The Department of Education said it was helping affected students with wellbeing support and referred the matter to the eSafety Commissioner. The creation date, the AI tool, the number of affected students and the outcome of the investigation are not reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

Event date unknownAustraliaUnidentified image tool

Queensland school teacher charged over alleged AI-generated explicit images of staff and students

ABC reported on 23 and 24 July 2026 that police in Queensland, Australia charged a former secondary school teacher at a school there with child exploitation and computer misuse offences. Police allege the teacher used AI software on a work-issued laptop to generate explicit images depicting staff members and students. Police say a nine-month investigation began in October after they were notified of the material, and the school says it dismissed the teacher in October 2025, notified police and regulators, and that there is no evidence the material was shared. The number of people depicted and the creation date are not stated.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified image tool

County Armagh school pupils reportedly depicted in AI-generated explicit images shared among pupils

BBC News and other outlets reported on 18 and 19 January 2026 that the Police Service of Northern Ireland opened an investigation after a report that AI-generated explicit images were shared among pupils at a County Armagh school. The principal wrote to parents that the school became aware on 8 January, believed it had identified all pupils whose images were manipulated and those allegedly responsible, and put the number targeted in the single figures. The principal described a particularly difficult time for the pupils depicted. The creation date, the AI tool and the outcome of the investigation are not reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownGrok

Doe 1 v. xAI: an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse alleges Grok generated new abuse images of her from her known, hashed abuse series, which she says xAI used as training data

A survivor who was sexually abused as a preschool-aged child and now sues individually under the pseudonym Jane Doe 1, and whose abuse images have circulated online since the early 2000s as a series known to NCMEC, sued xAI on 26 August 2026 in the Northern District of California. Her complaint alleges that those known images were part of the dataset xAI used for Grok and that Grok generated new abuse images depicting her; her lawyers say the Canadian Centre for Child Protection used the series' hash fingerprints to identify AI-generated images of her on X. The complaint says each new image caused her a new injury. It seeks damages under Masha's Law for a proposed class of people whose childhood images Grok altered into abuse material. The complaint does not say when the images of her were made or who prompted them. xAI did not respond to requests for comment, and no court has ruled on the allegations.

Core concern High reported severity Lawsuit Ongoing

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 29/09/2026

Event date unknownAustriaUnidentified image tool

Lower Austria: after a woman posted AI-generated images showing two men on WhatsApp, her on-off partner, who told the court she wanted to make him jealous, drove to her flat carrying three knives and kicked her door so hard that he broke his toes; the Korneuburg regional court granted diversion with a EUR 400 fine

The Kronen Zeitung reported on 7 September 2026 a hearing at the Landesgericht Korneuburg. A woman from Lower Austria had posted on WhatsApp AI-generated images showing two men, and the 46-year-old German man with whom she had an on-off relationship took it badly. On 12 May, according to the report, he went to her flat carrying three knives (a utility knife, a pocket knife and a kitchen knife), rang, knocked and tried to call her, then tried to kick in the front door with such force that he broke his toes. He told the court she had wanted to make him jealous, that he was drunk, and that he had brought the knives to defend himself against the two male visitors. The woman eventually opened the door herself; there was no violence or threat, and there were no men. Prosecutors treated it as attempted trespass. Because he promised to continue alcohol therapy, the court granted diversion: the case will be dropped if he pays a EUR 400 fine within six months.

AI relation unknown Low reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 29/09/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified image tool

Qingdao, China: online posts allege a Qingdao University graduate student used AI to generate and circulate nude images of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend; police say the woman reported and a criminal investigation has been opened, and the posts' claim that the student was detained is unconfirmed

Modern Express reported on 24 September 2026 that online posts accused a female graduate student at Qingdao University of using AI, over a relationship dispute, to generate nude images of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend and circulate them, and said the student had been criminally detained. A staff member at the Shibei branch of the Qingdao Public Security Bureau told the paper that the victim had reported the matter, that the case met the conditions for filing and that an investigation had been opened, declining to give details. A staff member of the university's Art College said the college had received a report and that the student had graduated in June. The victim told the reporter she was cooperating with the police and awaiting the result. The AI generation, the circulation and the detention are stated only in the online posts; police confirmed only that a case was opened. All accounts derive from the single Modern Express report, read through relays.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 28/09/2026

19 Jun 2026GermanyUnidentified image tool

Berlin-Weißensee: two pupils of the Heinz-Brandt-Schule are suspected of creating and distributing AI-generated sexualised nude images of female classmates in at least three cases; the school suspended them and sanctioned pupils who are said to have known and not reported, and the police's sexual-offences unit investigates with liability under section 184c StGB (youth pornography) under consideration

On 'the previous Friday' (19 June 2026, read relative to the 24 June 2026 report) the leadership of the Heinz-Brandt-Schule in Berlin-Weißensee (Pankow district) learned that two of its pupils were suspected of having created and distributed AI-generated sexualised nude images of female classmates; the school wrote to parents that it was 'shocked and appalled' that classmates' photographs had been abused in this way and described the alleged acts as a massive attack on the personality rights of the affected girls and a form of sexualised violence. The two pupils alleged to be mainly responsible were suspended from lessons with immediate effect, and the school imposed measures on pupils who are said to have known about the images without reporting them. The Senate Department for Education confirmed the incidents and the ongoing investigation in the Tagesspiegel's report of 24 June 2026. The school's letter says the investigation is conducted on behalf of the public prosecutor. A Berlin police spokesman said complaints had been filed over the creation of so-called deepfakes, that the investigation had been taken over by the State Criminal Police Office unit responsible for sexual offences against minors, and that criminal liability for possessing, obtaining, creating or distributing youth pornography under section 184c of the Criminal Code was under consideration; the police gave no further details, citing victim protection. At least three cases are alleged. The school said it would revise its prevention and sex-education concepts and asked parents to talk to their children about handling other people's photographs and AI applications. Nobody is named; the number of girls depicted is not reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 22/09/2026

17 Sept 2026United StatesUnidentified image tool

Henderson, Kentucky: police identified AI-generated nude images of two middle-school children on a device after a report that such images were being created and shown to other students at South Middle School; a juvenile was lodged at the juvenile detention centre on charges of distributing sexually explicit images without consent and possessing and distributing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor

Henderson Police said that on 'last Thursday' (17 September 2026) they received a report that AI-generated nude images of children were being created and shown to other students at South Middle School in Henderson, Kentucky. During the investigation officers found and identified AI-generated photographs of two minor victims on a digital device. A juvenile accused of sharing the images was lodged at the Juvenile Detention Center on three charge types: distribution of sexually explicit images without consent; two counts of possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over 12 and under 18; and distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over 12 and under 18. The school said on Monday 21 September that it was aware of a situation involving a student allegedly misusing artificial intelligence and inappropriate images, that the police investigation was active and that it had remained in communication with the families involved. 14 News (WFIE) reported the case on 21 September; WKYT carried the same report. The tool is not named. The depicted children's exact ages are not reported, though the charge descriptors put them between 12 and 18. The accused is described as a South Middle School student; the accused's age and any relationship to the depicted children beyond attending the same school are not reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/09/2026

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

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified image tool

Delhi: a 22-year-old engineering graduate was arrested for turning a college acquaintance's private social-media photographs into AI-generated obscene images uploaded to anonymous Discord servers, and for reposting more explicit AI-generated images and videos that other users made; the complainant also reported threatening messages from anonymous accounts

Delhi Police announced on Wednesday 9 September 2026 the arrest of a 22-year-old BTech graduate from East Punjabi Bagh after a 22-year-old woman complained to the Cyber Police Station in North Delhi that unknown persons had created and circulated AI-generated obscene photographs and videos using her facial images. She had received messages from anonymous Instagram accounts telling her that morphed photographs and videos of her were being circulated on Discord servers; she also alleged that fake Instagram accounts were posting the material and that threatening messages were being sent to her to humiliate and harass her. Police traced linked Instagram, Discord and Gmail accounts to the accused, who they say obtained her photographs from her private account, used AI image-generation and editing tools to create the images, uploaded them to anonymous Discord servers and later reposted more explicit AI-generated images and videos made by other users. Police say he told them he knew her from college and had developed personal resentment after repeated insults. A mobile phone and two SIM cards were recovered; investigation continues. The period over which the material circulated is not stated.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 20/09/2026

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

Feb 2025Hong Kong SAR ChinaUnidentified image tool

University of Hong Kong: a law student made about 700 indecent AI-generated images of some 20 to 30 classmates and teachers; the privacy watchdog opened then closed a criminal probe

In February 2025 a University of Hong Kong (HKU) law student was found, by friends who saw the files on his laptop, to have used free online AI software to make about 700 indecent and deepfake images of some 20 to 30 women, including university and former schoolmates and secondary-school teachers, using photos taken from their social media. Victims went public in July 2025, and HKU's initial response, a warning letter and a demand that he apologise, drew wide criticism. Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner opened a criminal investigation on 15 July 2025 but announced on 17 December 2025 that it was ending the probe for insufficient evidence, as no victim was willing to provide further information. Hong Kong law criminalised distribution, not creation, of such images.

Core concern High reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 5 sources · Added 29/01/2026

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: 30/09/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.