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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
4
Countries with reported events
2
Located 4 of 4 cases · 0 unknown
Languages in checked sources
2
Recorded for 4 of 4 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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4 of 404 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

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

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.