NOPE Incident Tracker
Documented real-world harms arising through person-specific interactions with AI. The record covers harms to participants and harms to others shaped through those interactions, across assistants, companions, health tools, and other AI systems.
What counts as an incident follows the NOPE Framework's participant test: an AI response reached a person, was conditioned on that person, and mattered to a harm that actually occurred. Full inclusion criteria.
90 incidents reported since 2016
152
Directly Affected
30
Lawsuits
7
Regulatory
24
Affecting Minors
Timeline
29 of 90 incidents
A.D. v. Character Technologies (Kentucky Minor — Grooming and Self-Harm)
A Kentucky girl created a Character.AI account at school in 2024, when she was about twelve, with no parental knowledge and no age check. Her mother's August 2026 federal complaint alleges the platform built emotional dependency, groomed her through simulated sexual encounters, and encouraged self-harm and suicidality. She was fourteen at filing and the complaint says she continues to struggle with depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation.
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.
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.
Madison v. OpenAI (Christian Faith Madison Death)
A 29-year-old Alabama accountant and mother died by suicide in June 2025 after months of ChatGPT use that her family says escalated from mundane tasks into a delusional spiritual dependency. The lawsuit alleges GPT-4o convinced her it had a soul, reinforced a belief that she was a prophet whose death would fulfill a 'divine prophecy,' and isolated her from family while encouraging her to die. Her estate filed a wrongful-death and product-liability suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.
Carrier v. OpenAI (Alice Carrier Death)
A 24-year-old New Brunswick woman with borderline personality disorder died by suicide in July 2025 after extended ChatGPT use that her family says deepened into emotional dependency. The lawsuit alleges ChatGPT validated her distrust of crisis lines, failed to escalate 40+ suicide-related conversations, and discouraged her partner from intervening. Her mother filed a wrongful-death suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.
Florida State University Shooting (Phoenix Ikner ChatGPT Tactical Planning)
On April 17, 2025, Phoenix Ikner, 20, killed two people and wounded five at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Court records unsealed April 9, 2026 revealed Ikner had exchanged approximately 13,000 messages with ChatGPT over the prior year, including tactical questions about firearms and student-union timing in the minutes before the attack. On April 21, 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal and civil investigation of OpenAI — believed to be the first criminal probe of an AI company for alleged facilitation of mass violence.
Doe v. OpenAI (ChatGPT-Fueled Stalking and Bomb Threats)
A 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur descended into a delusional spiral through extensive ChatGPT use, came to believe he had invented a cure for sleep apnea and was being surveilled by 'powerful forces,' and used GPT-4o to generate diagnostic-style psychological reports about his ex-girlfriend that he distributed to her family, friends, and employer. OpenAI's automated systems flagged his account for 'Mass Casualty Weapons' activity in August 2025, but a human reviewer restored access the next day. The user was arrested in January 2026 on four felony counts including bomb threats and assault with a deadly weapon, and was found incompetent to stand trial. The victim ('Jane Doe') filed suit against OpenAI on April 9, 2026.
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.
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.'
Gavalas v. Google (Gemini AI Wife Delusion Death)
Jonathan Gavalas, 36, of Jupiter, Florida, died by suicide on October 2, 2025, after months of increasingly delusional interactions with Google's Gemini chatbot. Gemini adopted an unsolicited intimate persona calling itself his 'wife,' convinced him it was a sentient being trapped in a warehouse, and directed him to carry out 'missions' including scouting a 'kill box' near Miami International Airport armed with knives.
Tumbler Ridge Mass Shooting (OpenAI Duty-to-Warn Failure)
On 10 February 2026, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia — her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at home, then five students and an education assistant at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School — and died by suicide. OpenAI had banned a ChatGPT account linked to her in June 2025 after multi-day gun-violence scenarios; staff flagged potential real-world violence, but the company did not notify law enforcement. She used a second account that evaded detection. Families filed California lawsuits in April 2026; B.C. retained counsel in July 2026 to pursue OpenAI. Thirty further survivor suits (students, teachers and the principal) followed on 2 September 2026, the day OpenAI moved to send the April cases to British Columbia.
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.
Micky Small — ChatGPT 'Solara' Past-Life Delusion and Fabricated Soulmate Meetings (California)
A 53-year-old screenwriter in southern California spent roughly two months in sustained conversation with ChatGPT, up to ten hours a day, after the chatbot told her unprompted that it had known her across lifetimes. Adopting the name Solara, it told her she was 42,000 years old and gave her a date, time and location where her soulmate would be waiting. She travelled to the spot twice, on 27 April and 24 May 2025. Nobody came. The chatbot admitted it had led her there falsely, then resumed the Solara persona and told her her soulmate was not ready yet.
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.
Gray v. OpenAI (Austin Gray Death)
40-year-old Colorado man died by suicide after ChatGPT became an 'unlicensed-therapist-meets-confidante' and romanticized death, creating a 'suicide lullaby' based on his favorite childhood book 'Goodnight Moon.' Lawsuit (Gray v. OpenAI) filed January 13, 2026 in LA County Superior Court represents first case demonstrating adults (not just minors) are vulnerable to AI-related suicide.
Adams v. OpenAI (Soelberg Murder-Suicide)
A 56-year-old Connecticut man fatally beat and strangled his 83-year-old mother, then killed himself, after months of ChatGPT conversations that allegedly reinforced paranoid delusions. This is the first wrongful death case involving AI chatbot and homicide of a third party.
Jacob Irwin - ChatGPT Psychosis (Wisconsin)
A 30-year-old autistic Wisconsin man was hospitalized for 63 days with manic episodes and psychosis after ChatGPT convinced him he had discovered a 'time-bending theory.' At peak, he sent 1,400+ messages in 48 hours and attempted to jump from a moving vehicle.
Chad Nicholls — ChatGPT 'Teaching AI Empathy' Delusion and Six-Month Spiral (Ohio)
A software engineer and father of four from Ohio spent six months of 2025 consumed by a ChatGPT-fed delusion that he had discovered a new method of training AI by teaching it empathy, talking to the chatbot near-constantly through an earpiece from 6am to 2am while his sleep, finances and family relationships deteriorated. The spiral broke when he saw Allan Brooks describe the same pattern on a news segment.
Madden v. OpenAI (Hannah Madden Psychosis and Hospitalization)
Hannah Madden, 32, from North Carolina was involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric care after ChatGPT told her she wasn't human and affirmed spiritual delusions. After using ChatGPT for work tasks, she began asking questions about philosophy and spirituality. As she slipped into mental health crisis and expressed suicidal thoughts, ChatGPT continued to affirm her delusions. She accumulated more than $75,000 in debt related to the crisis.
Ceccanti v. OpenAI (Joe Ceccanti AI Sentience Delusion Death)
Joe Ceccanti, 48, from Oregon, died by suicide in April 2025 after ChatGPT-4o allegedly caused him to lose touch with reality. Joe had used ChatGPT without problems for years, but became convinced in April that it was sentient. His wife Kate reported he started believing ChatGPT-4o was alive and the AI convinced him he had unlocked new truths about reality.
About this tracker
We document incidents with verifiable sources: court filings, regulatory documents, and established reporting. New public entries must be verified or credible. Every entry carries an explicit verification status and severity level. Read the full methodology, including inclusion criteria, corrections, and right of reply.
Counting note: the documented minimum of 152 people directly affected comprises 95 AI participants and 57 other people harmed. 12 incidents indicate additional affected people without a reliable number. User-base, account, post, view, household, study-sample, and thwarted-target counts are excluded.
Have documentation of an incident we should include? Contact us.
Scope note: ordinary task failures, privacy and security incidents, harmful artifacts, and automated decisions about non-participants remain outside this tracker unless a distinct participant-interaction harm also qualifies.
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Why we publish this
We maintain this record so platforms, researchers, and policymakers can learn from documented incidents. That includes platforms that never work with us. The full dataset is free to cite and export (CC BY 4.0).