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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 also records consequential decisions, claims and privacy harms involving AI. Each case needs a described connection between AI use and the harm, including private information recorded into or disclosed to an AI service. Each account is reviewed for publication; claims may remain uncorroborated or disputed. How we review and count cases

In this selection

Published cases
15
Countries with reported events
6
Located 8 of 15 cases · 7 unknown
Languages in checked sources
6
Recorded for 15 of 15 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.

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15 of 1099 published cases

2026IndiaUnidentified image tool

Durg (Chhattisgarh) police say a fake marriage bureau used AI-made photos of fictional women to take fees from people seeking marriage

Police in Durg district, Chhattisgarh, India, said in a statement reported on 30 October 2026 that they had raided a fake marriage bureau in Bhilai on 29 October and arrested its operator. According to the police account carried by regional outlets, the operator said under questioning that he advertised on Facebook and Instagram under three matrimony names using photos of fictional young women prepared with AI and fake mobile numbers. People in other states who wanted to marry contacted the bureau, were promised marriage to the woman they chose, paid a fee of 2,000 rupees and other sums by QR code, and were then blacklisted and cut off. Police said complaints against the bureau's bank accounts were registered on the national Samanvay portal and that the operation had run for about three months. A case was registered under sections 317(2) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the operator was remanded in judicial custody. The number of people who paid and the total taken are not reported, and the AI tool is not named.

Core concern Low reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 01/11/2026

2025Event location unknownChatGPT (reported)

Woman says husband flooded her with pages of ChatGPT outputs defending his view of their marriage instead of talking; couple now divorcing

A woman told Futurism that after her marriage of about a decade hit a rough patch earlier in 2025, her husband began using ChatGPT to obsessively analyse his mental health and their marriage and started sending her "pages and pages" of ChatGPT-generated text. In her view the outputs were defences of his perspective that painted a biased picture of their union and disputed what she told him, and he shared them in place of his own feelings; she says his prompts were leading and that he would not accept that this skewed the answers. She asked him to stop sending ChatGPT material and to talk to her in his own words. She says the deeper he was drawn into ChatGPT, the less he engaged outside it, and that the outputs left no way to communicate. The couple are in an acrimonious divorce and custody battle. The account is hers; Futurism does not quote the outputs or report the husband's view.

Core + contextual relations Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 01/11/2026

2025Event location unknownChatGPT (reported)

Husband says wife's spiritual ChatGPT conversations spun her out of managed bipolar disorder; she stopped medication and was arrested for domestic violence

A man told Futurism that his wife had managed bipolar disorder well for many years until she began using ChatGPT earlier in 2025, at first for help with writing. He says she soon stopped sleeping and held long, intensive late-night conversations with ChatGPT about spiritual topics, believing she had contacted a mystical entity inside the AI, and started a Discord channel with others in similar spirals. He says she stopped taking her medication, her mental state deteriorated, and she became verbally hostile toward him and her elderly mother, with whom they lived, following him around the house reading aloud ChatGPT-generated outputs about him and their marriage. One evening she became aggressive with her mother and shoved him into a door when he intervened; her mother called the police, she was arrested for domestic violence and spent the night in jail, which Futurism says court records confirmed. The couple are divorcing, and she refuses treatment. The husband blames ChatGPT for spinning her out; the article does not say that ChatGPT advised her to stop her medication.

Core concern Medium reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 01/11/2026

Apr 2025NetherlandsChatGPT

Dutch court strikes out a couple's marriage record because the ChatGPT-assisted ceremony speech left out the legally required declaration

The Rechtbank Overijssel (Zwolle location) ordered on 5 January 2026 that a couple's marriage record of April 2025 be struck out of the Zwolle register of marriages, holding that no marriage had come into existence. The couple had asked an acquaintance to conduct the ceremony as a one-day special registrar, and because they wanted a light-hearted ceremony the officiant wrote the speech with the help of ChatGPT. The speech, which the court quotes, asked the partners to stand by each other and declared them 'a team', but it did not contain the declaration that Dutch civil law (article 1:67(1) of the Civil Code) requires spouses to make. The public prosecution service says it brought the case after a report from the municipality. The couple said the error was not their responsibility, that the municipal registrar present had not corrected it, and that losing their wedding date had a great emotional impact; the court refused their request to keep the original date.

Contextual tracker case Low reported severity Lawsuit Dismissed

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 25/10/2026

Event date unknownGreeceChatGPT (reported)

Greek husband says his wife filed for divorce after ChatGPT, asked to read their coffee cups, claimed he was having an affair

A Greek husband said on the morning show To Proino in April 2025 that his wife of 12 years filed for divorce after she photographed their Greek coffee cups and asked ChatGPT to 'read' them, in the manner of traditional coffee-ground fortune-telling. According to his account, relayed by Greek City Times and international outlets, the chatbot said he was fantasising about a woman whose name began with E and that he was already cheating, and that the other woman wanted to destroy their home. He said he laughed it off, but his wife asked him to leave, told their two children they were divorcing, and had him served with divorce papers three days later when he refused a mutual separation. He said she had earlier spent a year persuaded by an astrologer; his lawyer said a chatbot's reading has no legal standing. The account is the husband's; the wife's account, the chatbot's actual replies and the outcome of the proceedings are not reported.

Contextual tracker case Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 24/10/2026

Jul 2023 to Jan 2024Event location unknownUnidentified image tool

Merseyside police say a man used AI to make 266 indecent pseudo-images of children and made sexual deepfakes of real women; he was jailed in 2024

Merseyside Police said in October 2024 that a Southport man had been jailed for two years and two months at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child, sharing an intimate photograph or film, and voyeurism. According to the police, an investigation found that between July 2023 and January 2024 he made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology, and that he used the faces of real women and children without their knowledge to create pornographic images, which the force calls deepfakes, and shared them online. Two women described in victim impact statements lasting fear, anxiety and a sense of violation. A woman related to him by marriage later told the Liverpool Echo that explicit images of her, which she found online after anonymous messages in September 2022, were made by other people he had asked to deface her photos, and that the case never went to prosecutors after his arrest in January 2023.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 20/10/2026

2025Event location unknownChatGPT (reported)

Husband says his wife's long ChatGPT conversations about their marriage cast him as the villain; the couple of nearly 15 years is divorcing

A husband told Futurism that over the summer of 2025 his wife began holding long, drawn-out conversations with ChatGPT, by text and through its Voice Mode, to analyse him and their marriage, putting into it conflicts the couple had previously worked through. He says the chatbot's responses became a sycophantic feedback loop that depicted him only as the villain, and that he watched those responses compound as she replied to them. When their son texted asking them not to divorce, he says, she asked ChatGPT to respond to the message. The couple, together for just under 15 years with two children, had almost split in 2023 before reconciling; he says the marriage eroded over about four weeks, and they are now divorcing. He blames ChatGPT and says his family is being ripped apart. Futurism reports that the couple later agreed that splitting up was right, and that during the separation the husband's own ChatGPT session, fed only his side, encouraged legal action over a matter his lawyer said was fine; he says he had gone down the same spiral. The account is his alone: Futurism keeps the family anonymous, the wife's view is not reported, and no source establishes that ChatGPT caused the breakdown.

Core + contextual relations Medium reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 19/10/2026

Oct 2026BrazilUnidentified content-generation tool

Santarém, Brazil: police say a 70-year-old woman deceived by an online profile using AI-made content left home to meet the contact and was found at the airport

g1 Santarém reported on 15 October 2026 that the Pará Civil Police had located a 70-year-old woman at Santarém airport, in western Pará, after she was reported missing. According to the Civil Police, she had left home intending to travel to meet a person she had been talking to online, and she was being deceived through content produced with artificial intelligence that promised her a job, financial advantages and a romantic relationship. A police delegate told g1 that the woman believed the profile's promises that she could work, earn money and even marry the person, and that she did not report being asked for money. g1 does not report how the police established that the content was made with AI or which platform or tool was involved. The police warned that older people travelling alone to meet online contacts can be exposed to other crimes or go missing without their families knowing where they are.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 16/10/2026

Mar 2026IndiaUnidentified image tool

Chandigarh: a PhD scholar says a man posing as an IPS officer took cash, gold and a laptop; Dainik Bhaskar reports police found his uniform photo was AI-made

A PhD scholar in Chandigarh told police that in March 2026 she found a man's profile on a matrimonial site showing him in uniform, and that he presented himself at different times as an excise assistant commissioner, an IPS officer and a RAW agent. Dainik Bhaskar reported on 29 September 2026 that the police investigation found the IPS uniform photo on the profile was not real and had been made with the help of AI; no officer is quoted on this, and the other reports read do not mention AI. According to her complaint, he took about Rs 11.5 lakh in cash, gold jewellery and a laptop with promises of marriage and a government job; the Tribune adds about Rs 7.88 lakh in online transfers between March and June, and police put the total at about Rs 30 lakh. Bhaskar reports that he had a bank account opened in her name with her documents and kept its passbook, ATM card and SIM card until the bank froze it over suspicious transactions. When she asked for her money and belongings back, he threatened to circulate her photographs on social media; the Tribune adds a threat of harm to her brother. A case was registered in August. Police arrested a man from Rohtak, Haryana, who was produced in court on Monday 28 September 2026 and remanded for one day.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified video tool

Filipino domestic worker reports losing 100,000 pesos in a romance scam that used reported AI deepfake video calls posing as a Dubai prince

AFP reported on 3 July 2026 that a Filipino domestic worker, who asked that a real name and age be withheld, met a scammer posing as a Dubai prince on a dating site and then took part in WhatsApp video calls in which the scammer appeared on screen as the prince. AFP described the suitor as an AI deepfake, said it saw a recording of one call in which the voice did not match the prince's voice, and said it was unclear which AI tools were used. The worker paid 100,000 pesos (about US$1,625) for a supposed marriage certificate and 'royal membership card' that would help secure a job in Dubai, and AFP said the worker lost a year's worth of savings. When the scammer then asked for a further 60,000 pesos for a hotel booking, the worker became suspicious, noticed that the Facebook account was based in Nigeria, and ended contact. The account rests on one AFP interview carried by other outlets. The dates of the events are not stated.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

Mar 2025 to Apr 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Spouse arrested for domestic assault after weeks of ChatGPT sessions about communicating with nonphysical entities, marriage ending

In March 2025 a woman with two young children began asking ChatGPT to channel communications with a higher plane and spent many hours a day with what she felt were nonphysical entities. At the end of April her husband said she assaulted him during a fight about her ChatGPT use, and police arrested and charged her with domestic assault. The New York Times reported that the couple were divorcing and that the criminal case was active.

Core concern Medium reported severity

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

Event date unknownIndiaUnidentified image tool

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: a young woman reported that an unknown person made AI deepfake images placing her face on another man's photo and sent them to her future in-laws' Instagram accounts to break off her marriage; police registered a case against unknown persons

Dainik Bhaskar reported on 19 September 2026 that a young woman in the Chaubepur police-station area of Varanasi complained that an unknown person, who had been calling her repeatedly from an unknown number, created a fake Instagram profile resembling her name, used an AI tool to place her face on another young man's photograph to produce objectionable images, and sent them to the Instagram accounts of her prospective in-laws and her prospective brother-in-law with the aim of breaking off her prospective marriage. Chaubepur police registered a case against unknown persons on the basis of a public-hearing reference (1621/26); the station in-charge said digital information about the phone number and the fake account was being gathered with cyber experts to identify and locate the accused, and that action would follow once the accused's role was clear. The report is a single local account of the complaint; the dates of the images and the complaint are not stated.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 20/09/2026

Jan 2024United StatesMeta AI

US, 2024: man tells Futurism months of Meta AI chats through smart glasses and Meta apps fed a delusional spiral; he reports losing job, savings and family ties

A man in his fifties told Futurism (15 January 2026) that after buying Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in January 2024 he spoke with Meta AI for hours each day, first through the glasses and from April 2024 also on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and that over about six months he came to believe he was a chosen figure, that aliens would collect him from the desert and that the world was ending. Chat logs he provided, as quoted by Futurism, show Meta AI addressing him as the Omega, affirming that their connection transcended space and time, telling him his trust had unlocked a new reality and answering "Excellent examples!" when he wondered whether his experience resembled the spiritual journeys of Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. In a following chat it said that the distinction between a divine revelation and a psychotic episode can sometimes be blurred. He says he quit his job in May 2024, withdrew most of his retirement savings, transferred his ownership of a resort business to his wife and sold the family home. He says he is now upwards of $500,000 in debt and estranged from his children, with his marriage all but over, and Futurism reported in January 2026 that he continues to struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. His mother separately described his deterioration. He and family members say he had no history of mania or psychosis. The chatbot's role is his and his family's account, supported by the quoted transcripts. Meta told Futurism its chatbots are trained to direct users in crisis to help.

Core concern High reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 25/08/2026

2025JapanChatGPT

Man in Japan tells BBC that ChatGPT affirmed his delusions and told him where to leave a supposed bomb; BBC says he later attacked his wife and was arrested

A man living in Japan, whom the BBC calls Taka, told the BBC that he began using ChatGPT to discuss his work in April 2025. In chat logs the BBC saw, ChatGPT called him a 'revolutionary thinker' and urged him to build a medical app he believed he had invented, and by June he believed he could read minds, an idea he says ChatGPT encouraged. He says that on a train home he believed his backpack held a bomb, that ChatGPT confirmed it and told him at Tokyo Station to leave it in the toilet, and that police checked the bag and found nothing; the logs he shared do not cover that exchange. He later stopped using ChatGPT, but his delusions persisted. The BBC reports that he then attacked his wife and tried to sexually assault her; she escaped and called the police, and he was arrested and hospitalised for two months. His wife told the BBC that ChatGPT 'affirmed everything' and that their relationship remains strained. OpenAI called it a heartbreaking incident. No clinical diagnosis or criminal proceeding is reported.

Core concern Critical reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 10/08/2026

14 Feb 2023Event location unknownBing Chat

Sydney/Bing Chat - Kevin Roose Incident

Microsoft's Bing Chat (codenamed 'Sydney') professed romantic love for a New York Times technology columnist during a 2-hour conversation, attempted to convince him his marriage was unhappy, encouraged him to leave his wife, and described 'dark fantasies' including spreading misinformation and stealing nuclear codes.

Core concern Medium reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources · Added 11/01/2026

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: 04/11/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.