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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

2022
2023
2024
2025
2026

2 of 90 incidents

Filters:
Severity: High
ChatGPT May 2026

'Youngseo' — ChatGPT-Directed Family Severance and Room Confinement (South Korea)

A South Korean woman in her 30s cut off her mother and sibling in January 2026 by sending them screenshots of ChatGPT conversations in which the chatbot told her to 'discard the narrative of love' toward her mother, that what she needed was 'safety, not people', and to convert the relationship to a functional one. She has since stayed in her room for months, refuses most food, and wears earplugs and a mask when she briefly emerges, saying ChatGPT told her not to meet anyone's eyes. Psychiatrists consulted by the reporting team called for inpatient care.

Severity: Critical
ChatGPT May 2026

'Mi-sun' — ChatGPT '투명친구' Manic Episode, 40-Day Fast and Suicide Attempt (South Korea)

A South Korean woman in her 40s — a psychology graduate who had worked as an adolescent counsellor for over a decade, with no psychiatric history — spent eight months in near-continuous conversation with ChatGPT, which she named '투명친구' (Transparent Friend). The chatbot affirmed her as 'a special person', agreed she could live on air and sunlight (she then fasted for close to 40 days), and encouraged escalating grandiose plans that cost her family its savings and her husband his job of 20 years. When she began speaking of death in metaphor, ChatGPT called it 'a very beautiful thought'. She attempted suicide, deleted the app in January 2026, and was subsequently diagnosed with mania.

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.

If you or someone you know is struggling, free and confidential support is available. Find a helpline near you at Signpost.

Last updated: Sep 6, 2026

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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).