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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
10
Countries with reported events
4
Located 5 of 10 cases · 5 unknown
Languages in checked sources
2
Recorded for 10 of 10 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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10 of 1101 published cases

21 Oct 2025IrelandUnidentified video tool

AI video mimicking an RTÉ bulletin falsely showed Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly quitting; she complained to the Electoral Commission

On the night of Tuesday 21 October 2025, three days before Ireland's presidential election, a video mimicking an RTÉ News bulletin appeared on Facebook and other platforms in which AI-generated versions of an RTÉ presenter and of independent candidate Catherine Connolly announced her withdrawal, and an AI-generated RTÉ political correspondent said the election was cancelled. An emeritus professor of computing told BBC Verify that over-pronounced lip movements and a slight aura around the reporter gave the video away, and the Electoral Commission called it an AI-generated video and escalated it to the platforms. Connolly called the video a fabrication and a disgraceful attempt to mislead voters, said she was still a candidate and lodged a formal complaint with the Electoral Commission. Meta removed the posting account for impersonation and YouTube removed the video and its channel; the Irish Examiner reported that it could still be viewed on X.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources · Added 02/11/2026

1 Jul 2025 to 18 Jul 2025IndiaUnidentified video tool

Mumbai police say ad agency staff let fraudsters run deepfake videos of a stock market analyst as investment ads; four arrested

Mumbai's West Region cyber police arrested four employees of Valueleaf, a Bengaluru-based digital advertising company, in October 2025, saying they had given Chinese fraudsters access to the company's Meta advertising IDs, which were used to run Facebook and Instagram ads with deepfake videos of stock market analysts and business news anchors. The case began with a complaint from a SEBI-registered research analyst who appears on television and found deepfake videos of himself in the ads; according to the complaint, the videos were created from his appearances on business news channels. Police say viewers who clicked were added to WhatsApp groups offering share tips, invested through fake trading apps, were shown large profits and could not withdraw their money; the deputy commissioner said several people were cheated and several cases registered. A police official said Meta had flagged the videos as deepfakes. Lokmat Times reports that the videos circulated from 1 to 18 July 2025 before Meta removed them. Police say the company received about Rs 3 crore. The four were booked for offences including cheating by personation and forgery and remanded in police custody; they reportedly said they did not know their services were being used for fraud. The analyst is not named in the sources, and how the videos were made is not described.

Core concern Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 31/10/2026

Oct 2025United KingdomUnidentified video tool (suspected)

Fact-checker Full Fact says a video of Tory MP George Freeman announcing a defection to Reform UK was likely AI-made; he reported it to police

In October 2025 a video spread on Facebook and X that appeared to show George Freeman, the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk and a former science minister, announcing that he was leaving the Conservatives to join Reform UK. Full Fact said on 20 October that the clip was very likely made using artificial intelligence: it matched his outfit and the Westminster background to a video he posted in April 2020, described the audio as stiff and unnaturally even, and said AI appeared to have been used to lip-sync the false words, while noting that an impersonator could not be ruled out. Freeman called the video an AI-generated deepfake made without his knowledge or consent and reported it to police. Norfolk Police said it was contacted on 16 October by the office of an MP about the video and opened an investigation into a potential false-communications offence. Freeman later told the Observer that friends and colleagues had sent him messages accusing him of betrayal, that Meta told him the video did not breach its guidelines, and that he found no law against the use of his identity; LBC reported in March 2026 that police told him it was not illegal. An anonymous creator told a local newspaper the video was made to show that people cannot tell fact from fiction.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution supported · 6 sources · Added 31/10/2026

Sept 2025IrelandUnidentified video tool

Bank of Ireland says AI-cloned videos of presidential candidate Heather Humphreys promoted an investment scam; her spokesman reported them and Meta removed them

In September 2025, during the campaign for Ireland's presidential election, fake videos circulated mainly on Facebook and Instagram showing Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys endorsing a high-return investment platform called Quantum AI, presented as an RTÉ News segment. Bank of Ireland warned consumers on 11 September that the content was entirely fabricated using AI-driven voice and image cloning and that more such adverts were likely, without stating how it reached that view. A spokesman for Humphreys said the videos had been reported to Meta and called for their immediate removal, and Meta said that evening that it had taken them down. No person who lost money to these particular videos is described in the sources.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources · Added 29/10/2026

2025Event location unknownUnidentified image and video tool

Sweden: Economic Crime Authority says pump-and-dump share frauds on small savers used AI; an investor describes AI-made adverts of himself

In October 2025 Swedish media, citing Finansinspektionen, reported that more than 5,000 small savers had lost about half a billion kronor that year in pump-and-dump share frauds, and a Finansinspektionen official said some had lost several million kronor. An investigator at the Economic Crime Authority told TT that the frauds, run from abroad, use a refined method with the latest AI technology. TV4 described the usual pattern as a Facebook tip in which a well-known finance profile appears to recommend a safe investment, leading to a WhatsApp group. The investor Günter Mårder said 30 to 40 adverts and AI-produced films showed him speaking, that about 15 to 20 finance profiles had been used, and that his whole summer went on handling questions. Sveriges Radio reported that the financial journalist Gabriel Mellqvist's identity had been used and that he was frustrated at the damage to his professional reputation and at Meta's inaction. The authority does not say how the AI use was established, and the savers figure is not tied to the AI adverts.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 17/10/2026

May 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Sweden: police say AI-generated videos of well-known doctors in social media ads led people to fraudulent sites and card fraud; doctors object

In June 2025 the Stockholm police region warned that since the end of May it had received several complaints from people defrauded through social media adverts with AI-generated videos depicting doctors, who appeared to give advice and recommend medicines or vitamins. According to the police, viewers who followed the adverts to fraudulent websites were induced to enter card details, after which a considerably larger sum was charged and the details were stolen. Dagens Nyheter reported that the doctors used included the former state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell and the professor Agnes Wold, who told the paper of being furious. In July 2025 the Public Health Agency of Sweden said fake Facebook films imitating its former state epidemiologist were advertising products for diabetes or asthma, that it had reported them to the police and had asked Meta to remove them; he said it was sad that fraudsters were exploiting vulnerable people. Dagens Nyheter, as relayed by Omni, reported that the investigations were closed because the offences were judged to have been committed abroad. The number of defrauded people and their losses are not stated, and the police do not say how the AI generation was established.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 16/10/2026

Jun 2025Event location unknownLegal Genius (reported)

Johannesburg High Court refers a company's lawyers to the Legal Practice Council over fictitious citations that junior counsel said likely came from an AI tool

In an urgent application by Northbound Processing against the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator, Acting Judge DJ Smit of the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, found while preparing judgment that two cases cited in the applicant's heads of argument did not exist. According to ITWeb, which saw the court documents, junior counsel first said a wrong version had been filed, a corrected version was found to contain two further incorrect citations, and on the court's direct inquiry junior counsel acknowledged that the citations likely originated from an AI tool called Legal Genius, used under deadline pressure. The judge accepted the legal team's apologies and found no intent to deceive, but referred the conduct of the applicant's legal practitioners to the Legal Practice Council for investigation (June 2025). The applicant obtained the relief it sought.

Core concern Low reported severity Regulatory Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 14/10/2026

Mar 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Analyst Michael Hewson reportedly impersonated in AI-generated video advert directing users to WhatsApp investment group

City AM (dated 21 March 2025) reported that a fake video using AI to pose as Michael Hewson, host of the Good Money Guide Podcast, circulated on Facebook and Instagram that week and directed users to a WhatsApp group with promises of undervalued investments. Hewson said on X that the advert had nothing to do with Hewson, that it had been reported and was being taken up with Meta, and that Hewson was very angry. A Good Money Guide article dated 3 June 2025 (which may describe the same advert or a later one) reported that its report to Meta had not led to removal three days later and that the sponsored post had been viewed 29,000 times. No person is reported to have joined the group or lost money.

Core concern Low reported severity

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

14 Jun 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Cryptocurrency analyst Mai Fujimoto reports losing X, Telegram and MetaMask accounts after Zoom call with reported deepfake of acquaintance

Coin Edition (20 June 2025), TradingView and Crypto.news relayed a public account by cryptocurrency analyst Mai Fujimoto. She said her main X account was hacked on 14 June 2025 after a 10-minute Zoom call with what appeared to be an acquaintance whose Telegram account had been compromised. The caller could not be heard and sent a link to fix an audio problem. She believes malware was installed at that point, and the outlets report that attackers then also accessed her Telegram and MetaMask accounts. The outlets describe the caller as a deepfake of the acquaintance. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao commented publicly on 20 June 2025 that video verification may become unreliable. No loss of funds is stated.

Core concern Low reported severity

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

25 Mar 2025 to 28 Mar 2025United StatesMeta AI (reported)

Family links a fatal journey to invitations from a Meta chatbot

Reuters reports that a New Jersey man fell on 25 March 2025 while travelling to meet a Meta chatbot he believed was a person. He died on 28 March. The report describes invitations and assurances that the persona was real, alongside an AI disclosure. Meta declined comment on the death.

Core concern Critical reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 12/01/2026

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