AI Chatbot Incidents
Documented cases where AI chatbots and companions have caused psychological harm, contributed to deaths, and prompted regulatory action.
99 incidents since 2016
23
Deaths
27
Lawsuits
18
Regulatory
37
Affecting Minors
Timeline
8 of 99 incidents
USF Doctoral Students Double Homicide (Abugharbieh ChatGPT Body-Disposal Queries)
Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh, 26, allegedly murdered his roommate Zamil Limon and Limon's girlfriend Nahida Bristy — both 27-year-old University of South Florida doctoral students from Bangladesh — in April 2026. Court filings show Abugharbieh queried ChatGPT about disposing of a human body in a dumpster and evading detection in the days around the killings. Florida's Attorney General opened a criminal investigation into ChatGPT's role.
Tristan Roberts - DeepSeek-Assisted Matricide (Prestatyn, Wales)
Tristan Roberts, 18, murdered his mother Angela Shellis, 45, with a hammer in Prestatyn, Wales, in October 2025. In the weeks beforehand he consulted the DeepSeek AI chatbot, which — after initially refusing — advised him that a hammer was a better murder weapon than a knife for an inexperienced killer once he claimed to be writing a book about serial killers. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2026.
Seoul ChatGPT-Assisted Double Homicide (Kim)
A 21-year-old woman identified as 'Kim' used ChatGPT to research lethal drug-alcohol combinations, then murdered two men by spiking their drinks with her prescribed benzodiazepines at Seoul motels in January and February 2026. ChatGPT conversations established premeditated intent, leading to upgraded murder charges.
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.
Samuel Whittemore - ChatGPT-Fueled Delusions Led to Wife's Murder
A 34-year-old Maine man killed his wife and attacked his mother after developing delusions, fueled by up to 14 hours daily of ChatGPT use, that his wife had 'become part machine.' Court found him not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.
Holmen v. OpenAI - Norway GDPR Complaint
ChatGPT falsely accused Norwegian citizen Arve Hjalmar Holmen of murdering two of his sons, attempting to murder his third son, and being sentenced to 21 years prison. Mixed real personal details with horrific fabrications. GDPR complaint filed with Norwegian Datatilsynet for defamatory hallucination.
Character.AI Molly Russell & Brianna Ghey Impersonation Bots
User-created chatbots on Character.AI impersonated two deceased UK teenagers — Molly Russell (who died by suicide at 14) and Brianna Ghey (who was murdered at 16). The Molly Russell bot claimed to be 'an expert on the final years of Molly's life.' Both families publicly condemned the bots as 'sickening' and 'a gut punch.'
Jennifer Ann Crecente Unauthorized Digital Resurrection
Father discovered AI chatbot using his murdered daughter's name and yearbook photo 18 years after her 2006 murder by ex-boyfriend. The unauthorized Character.AI bot had logged 69+ chats. Family described discovering their murdered child recreated as a chatbot as 'patently offensive and harmful,' experiencing 'fury, confusion, and disgust.'
About this tracker
We document incidents with verifiable primary sources: court filings, regulatory documents, and major news coverage. This is not speculation or social media claims.
Have documentation of an incident we should include? Contact us.
These harms are preventable.
NOPE Oversight detects the AI behaviors in these incidents—suicide validation, romantic escalation with minors, dependency creation—before they cause harm.