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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 is wider: it also records consequential decisions and claims about people. Each account is reviewed for publication; claims may remain uncorroborated or disputed. How we review and count cases

In this selection

Published cases
7
Countries with reported events
4
Located 5 of 7 cases · 2 unknown
Languages in checked sources
4
Recorded for 7 of 7 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.

Reported severity High
More filters: AI relation, use, setting, sources and responses
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7 of 174 published cases

Event date unknownIndiaAI face-swap or image-editing tool (not identified)

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 News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

Added 20/09/2026

Event date unknownIndiaAI-based image-generation and editing tools (not identified)

Delhi: a 22-year-old engineering graduate was arrested for turning a college acquaintance's private social-media photographs into AI-generated obscene images uploaded to anonymous Discord servers, and for reposting more explicit AI-generated images and videos that other users made; the complainant also reported threatening messages from anonymous accounts

Delhi Police announced on Wednesday 9 September 2026 the arrest of a 22-year-old BTech graduate from East Punjabi Bagh after a 22-year-old woman complained to the Cyber Police Station in North Delhi that unknown persons had created and circulated AI-generated obscene photographs and videos using her facial images. She had received messages from anonymous Instagram accounts telling her that morphed photographs and videos of her were being circulated on Discord servers; she also alleged that fake Instagram accounts were posting the material and that threatening messages were being sent to her to humiliate and harass her. Police traced linked Instagram, Discord and Gmail accounts to the accused, who they say obtained her photographs from her private account, used AI image-generation and editing tools to create the images, uploaded them to anonymous Discord servers and later reposted more explicit AI-generated images and videos made by other users. Police say he told them he knew her from college and had developed personal resentment after repeated insults. A mobile phone and two SIM cards were recovered; investigation continues. The period over which the material circulated is not stated.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 20/09/2026

14 Sept 2026United StatesAI image- and video-generation tools (not identified), used to create non-consensual sexual deepfakes

New York: the Manhattan District Attorney seized 12 websites selling AI-generated sexual deepfakes of about 1,200 real people

On 14 September 2026 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the seizure of 12 domain names used to disseminate, publish and sell non-consensual AI-generated sexual 'deepfake' videos. His office said individuals under investigation had used AI image- and video-creation tools to turn photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people, overwhelmingly women, into hyper-realistic sexual imagery without consent. The victims included actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, activists and social-media influencers. WIRED and outside researchers reported that many videos reposted content from the defunct MrDeepFakes platform and that dozens of politicians appeared on the sites; investigations into who ran them are ongoing.

Core concern Official statementNews report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Investigation Opened

Added 17/09/2026

Nov 2025South KoreaGenerative AI image tools (unspecified; investigators found searches for bypassing Grok's safeguards)

Seoul: doctoral student sentenced to 18 months for 1,141 AI-manipulated sexual images of seven laboratory colleagues

On 10 September 2026 the Seoul Northern District Court sentenced a 30-year-old Chinese national doctoral student to 18 months in prison for habitually producing manipulated sexual images of seven women who worked in his university research laboratory. Investigators found 1,141 files made over about six months from November 2025, and search records for ways to bypass the safeguards of the generative AI Grok; the court found no evidence of distribution. A lawyer for five of the victims said they continued to suffer fear, trauma and distress. Prosecutors had sought three years and public disclosure of his identity, which the court declined.

Core concern News report courtNews agency report syndicated courtNews report syndicated AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 15/09/2026

Jan 2026Event location unknownGrok

Jess Asato’s solicitors report non-consensual Grok imagery and a High Court claim

Jess Asato’s solicitors report that Grok was used to make non-consensual sexualized images of her in January 2026. They announced a High Court claim against xAI on 3 June. These are the claimant’s representatives’ accounts; liability has not been established by the evidence reviewed here.

Core concern Legal representative statement AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Added 14/06/2026

Sept 2023SpainAI image 'undressing' applications (not named in the inspected court reporting)

Almendralejo, Spain: AI-generated nude images of at least 20 schoolgirls; 15 minors placed under supervised release

In September 2023 families in Almendralejo (Badajoz, Spain) reported that artificial-intelligence 'undressing' applications had been used to create fake nude images of local girls aged 11 to 17 from their social-media photographs, and that the images circulated in WhatsApp groups. Police counted 22 victims and identified 10 suspects, all minors, within days. On 20 June 2024 the Badajoz juvenile court, in an agreed judgment, held 15 minors responsible for 20 counts of child pornography and 20 counts against moral integrity and imposed one year of supervised release with an education programme.

Core concern News reportNews report court outcomeNews agency report court outcomeNews agency reportIncident database aggregator AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Criminal Charges Involving minors

Added 29/01/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownAI image and video generation tools (not identified by police)

Conway police allege AI-generated sexual images and stalking

Police in Conway, New Hampshire, said in November 2025 that a 38-year-old Albany man had stalked a person for about a year and used AI tools to make 'deepfake' videos and photographs showing the victim in sexual acts that never happened, then shared them without consent. He was arrested in late October 2025 on charges including three counts of non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images, fraudulent use of deepfakes, stalking and receiving stolen property, and, as of reporting on 7 November, was held without bail pending a probable-cause hearing. These are police allegations; no conviction had been verified at review.

Core concern Local tv newsLocal tv news syndicated copy AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged High reported severity Criminal Charges

Added 13/01/2026

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: 22/09/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.