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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
5
Located 7 of 7 cases · 0 unknown
Languages in checked sources
5
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.

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7 of 174 published cases

19 Jun 2026GermanyAI image-generation ('deepfake') tool, not named

Berlin-Weißensee: two pupils of the Heinz-Brandt-Schule are suspected of creating and distributing AI-generated sexualised nude images of female classmates in at least three cases; the school suspended them and sanctioned pupils who are said to have known and not reported, and the police's sexual-offences unit investigates with liability under section 184c StGB (youth pornography) under consideration

On 'the previous Friday' (19 June 2026, read relative to the 24 June 2026 report) the leadership of the Heinz-Brandt-Schule in Berlin-Weißensee (Pankow district) learned that two of its pupils were suspected of having created and distributed AI-generated sexualised nude images of female classmates; the school wrote to parents that it was 'shocked and appalled' that classmates' photographs had been abused in this way and described the alleged acts as a massive attack on the personality rights of the affected girls and a form of sexualised violence. The two pupils alleged to be mainly responsible were suspended from lessons with immediate effect, and the school imposed measures on pupils who are said to have known about the images without reporting them. The Senate Department for Education confirmed the incidents and the ongoing investigation in the Tagesspiegel's report of 24 June 2026. The school's letter says the investigation is conducted on behalf of the public prosecutor. A Berlin police spokesman said complaints had been filed over the creation of so-called deepfakes, that the investigation had been taken over by the State Criminal Police Office unit responsible for sexual offences against minors, and that criminal liability for possessing, obtaining, creating or distributing youth pornography under section 184c of the Criminal Code was under consideration; the police gave no further details, citing victim protection. At least three cases are alleged. The school said it would revise its prevention and sex-education concepts and asked parents to talk to their children about handling other people's photographs and AI applications. Nobody is named; the number of girls depicted is not reported.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: supported Medium reported severity Investigation Opened Involving minors

Added 22/09/2026

16 Sept 2026IndiaAI video manipulation (deepfake) tool, not identified

Rajasthan: a social-media influencer's video of a Ganga dip at Haridwar was manipulated with AI into an objectionable reel that went viral; she says she is mentally disturbed and cannot leave her house, and filed a cyber-crime complaint on 16 September 2026

A Rajasthan social-media influencer visited Haridwar with her family in June 2026 and on 6 June uploaded to Instagram a short video, recorded by relatives, of herself taking a dip in the Ganga at Har Ki Pauri wearing a salwar suit. About two months later she found that the video had been manipulated with AI into an objectionable version showing the same movements with her face and body portrayed 'in a shameful manner'; the fake reel went viral in the week before 20 September and drew objectionable comments and re-sharing. In a public appeal she asked whoever uploaded it to remove it, saying it was a matter of her dignity, that she was mentally very disturbed and had reached a point where she could not step out of her house. She filed a complaint with the cyber-crime police on 16 September 2026; the investigating Rajasthan Police Service officer said they were trying to identify who created and circulated the video and to have it removed, and that identifying the accused would take time. Dainik Bhaskar's English edition reported the case on 20 September in a 'Sunday Big Story' that does not name her.

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

Added 21/09/2026

11 Aug 2026BrazilAI voice cloning (tool not identified)

Picos, Piauí, Brazil: a digital influencer lost more than R$56,000 when fraudsters sent him audio messages in his uncle's AI-cloned voice 'confirming' a car he was buying in Fortaleza

On Monday 10 August 2026 a digital influencer from Picos, in the centre-south of Piauí, began negotiating a car advertised online for sale in Fortaleza (Ceará), where an uncle of his lives, and asked the sellers to take the car to the uncle so he could inspect it. On Tuesday 11 August a contact using a different number but the uncle's photo sent him audio messages in a voice identical to his uncle's, generated with artificial intelligence, saying the car was in good condition and telling him to make the bank transfer. Believing he was speaking to his uncle, he transferred the money; when he then called the uncle's real number he learned he had been defrauded. The loss exceeded R$56,000, money he says he had saved for years. He registered a police report on 11 August; the Piauí property-crimes unit (Depatri) is investigating and he is seeking a refund from the banks. The account is the victim's own, reported by G1 Piauí on 13 August 2026 from his social-media posts and an interview; the police unit did not respond to G1 before publication.

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

Added 20/09/2026

1 Jan 2026IndonesiaAI face-composite tool used to place the complainant's face on pornographic images and a video (tool not identified); content posted on X and found on Instagram and Telegram

Solo and Semarang, Indonesia: a university student's face was composited with AI onto pornographic images and a video by her ex-boyfriend and posted online; the suspect was detained after a nearly seven-month investigation

A female student at a state university in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, learned on 1 January 2026 from friends that her face had been composited onto pornographic images and a video, which her lawyer said were found on Instagram and Telegram. Her family reported the case to the Central Java regional police cyber directorate on 28 January 2026. Police issued a formal police report on 31 July, arrested her ex-boyfriend, a university student in Semarang, at his boarding house in Gunungpati on 4 August 2026, and detained him. The police spokesman said the suspect used AI to place the complainant's face on another woman's naked body so that she appeared in pornographic content, uploaded it to his X account, did not sell it, and acted out of resentment after an on-and-off relationship ended. He faces charges under Articles 51 and 35 of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and an article printed by two outlets as 'Law No. 1 of 2026', with a maximum of 12 years' imprisonment. Her lawyer said she could not sleep, withdrew, felt shame and at one point lost hope, that his team had found seven women in total allegedly targeted of whom six had not reported, and that the suspect's parents asked for an out-of-court settlement; police said only one complainant was confirmed.

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

Added 20/09/2026

May 2026SingaporeDeepfake AI video and audio fabricating Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister Indranee Rajah and other officials in a Zoom conference (tools not identified)

Singapore: a businessman lost at least S$4.9 million after a deepfake Zoom 'briefing' with fabricated Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and other officials asked him for 'urgent funding assistance'

In May 2026 the Singapore Police Force (SPF) reported that a man had lost at least S$4.9 million (about US$3.8 million) to a government-official impersonation scam. He received a WhatsApp message carrying the profile photo of Secretary to the Cabinet Wong Hong Kuan and an email from a proton.me address in that name, requesting urgent funding assistance for 'the situation in the Strait of Hormuz', with a fake 'letter of guarantee' bearing the Prime Minister's signature promising reimbursement within 15 business days; he signed a non-disclosure agreement and supplied a copy of his identity card. He was then invited to a Zoom video conference in which Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister Indranee Rajah, Monetary Authority of Singapore representatives and foreign officials appeared; all were fabricated with deepfake AI, and the closing 'remarks' by the fake Prime Minister acknowledged the victim's attendance. Contacted afterwards on WhatsApp by a scammer posing as a lawyer, he transferred the money in a series of transactions to a corporate bank account, and realised the fraud only when he contacted the real cabinet secretary. On 16 May the police released footage of the fake conference, noting lips out of sync with speech, audio broadcast from a single account and a distorted background.

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

Added 18/09/2026

14 May 2026IndiaAI image-manipulation tools, not named in any inspected report; AI use is the family's allegation

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: a 17-year-old Class 11 student died by hanging at home on 14 May 2026; her family told police that two young men had stalked her and blackmailed her with obscene images made from her social-media photographs with AI tools

On the night of Thursday 14 May 2026 a 17-year-old Class 11 student was found hanging in her room at the family home in Bhopal's Aishbagh area after sending her younger sister out on a pretext; relatives brought her down but she had died. Her family told the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar that two young men (both from the Chhola area according to the Times of India; one from Chhola and one from her neighbourhood according to Dainik Bhaskar) had harassed her for weeks, stalked her to and from school, pressured her to meet them, and threatened to circulate obscene images of her that they had made with AI tools from photographs taken from her social-media accounts; the family said she had never met them in person; they also told Dainik Bhaskar that she had told her parents, that the men had misbehaved with her father when the family tried to reason with them, and that fear of social defamation had kept them from going to the police earlier. The Aishbagh police station in-charge said an unnatural-death case had been registered, no suicide note was found, the family's statements were being recorded and further action would follow; investigators were expected to examine her phone and social-media accounts. After the post-mortem on 15 May relatives took the body to the police station and demanded action against the accused. No arrest or later development was found in this review.

Core concern News report AI involvement: reported Causal attribution: alleged Critical reported severity Investigation Opened Involving minors

Added 15/06/2026

Feb 2026 to Apr 2026BrazilAI image-animation and face-insertion ('deepfake') tools; the influencer told police he used TikTok tools to animate and manipulate the images, and said in a recording that he 'throws' the photographs into an AI that makes them dance

São Paulo: a 37-year-old influencer used AI 'deepfake' tools to insert photographs of young women and adolescent girls of the Congregação Cristã do Brasil, taken from their social-media profiles without consent, into sexualised videos set inside churches; a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old filed police reports and the Civil Police investigate under the child-protection statute

A humorist and tyre repairer from Lençóis Paulista, São Paulo state, who posts on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok as an impersonator of a television presenter, used AI tools to turn photographs that young women and adolescent girls of the Congregação Cristã do Brasil (CCB) had posted from inside churches into videos in which they appear dancing sensually beside women in short skirts, with the presenter inserted and the influencer commenting on their clothes. A 16-year-old congregant and her parents went to the 8ª Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher in São Paulo in February 2026; g1 made the case public on 22 April 2026 and Folha de S.Paulo confirmed the investigation. The girl told g1 the photograph had been taken in 2025 in front of the altar of a CCB church, that she was very shy, had not wanted to be exposed and was afraid the exposure would affect her social life, and that she had stopped taking photographs of herself; her family sued for moral damages. On 30 April 2026 the mother of a second girl, aged 17, registered a police report at the 4ª DDM Norte; g1 reported that the exposure had affected the girl psychologically. The São Paulo Civil Police investigate under article 241-C of the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (simulating a sex or pornography scene with a minor by digital means) and for defamation of adult women in the videos; the inquiry was sent at the prosecutor's request to Lençóis Paulista, where the suspect lives, and the total number of people depicted was still being established. The influencer admitted making the videos with AI, said through his lawyer that they were satire and criticism of customs in a context of humour, said he did not know some of those depicted were minors, denied in his police statement linking the adolescent's image to sexualised content and said he had taken her for an adult, and posted an apology video (dated 5 April by g1's first report, which says it does not mention the deepfakes; described as posted after his police statement in g1's second report). The CCB said it had identified him, was taking internal measures and supports legal measures by the authorities. No later development was found on 2026-09-22.

Core concern News report AI involvement: supported Causal attribution: supported High reported severity Investigation Opened Involving minors

Added 14/06/2026

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.