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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
2
Countries with reported events
1
Located 2 of 2 cases · 0 unknown
Languages in checked sources
1
Recorded for 2 of 2 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.

Reported severity Low
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2 of 1075 published cases

30 Aug 2026ChinaUnidentified chatbot

Ningbo fire service says a hiker who followed an AI app's advice to leave a stream and climb got lost and exhausted and had to be rescued

On the afternoon of 30 August 2026 a man hiking in the hills of Yinzhou District, Ningbo (Zhejiang), reached the summit and took a new way down along a stream. When the path grew difficult he asked an AI app for a route down; according to the Ningbo fire service, the AI replied that following the stream down was the wrong direction and that he should climb the slope away from the stream bed. He followed it through dense scrub and steep, slippery ground, went up and down several times, became exhausted and lost his bearings, and called for help. Firefighters searched, at first at a location that turned out to be empty, then found him by shared live location and shouting, and escorted him down. The fire service warned hikers not to rely on AI for mountain routes. The AI app is not named.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 01/11/2026

12 Aug 2026ChinaUnidentified chatbot

Rescuers say a man who followed an AI app's suggested route up an undeveloped peak near Hangzhou fell, was stranded at night and had to be rescued

On the evening of 12 August 2026 rescuers were called to Tonggongjian, a peak of about 1,558 metres in the undeveloped mountains of Lin'an district, Hangzhou, where a man who had climbed alone had fallen and was stranded at about 1,300 metres. A volunteer rescue team with police and firefighters, and in the fire service's account its firefighters, found him after more than an hour, with abrasions, and escorted him down. Dushi Kuaibao's report of the rescue says the man had argued with his wife, asked an AI app on his phone where to go, and that the app asked about his state of mind, personality, height and fitness before recommending Tonggongjian; the fire service's account says it suggested he go there to watch a meteor shower. The rescue team said he rarely hiked, wore flat skate shoes and carried only a folding stool, and that the recommendation gave no advice on equipment. The app is not named and the exchange is not published.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 16/10/2026

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: 01/11/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.