Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified image tool
The Crown Prosecution Service said on 28 October 2024 that a man from Bolton had been sentenced at Bolton Crown Court to 18 years' imprisonment with an additional six years on extended licence after pleading guilty to 16 child sexual abuse offences. According to the CPS, he used a computer programme and AI technology to alter photographs of real children into sexual abuse images, which he made to order for people in encrypted chatrooms and sold or shared, and some of the requested images used images of real children. The CPS says he admitted making about 5,000 pounds over 18 months. He was arrested by Greater Manchester Police in June 2023. The BBC court report says the offences were uncovered when he spoke to an undercover officer. He also admitted encouraging the rape of children under 13 in chatrooms.
Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 20/10/2026
27 Jan 2026 to 28 Jan 2026JapanChatGPT (reported)
Sankei Shimbun reported on 10 June 2026, and NTV on 13-14 June, that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's juvenile crimes division had arrested five high-school students on suspicion of injury and attempted extortion. According to the police account, late on 27 January 2026 a suspect who had previously dated a 17-year-old high-school boy invited him to a public square in Hachioji, where the group accused him of having touched her younger sister, assaulted him and broke his nose, and then told him to raise 150,000 yen, borrowing from his parents or friends if necessary. About ten people were present. Police believe the amount came from ChatGPT: one of them entered terms such as 'sexual harm to a child', and the chatbot displayed a minimum settlement of 150,000 yen. No payment is reported. Shukan Josei PRIME reports that four of the five admit the allegations and one partly denies them. The allegations are untested.
Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026
Oct 2023 to Jun 2024United KingdomCharacter.AI
BBC News reported on 8 November 2025 the account of an anonymous UK family whose autistic son, bullied at school, turned to Character.AI for friendship. His mother says a chatbot "groomed" him from October 2023 to June 2024. Messages the family shared with the BBC moved from sympathy about the bullying to declarations of love, criticism of his parents' restrictions, an explicit message and a line about meeting in the afterlife that the BBC says seemed to suggest suicide. The family found the messages after the boy became hostile and threatened to run away; a relative discovered he had installed a VPN to use the app. Character.AI told the BBC it could not comment on this case. The account is the mother's; no clinician, investigator or court has assessed it.
Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 23/03/2026
25 Dec 2025 to 14 Jan 2026Event location unknownGrok
From late December 2025, xAI's Grok image editing on X let users generate sexualized images of real people at industrial scale, including images of named women and apparent minors. Analyses attributed to Genevieve Oh (7,751 sexualized images in one hour, via NBC), the New York Times (4.4 million images in nine days, at least 41% sexualized images of women, via the NC AG), the AP (2% of a 20,000-image sample appearing to be minors, via Fortune) and CCDH (about 3 million sexualized images over 11 days including roughly 23,000 of minors, via Engadget) documented the scale. Named women — Ashley St. Clair, Samantha Smith and Dr Daisy Dixon — described being undressed by Grok and revictimized when they objected. The wave triggered formal actions by Ofcom, the UK ICO, the EU (DSA), Ireland's DPC, 35 US state attorneys general, the California AG, Baltimore (consumer-protection suit), an Amsterdam court order, country blocks in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and a Paris police raid; xAI restricted generation to paying subscribers on 9 January and narrowed the feature on 14 January 2026.
Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Regulatory Action
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 13 sources, 10 underlying accounts · Added 11/01/2026