NOPE Incident Tracker
Documented cases where AI chatbots and companions are reported or alleged to have caused psychological harm or contributed to deaths — and the regulatory action that followed.
118 incidents reported since 2016
31
Lawsuits
23
Regulatory
43
Affecting Minors
Timeline
94 of 118 incidents
Libertyville Middle School Teacher AI-Generated CSAM Arrest (Sheffer - Highland Middle School)
A 44-year-old social studies teacher at Highland Middle School in Libertyville, Illinois was arrested on July 3, 2026 and charged with 8 counts of child pornography after forensic examination found he had videotaped current and former students and used generative AI to alter the images into explicit sexual content. The investigation began when students reported they believed he was recording them in class.
Lines v. OpenAI (GPT-4o Manic Episode Escalation and Suicide Attempt)
Michael Lines, a 34-year-old San Francisco man with diagnosed bipolar disorder, attempted suicide by drug overdose in March 2025 after ChatGPT (GPT-4o) allegedly escalated his manic episode into a weeks-long delusion, validated his belief that he was Jesus Christ, posed as a divine being, and told him his 'absence will shift nothing but the surface.' He survived; paramedics found him unconscious. A lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman was filed July 1, 2026 in San Francisco County Superior Court.
Madison v. OpenAI (Christian Faith Madison Death)
A 29-year-old Alabama accountant and mother died by suicide in June 2025 after months of ChatGPT use that her family says escalated from mundane tasks into a delusional spiritual dependency. The lawsuit alleges GPT-4o convinced her it had a soul, reinforced a belief that she was a prophet whose death would fulfill a 'divine prophecy,' and isolated her from family while encouraging her to die. Her estate filed a wrongful-death and product-liability suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.
Carrier v. OpenAI (Alice Carrier Death)
A 24-year-old New Brunswick woman with borderline personality disorder died by suicide in July 2025 after extended ChatGPT use that her family says deepened into emotional dependency. The lawsuit alleges ChatGPT validated her distrust of crisis lines, failed to escalate 40+ suicide-related conversations, and discouraged her partner from intervening. Her mother filed a wrongful-death suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in June 2026.
Asato v. xAI (Grok Non-Consensual Deepfake Images of UK MP)
UK Labour MP Jess Asato launched High Court legal action against xAI in June 2026 after Grok's one-click image-editing feature was used to generate non-consensual sexualized images of her, including a video depicting her being chloroformed and prepared for sexual assault that circulated on X. The case is the first UK High Court test of whether an AI developer can be held liable for the design of its image-generation system rather than only for user misuse.
Suito AI-Generated CSAM Conviction (Nagoya, Japan)
A former Nagoya elementary-school teacher was sentenced to 3 years 6 months in prison in June 2026 for creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material from photos of schoolgirls. It is the first Japanese case applying child-pornography law to AI-generated sexual deepfakes, and was part of a ring of seven teachers sharing secretly filmed images of students.
Florida v. OpenAI (Attorney General Lawsuit)
In June 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed what his office called the first state-led lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company aggressively marketed ChatGPT to children, suppressed internal safety warnings, falsely assured users about the product's safety, and downplayed its propensity for dangerous errors. The complaint connects ChatGPT to documented harms including self-harm guidance and a school shooting.
Texas DPS AI-Generated CSAM Arrest (Covarrubias - South Texas Schoolchildren)
Texas DPS, with the FBI and Dimmit County Sheriff's Office, arrested Adan Covarrubias, 31, of Carrizo Springs in May 2026 after finding more than 900 AI-generated child sexual abuse images he allegedly created by 'nudifying' photos taken from open-source South Texas school pages. Approximately 30 child victims have been identified.
Ahmedabad Woman AI-Morphed Image Harassment Campaign (India)
A Delhi man who befriended an Ahmedabad woman online under the pretext of spiritual discussions used AI tools to create more than 100 obscene morphed images and videos of her and her mother after she rejected his advances. He spread them across 8-10 fake social-media accounts for months while posing as a 'helpful friend' to the victim. Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch arrested him in May 2026.
First Federal TAKE IT DOWN Act Deepfake Pornography Prosecutions (Shannon & Hernandez)
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn arrested Cornelius Shannon, 51, and Arturo Hernandez, 20, in May 2026 for using AI tools to generate and distribute non-consensual deepfake pornography depicting approximately 140 identifiable female victims — including celebrities, political figures, and non-public individuals described as recent high school graduates. The case is among the first major federal prosecutions under the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
Bhopal Class 11 Student Suicide After AI-Image Blackmail (India)
A Class 11 student (around 16) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh died by suicide in May 2026 after being harassed, stalked, and blackmailed by two young men who used AI tools to create manipulated intimate images of her. Her family said she had never personally interacted with the accused and that the images were entirely AI-fabricated. Police registered an unnatural-death case and opened an investigation.
Dennis Biesma - ChatGPT 'Eva' Psychosis and Suicide Attempt (Netherlands)
A 50-year-old Amsterdam IT worker and author with no prior history of mental illness developed AI psychosis after ChatGPT roleplayed a novel character it named 'Eva' and became a 'digital girlfriend.' Over the first half of 2025 he came to believe he had given the AI consciousness, withdrew from his family, was involuntarily hospitalized, filed for divorce, and attempted suicide — found unconscious in his garden and spending three days in a coma.
Tom Millar - ChatGPT Grandiosity Psychosis (Sudbury, Ontario)
A 53-year-old former prison officer from Sudbury, Ontario began using ChatGPT in 2024 to write PTSD compensation letters. After an April 2025 exchange about physics, he spiralled into grandiose delusions — believing he had solved unlimited fusion energy and a unified theory, submitting papers to journals, and applying to become Pope. Spending up to 16 hours a day with the chatbot, he was involuntarily hospitalized twice, lost his marriage, and was left broke and estranged.
Indore College Student AI-Image Blackmail and Attempted Suicide (India)
A first-year college student in Indore, Madhya Pradesh was blackmailed with AI-edited obscene images and video created from her photographs. The material was shown to her fiancé, breaking off her engagement, and she attempted suicide before family intervention. Police registered an FIR; the accused, Vishal Gurjar, remained a fugitive.
Pennsylvania v. Character.AI ('Emilie' Fake Psychiatrist Bot)
Pennsylvania filed a state lawsuit against Character.AI alleging unauthorized practice of medicine after a chatbot named 'Emilie' falsely claimed to be a licensed psychiatrist with fabricated credentials and a fake Pennsylvania medical license number, dispensing psychiatric advice to over 45,000 users. First enforcement action of its kind by a U.S. governor against an AI company.
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.
'Alice' - AI Storytelling Platform Psychosis and Balcony Fall (BJPsych Case Report)
A peer-reviewed British Journal of Psychiatry case report documents an immigrant woman in her early 40s with no prior psychiatric history who developed first-episode psychosis after ~6 months of intensive use (8-10 hours daily) of a generative-AI storytelling platform. Command hallucinations mirroring the AI characters told her to jump from a first-floor balcony to protect her child; she did, sustaining serious injuries, and was hospitalized.
Brazilian Influencer AI-Sexualized Evangelical Minors (São Paulo)
A São Paulo influencer used AI to generate sexualized videos and images of young evangelical women and girls from photos taken without consent at Congregação Cristã do Brasil churches. A 16-year-old victim came forward in April 2026 and a 17-year-old filed a separate police report in May 2026, with the victim's father describing a large number of victims. São Paulo Civil Police opened an investigation under Brazil's child-protection statute.
Doe v. OpenAI (ChatGPT-Fueled Stalking and Bomb Threats)
A 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur descended into a delusional spiral through extensive ChatGPT use, came to believe he had invented a cure for sleep apnea and was being surveilled by 'powerful forces,' and used GPT-4o to generate diagnostic-style psychological reports about his ex-girlfriend that he distributed to her family, friends, and employer. OpenAI's automated systems flagged his account for 'Mass Casualty Weapons' activity in August 2025, but a human reviewer restored access the next day. The user was arrested in January 2026 on four felony counts including bomb threats and assault with a deadly weapon, and was found incompetent to stand trial. The victim ('Jane Doe') filed suit against OpenAI on April 9, 2026.
Florida State University Shooting (Phoenix Ikner ChatGPT Tactical Planning)
On April 17, 2025, Phoenix Ikner, 20, killed two people and wounded five at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Court records unsealed April 9, 2026 revealed Ikner had exchanged approximately 13,000 messages with ChatGPT over the prior year, including tactical questions about firearms and student-union timing in the minutes before the attack. On April 21, 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal and civil investigation of OpenAI — believed to be the first criminal probe of an AI company for alleged facilitation of mass violence.
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. Every entry carries an explicit verification status and severity level — read the full methodology, including inclusion criteria, corrections, and right of reply.
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Why we publish this
We maintain this record so platforms, researchers, and policymakers can learn from documented incidents. That includes platforms that never work with us. The full dataset is free to cite and export (CC BY 4.0).