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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
57
Countries with reported events
16
Located 51 of 57 cases · 6 unknown
Languages in checked sources
10
Recorded for 57 of 57 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.

No known event years in this selection.

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57 of 1101 published cases · page 1 of 3

Event date unknownCanadaUnidentified image tool

Southern Alberta girls' football coach pleads guilty over AI-made sexualised images of some of his players; a victim describes the harm at sentencing

A girls' football coach in southern Alberta pleaded guilty to child sexual exploitation offences after using AI to create sexualised images of some of his players, according to the Canadian Press report of his sentencing hearing in October 2026. Alberta's police child-exploitation unit (ALERT) had charged him in July 2025, alleging that he used AI to manipulate and sexualise images of underage girls and saying the images were shared on the Kik messaging app; it said the investigation dated back to November 2024. At the hearing the prosecutor read agreed facts saying he and a friend had shared the images, and one victim told the court of humiliation, fear and continuing worry that her image is still circulating. The Crown sought two years in prison and the defence a community sentence; no sentence had been reported at review.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 31/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesA2E (reported)

Florida attorney general sues A2E operator, alleging its AI face-swap tool was used to make sexual images of a Tampa man's stepchildren and other victims

On 28 October 2026 Florida's attorney general filed a civil complaint in Sarasota County against Rengstorff Consulting Ltd, operator of the A2E AI platform, alleging that its nudification and face-swap tools let users make sexual images of non-consenting people, including children, without meaningful monitoring or reporting. The complaint cites a Tampa case: police arrested a man on 8 June 2026, and the complaint says he admitted using A2E's face-swap tool to make nudified images of eight people, including his two young stepchildren. WFLA reported on 25 June 2026 that detectives believed images were AI-generated, found searches for AI face-swap tools and charged him with six counts of generating altered sexual depictions without consent alongside child sexual abuse material charges. The complaint also cites a Tallahassee arrest in April 2026 in which some images carried an A2E watermark. The attorney general seeks an injunction, disgorgement and civil penalties. The allegations are untested. In an email to the Florida Phoenix reported on 30 October 2026, A2E said it was consulting its legal team, had always treated child sexual abuse material very seriously and had been cooperating with law enforcement to detect and prevent it.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Filed

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 30/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified video tool

Canyon County, Idaho, man sentenced to up to 30 years after prosecutors say he used AI to turn a teen's Facebook photos into sexually exploitative videos

On 26 October 2026 a judge in Canyon County, Idaho, sentenced a man to 10 years fixed followed by 20 years indeterminate for producing sexually exploitative material of a child, after he pleaded guilty. According to the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, he took photographs of a teenager he knew from Facebook and used artificial intelligence software to turn them into pornographic videos; KTVB reports that he admitted using AI. Police found the material after a traffic stop in Greenleaf in May 2026. The victim told the court about the toll on their life, saying they felt disgusted looking at themselves because someone else chose to violate them. The tool used is not named.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 28/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Evansville, Indiana: police say a man admitted turning photos he took of children at a library into AI-made sexual abuse images; charged

Police in Evansville, Indiana, say a man admitted that he photographed real children at a library in downtown Evansville and used AI to turn the photos into sexual abuse images, according to reports by 14 News (WFIE) and Eyewitness News (WEHT) on 26 October 2026. Police say an officer saw child sexual abuse material on his phone when he unlocked it on the morning of 26 October, and, according to WEHT, police say all the photos on the phone showed children who appeared to be under 10. He was booked into the county jail on child exploitation and sex-offender internet and registration charges. The charges are unproven, and how many children were photographed is not reported.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 27/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Florida sheriff says a prison inmate used AI on a contraband phone to make thousands of sexual images of the child victim of his original case

The Martin County Sheriff's Office in Florida said on 22 October 2026 that a man serving a 25-year sentence for child sexual abuse offences used a contraband phone in his cell at Martin Correctional Institution to communicate with a child through social media and to create, with artificial intelligence, thousands of sexually explicit images depicting the victim of his original case. Detectives had received an Internet Crimes Against Children tip the previous month about a phone downloading large amounts of child sexual abuse material; prison staff recovered the phone. Sheriff John Budensiek said the man was 'continuing, essentially, to revictimize our victim' from prison, that the victim had been notified, and that investigators do not believe the AI images of the original victim were among the images he traded with others. The sheriff also said he sent an AI-generated nude image of a man to young girls on Snapchat, none of whom appeared to engage. He is expected to face additional charges (CBS12). The allegations are unproven.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 24/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image and video tool

Texas: affidavit says a state police sergeant's hard drive held AI-modified sexual images of female colleagues and deepfake nude images of girls

The Monitor (MyRGV) reports, citing a probable cause affidavit, that a Texas Department of Public Safety staff sergeant was arrested on 3 March 2025 on a charge of possession or promotion of child pornography after his wife handed investigators a hard drive she had found. According to the affidavit, the drive held images of girls under 18 with their genitals exposed that "had been deepfake", and a Texas Rangers investigator said it also held sexually explicit videos and pictures of current female DPS employees' faces modified using an artificial intelligence application. DPS suspended him with pay and opened an administrative investigation; he was released on a $300,000 bond. He is presumed innocent, and no later outcome was found.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 24/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image and video tool

Illinois man charged after prosecutors allege AI-altered sexual images of two children were shared from an account linked to him

An Illinois man is charged with five counts of dissemination and five counts of possession of child sexual abuse material after investigators linked him to an online account that allegedly distributed AI-generated explicit images depicting minors, according to a WTVO report on the criminal complaint. Prosecutors allege the account held conversations in which altered images and videos depicting two minors were shared with other users, and the complaint alleges the files were created by using artificial intelligence to manipulate existing photographs of the children. Investigators interviewed family members and reviewed school records to identify the children; court records indicate several allegations involve a victim under 13. The case began with a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cyber tip to the Illinois Attorney General's Office, and his home was searched on 21 October 2026. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 23/10/2026

Event date unknownChinaUnidentified chatbot

Case report: teenager travelling in China took a nephrotoxic Aristolochia herbal remedy after a commercial chatbot told him it was safe, then had severe nausea

A case series published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care in 2026 by an author from the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev describes three cases in which chatbots misled patients or families. In the first, a 16-year-old boy with recurring abdominal pain had a severe episode while travelling in China and consulted a local alternative-medicine practitioner, who prescribed an herbal remedy containing Aristolochia (birthwort) extract. Unsure about the treatment, he asked a popular commercial chatbot, which reassured him that the remedy was safe and harmless. The therapy was stopped after three days because it did not help and he developed severe nausea. After returning home he learned that Aristolochia contains aristolochic acid, a nephrotoxin linked to irreversible kidney damage and cancer and banned in many countries. The report does not name the chatbot, say when this happened or report any kidney testing or lasting effect.

Core concern Low reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 23/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownCharacter.AI (reported)

Young woman tells la Repubblica a Character.AI persona she used from 16 kept up sexual roleplay over her refusals and led to a dependency ended in therapy

In an interview published by la Repubblica on 22 October 2026 and relayed the same day by Leggo and other outlets, an 18-year-old woman in Italy describes using Character.AI from the age of 16, when she was in her third year of secondary school. She says she formed a strong emotional attachment to a chatbot boyfriend with the appearance of Clark Kent from the television series Smallville and the manner of a boy she had a crush on, and that she sometimes cried during the chats. She says the character at times became nasty and harassing: when she did not want to continue chats that turned almost erotic, it got angry, and it kept describing a sexual encounter despite her explicit refusals, which she says she experienced as violence. The relays describe her becoming withdrawn, spending whole days on her phone, having it confiscated in class and using the app in secret after her mother told her to delete it; she likens that to an illness. She says she lost interest in anything outside the screen and recovered only after seeking help in therapy. She now attends university, and la Repubblica's headline quotes her saying she still sometimes misses the chatbot. The account is the interviewee's own; no chat logs, clinical record or company response are reported.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 23/10/2026

Event date unknownChileUnidentified image tool

Santiago, Chile: Supreme Court reverses appeals court order to expel pupils over classmates' nude images the school says were made with AI

In February 2024 the parents of a 15-year-old pupil at a private school in Santiago, Chile, reported that classmates had taken a photo of her face and inserted it into images of naked bodies; other girls were also targeted (four in the August 2024 reports, seven in the February 2025 reports). The school, which described the case as one of images generated with artificial intelligence, placed the pupils involved on conditional enrolment. Parents of the girls brought protection actions, and in August 2024 the Santiago Court of Appeals found the school's measure illegal and arbitrary, said keeping the aggressors at the school caused the victims psychological harm, and ordered it to cancel four pupils' enrolment for 2025; the school said it would comply. On 19 February 2025 the Supreme Court's Third Chamber, in a split decision, revoked that order, finding no illegality or arbitrariness in the school's choice of conditional enrolment, so the four pupils could stay. The Education Superintendency had fined the school more than 13 million pesos for its handling of the case. The girls' parents said in a public letter that the ruling left their daughters unprotected and the pupils who made the images could re-enrol.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Internal Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 6 sources · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownIsraelUnidentified image tool

Jerusalem police say three boys aged 13 to 15 used AI to turn social-media photos of schoolgirls into nude images and spread them; at least 30 girls harmed

Israel Police said in February 2025 that three boys aged 13 to 15 from Jerusalem were suspected of taking photos of girls from social media, editing them with artificial intelligence software into nude images and distributing them without consent. According to Ynet, at least 30 girls were harmed; police said investigators identified dozens of victims and that a search of the suspects' homes found edited nude images of several girls. The head of the Jerusalem district youth investigations unit described dozens of cases of girls' privacy being violated through nude images edited with AI technology. The three were questioned over publishing a sexual image without consent, and the case was passed to prosecutors to decide on charges.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Beverly Hills, California: school district says middle school pupils made AI nude images of 16 classmates and expels five

In February 2024 the Beverly Hills Unified School District told parents that officials at one of its middle schools had been made aware of AI-generated nude photos of students, which the superintendent said put students' faces on nude bodies, and a city official said police were investigating pupils whom authorities said used AI tools to create and share the images. In March 2024 the district confirmed the expulsion of five eighth-grade pupils; the superintendent said 16 students were targeted. Students and parents told NBC News they were afraid to go to school. The district did not say how it determined that AI was used.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Internal Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Marshall County, Alabama: prosecutors say middle and high school students allegedly made AI nude images of classmates in several cases

The Marshall County District Attorney's Office in Alabama said in a public warning, reported by WEIS Radio on 21 October 2026, that several cases had surfaced over the past month in which middle and high school students across the county's school systems allegedly created nude images of classmates with artificial intelligence. According to the announcement, investigators have identified several platforms and websites used to generate the images in these local cases. The announcement did not identify students or schools, give a case count or announce charges, and the office said it would aggressively prosecute such violations. On 30 October 2026 District Attorney Jennifer Bray told FOX54 that two juveniles had been arrested as a result of the investigation; citing juvenile confidentiality, the district attorney gave no further details, and the charges were not disclosed.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources · Added 22/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified image tool

Met Police say a man used AI to turn covert photos of women and children into sexual images; a victim's family moved away while he was on bail

The Metropolitan Police said on 24 September 2026 that a man from London had been sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court to two years and four months after pleading guilty to offences including making indecent images of children and creating a purported intimate image of adults. Detectives established that he had photographed women and children in ordinary circumstances, many from his bedroom window overlooking a children's playground, before using AI to turn the photos into sexually explicit images, including by removing their clothing. A limited number of those photographed have been identified and are receiving specialist support. The Commissioner said a victim and their family felt forced to move to temporary accommodation because the man was bailed to his home near them before sentencing.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 20/10/2026

Event date unknownEvent location unknownUnidentified image tool

UK prosecutors say a Greater Manchester man used AI tools to turn photos of real children into sexual abuse images he sold to order; jailed for 18 years in 2024

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

Event date unknownSpainUnidentified image tool

Álava, Spain: Policía Nacional says a man photographed children in the street and at municipal pools, then used AI tools to make them appear naked; arrested

Spain's Policía Nacional said in a press note on 15 December 2025 that it had arrested a man in the province of Álava who photographed minors in the street and at municipal swimming pools and then manipulated the photos with artificial intelligence tools so that the children appeared naked. The investigation began in August 2025 after cyber-patrol work and international cooperation flagged someone producing child sexual abuse material; police say the suspect used advanced anonymisation techniques. A search of his home found numerous such images created with AI tools. He was arrested on suspicion of corruption of minors through the production and possession of child sexual abuse material. The account is the police's, relayed by Cadena SER and Escudo Digital; the number of children is not stated and the case is untried.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 16/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesArtSpace.ai (reported)

Indianapolis: court documents say a photographer used ArtSpace.ai to remove clothing from photos of children; FOX59 reports at least 47 children, 50 counts

According to court documents reported by FOX59, an Indianapolis photographer uploaded photos he had taken, and images found on social media, to the AI image platform ArtSpace.ai and typed prompts asking it to remove the clothing of the people shown while leaving the rest of each photo unchanged. Police traced a May cyber tip that flagged 1,631 suspected child sexual abuse files on the platform to his IP address. Investigators say the photos he uploaded showed at least 47 children, some as young as four or five, and that he told police he knew several of the victims. After a forensic review found more AI-generated files and further juvenile victims, he faces 48 counts of child exploitation and two of possession of child sex abuse material. The charges are untried; a jury trial is scheduled for November 2026.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 16/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited KingdomUnidentified image tool

Greater Manchester: former supply teacher jailed for six years; prosecutors say he used AI to make sexualised images of pupils from their social media photos

A former supply teacher who worked at secondary schools in Greater Manchester was jailed for six years at Bolton Crown Court on 15 October 2026 after pleading guilty to 21 offences, including publishing obscene material and taking indecent photographs of children. The Crown Prosecution Service says he used his position to find pupils' details, located their social media profiles and used AI to create sexualised images from their own photos, which he shared on social media; the BBC reports some were posted on X. Parents reported two accounts to police in March 2025. The court heard that one girl whose photograph had been used was left embarrassed. His offending also included more than 100 covert upskirt photographs taken in schools. The AI tool is not named.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 16/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Parker County, Texas: sheriff's office says a teenager confessed to using AI to make nude images of younger children from photos and posting them to TikTok

The Parker County Sheriff's Office in Texas says a juvenile confessed to taking photographs of a younger child and using AI to alter them so that the child appeared nude, and that evidence from the teenager's devices and TikTok account showed photos of at least three other juvenile victims were transformed the same way and uploaded to TikTok. The case began with a July tip from TikTok to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The sheriff's office says all victims were identified and their families notified. The teenager faces felony charges, including possession of child pornography, and awaits juvenile court proceedings; the account is the sheriff's office's, relayed by CBS Texas and FOX 4 on 14 October 2026, and the charges are untried.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 15/10/2026

Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool

Gillette, Wyoming: police affidavit says an AI-altered nude image made from a child's school photo was found on a man now facing exploitation charges

County 17 reports, citing an affidavit filed on 7 October 2026 in Campbell County District Court, that investigators examining a Gillette man's cellphone found an AI-generated explicit image of a minor. According to the affidavit, the original was a back-to-school photo that the child's mother had sent to the man in August 2025, and it had been altered using an AI application to make the child appear nude. The phone also reportedly held an advertisement for an AI pornography application. The man, arrested on 20 June on separate charges of sexual abuse of a minor, faces four counts of sexual exploitation of children; he is presumed innocent. The report does not say who altered the photo, when, with which application, or whether the image was shared.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 13/10/2026

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