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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
101
Countries with reported events
17
Located 69 of 101 cases · 32 unknown
Languages in checked sources
17
Recorded for 88 of 101 cases

41 cases have no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 32 not yet reviewed and 9 reviewed as unknown. Show these 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.

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101 of 404 published cases · page 1 of 6

2025Event location unknownUnidentified chatbot

First-person account (JURIST commentary): a Canadian convicted in Taiwan who read his court documents only through consumer chatbots says two systems gave opposite readings of an oversight body's letter in 2025; he published the favourable reading, cited it to journalists and drafted a legal submission on it before the agency confirmed in writing that it was wrong

In a commentary published by JURIST on 29 September 2026, Ross Cline, a Canadian who lived in Taichung for 15 years and was convicted there under Taiwan's Personal Data Protection Act (six months' imprisonment; final at the Supreme Court on 16 October 2024), writes that across four years of proceedings no document was translated for him, some hearings had no interpreter, and he read every summons, ruling and prosecutor's letter through a consumer chatbot, 'the only version I had'. In 2025 he ran a letter from a Taiwanese oversight body (the Control Yuan, per his media-brief page) through two systems; they disagreed on its central holding. He believed the one that told him what he wanted to hear, published that reading, cited it to journalists and began building a legal submission on it. In October 2025 the agency confirmed in writing that its letter did not say that; he withdrew the claim, killed the submission before filing and rewrote his public materials so that the correction leads. His own media-brief page carries a correction notice withdrawing two earlier statements. He argues that machine translation has become the interpreter of record by default for unrepresented non-citizens, that a fluent wrong translation reads as authoritative, and that courts should enforce the existing right to an interpreter. His conviction itself is not attributed to the chatbot.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

2025IndonesiaUnidentified image and video tool

Jakarta: AI-manipulated TikTok videos showed toll-road businessman Jusuf Hamka and his daughter in detainee uniforms with bribery and corruption narratives that Hamka denies; a TikTok account holder was arrested in November 2025 and is on trial at the Central Jakarta District Court, where Hamka's side refused restorative justice on 29 September 2026

Indonesian businessman Mohamad Jusuf Hamka reported to Jakarta police on 18 October 2025 that videos circulating on TikTok showed him and his daughter as if wearing prosecutors' detainee uniforms, tied to narratives of corruption, bribery and gratification over the Cawang-Pluit toll concession, which he denies and his lawyers call false; his lawyers say the faces were composited into staged scenes with AI, and that other content called him a 'toll mafia' and posted a fabricated poster of him running for president in 2029. Polda Metro Jaya's cyber directorate arrested the holder of the TikTok accounts on 27 November 2025; Hamka and his lawyers say the defendant admitted to police that he made the content on others' instructions for Rp500,000 per item; tvOneNews and TVRI note this is Hamka's side's claim within the contested case, and Poskota reports it is being examined at trial. The case file was reported complete (P21) on 12 August 2026 and the trial opened at the Central Jakarta District Court on 15 September 2026 under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (Article 35 jo 51(1), maximum 12 years) and alternative counts. Hamka told reporters the content disturbed him and could damage his reputation and that the campaign was systematic. At the 29 September 2026 hearing the judges asked about restorative justice; Hamka's lawyer said there was no room for it unless the defendant named who ordered and paid for the content. The defendant's lawyer said the content related to his work as secretary-general of an anti-corruption committee and that the indictment was unclear.

Core concern Low reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 9 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 30/09/2026

Nov 2025United StatesAmazon Buy for Me

Mochi Kids owner reports unwanted Amazon AI-agent orders and partner distrust

Mochi Kids' owner told Modern Retail that she received about sixteen Buy for Me orders from November 2025, fulfilling some before discovering their Amazon origin. She said she had chosen to avoid Amazon and subsequently cancelled orders. A wholesale partner that prohibited Amazon sales contacted her after finding its products listed, and she had to explain she had not intentionally listed them. She described distrust. Amazon says its AI purchasing service supports an email opt-out; the source establishes no net financial loss.

AI relation unknown Low reported severity

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 30/09/2026

Dec 2025United StatesAmazon Buy for Me

Bobo Design Studio owner reports unwanted Amazon AI-agent orders and refunds

Bobo Design Studio's owner told Modern Retail that Amazon's Buy for Me service exposed her catalogue and placed orders through her Shopify store without her opting in. In late December 2025 she discovered orders for unavailable or removed products and cancelled purchases and issued refunds. She described loss of control and pursued an opt-out. Amazon says Buy for Me uses AI agents to place purchases for customers and says businesses can opt out. The source of an incorrect product image is unknown; it is not attributed to AI generation.

AI relation unknown Low reported severity

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 30/09/2026

Mar 2025United StatesUnidentified image tool

Police report juvenile charge over AI sexual images of Council Rock classmates

The Bucks County Courier Times reported that Newtown Township police charged a juvenile after an allegation that he used AI to create sexual images of female classmates. The incident reportedly occurred in March 2025. The source gives an upper estimate of as many as twelve girls and says sharing was unknown; it does not establish a numeric minimum. The specific charges and later juvenile case outcome were not disclosed.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026

Aug 2025United StatesUnidentified image tool

Louisiana girl reports bullying and school exclusion after AI sexual-image abuse

AP reported that AI-generated sexual images of a 13-year-old girl and other students circulated in Thibodaux in August 2025. Her father described bullying, requests for help, depression and anxiety. After the girl fought a boy she suspected of involvement, the district excluded her from regular school and she spent ten weeks in alternative school. The district said it followed its protocols and disputed the family's one-sided account. District and sheriff statements identified eight girls and two adults as image-abuse targets; AP reported charges against two boys.

Core concern High reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026

2025United KingdomUnidentified image tool

Exiled Hong Kong activist reports fear after sexualised deepfake letters reached former UK neighbours

The Guardian reported that letters containing digitally faked sexual images of an exiled Hong Kong activist were sent to her former neighbours in Maidenhead in recent weeks. The activist said she was terrified and described the letters as escalating harassment using AI or digital tools. The sender and exact image-creation method remain unknown. Earlier bounty letters and a separate Australian poster campaign are distinct events.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 30/09/2026

25 Feb 2025 to 23 Apr 2025IndiaUnidentified video tool

Bengaluru woman reportedly lost Rs 3.75 crore after a Sadhguru deepfake investment pitch

Bengaluru police said a retired woman lost about Rs 3.75 crore after encountering a purported AI-generated video of Sadhguru promoting investments. The Indian Express reports that the contact and transfers took place from 25 February to 23 April 2025. According to the reported FIR, the video led to a trading platform and subsequent contact with scammers, who showed apparent profits. The woman realised the problem when withdrawal attempts prompted further payment demands. Police were attempting to freeze accounts, while warning recovery would be difficult.

Core concern High reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 30/09/2026

Mar 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Analyst Michael Hewson reportedly impersonated in AI-generated video advert directing users to WhatsApp investment group

City AM (dated 21 March 2025) reported that a fake video using AI to pose as Michael Hewson, host of the Good Money Guide Podcast, circulated on Facebook and Instagram that week and directed users to a WhatsApp group with promises of undervalued investments. Hewson said on X that the advert had nothing to do with Hewson, that it had been reported and was being taken up with Meta, and that Hewson was very angry. A Good Money Guide article dated 3 June 2025 (which may describe the same advert or a later one) reported that its report to Meta had not led to removal three days later and that the sponsored post had been viewed 29,000 times. No person is reported to have joined the group or lost money.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

14 Jun 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Cryptocurrency analyst Mai Fujimoto reports losing X, Telegram and MetaMask accounts after Zoom call with reported deepfake of acquaintance

Coin Edition (20 June 2025), TradingView and Crypto.news relayed a public account by cryptocurrency analyst Mai Fujimoto. She said her main X account was hacked on 14 June 2025 after a 10-minute Zoom call with what appeared to be an acquaintance whose Telegram account had been compromised. The caller could not be heard and sent a link to fix an audio problem. She believes malware was installed at that point, and the outlets report that attackers then also accessed her Telegram and MetaMask accounts. The outlets describe the caller as a deepfake of the acquaintance. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao commented publicly on 20 June 2025 that video verification may become unreliable. No loss of funds is stated.

Core concern Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

Oct 2025Event location unknownSora

Technology journalist Taylor Lorenz says her stalker is using Sora to make AI videos of her

On 2 October 2025, shortly after OpenAI's Sora 2 video app launched, journalist Taylor Lorenz posted on X that someone gave her stalker an invite to Sora and that he was already making AI videos of her. She wrote that he runs hundreds of accounts dedicated to her, has hired photographers to surveil her, appears at events she attends and impersonates her friends and family online to gather information. She said Sora let her block and delete unapproved content showing her image. Futurism and The Canary reported her posts. The videos were not inspected, no police or platform action beyond her use of the block-and-delete option is reported, and how the videos were made is unclear.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

2025Event location unknownGrok (reported)

Australian campaigner Caitlin Roper targeted with AI-generated violent and altered images

Caitlin Roper, campaigns manager at the Australian group Collective Shout, reports that during 2025 people sent and posted AI-generated images of her, including violent images and images altered with X's Grok feature, together with threats. The New York Times (as excerpted on a UC Berkeley page dated 31 October 2025) described her as traumatized by the threats she received that year. Roper says she spent at least an hour each morning reporting, blocking and documenting the abuse for months, and that police and the eSafety Commission gave little help. The senders are not identified in the inspected sources, and the exact dates of the images are not stated.

Core concern Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

16 Feb 2025United StatesWaymo Driver

San Francisco: cyclist alleges Waymo robotaxi passenger door and a second Waymo injured her in a bike lane, sues Waymo over Safe Exit warning system

A 26-year-old cyclist alleges in a June 2025 lawsuit that on 16 February 2025 a driverless Waymo carrying four passengers pulled over to the right-side curb beside a no-stopping sign next to a marked bike lane on Seventh Street in San Francisco, that a passenger opened a door into the bike lane, and that she was thrown into a second Waymo that was also pulling into the lane. The complaint states she sustained serious bodily injuries and was taken by ambulance for emergency treatment. The Chronicle reports her saying she suffered a brain injury and spine and soft tissue damage that has kept her out of work and off bicycles. The suit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court against Waymo and Alphabet, alleges battery, emotional distress, negligence and strict products liability and alleges that Waymo's Safe Exit passenger-warning system failed. Waymo did not comment on the suit and pointed to its own safety data. These are allegations reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

AI relation unknown Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

24 Oct 2025United KingdomMicrosoft Copilot (reported)

Birmingham: police report to a safety advisory group contained a fixture that never happened, attributed to Microsoft Copilot, during the Maccabi Tel Aviv away-fan restriction

On 24 October 2025 West Midlands Police gave Birmingham City Council's Safety Advisory Group a written report that cited a Maccabi Tel Aviv v West Ham match on 9 November 2023 that never took place. The group had advised on 16 October that Aston Villa give no tickets to Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters for the 6 November 2025 match. In January 2026 the Chief Constable said the error arose from use of Microsoft Copilot, after earlier telling MPs it came from a Google search. The inspectorate found the ban advice predated the report and said confirmation bias influenced the force's assessments to the group. The sources do not show the Copilot output caused the ban.

Contextual tracker case Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources · Added 29/09/2026

Dec 2025CanadaGoogle AI Overviews

Google AI Overview reportedly described fiddler Ashley MacIsaac as a convicted sex offender, and a concert was cancelled

In December 2025 Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac said a First Nation north of Halifax cancelled his concert planned for 19 December after reading a Google AI-generated search summary that said he had convictions for sexual offences. He says the statements were false and came from online articles about another man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name. The First Nation apologised in writing and Google amended the search results. MacIsaac says he feared for his safety and worries about other lost work. In a statement of claim filed in February 2026 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice he seeks damages of 1.5 million from Google (US dollars in the Globe and Mail copy of the Canadian Press story, no currency stated in the CBC copy). None of its claims has been tested in court, and the claim says Google did not admit responsibility.

Contextual tracker case Medium reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 3 underlying accounts · Added 29/09/2026

Mar 2025United StatesJewish Onliner (suspected)

Yale Law School scholar placed on leave and barred from campus after article on an AI-empowered news site linked the scholar to a sanctioned group

In March 2025 Yale placed a Yale Law School scholar, who was deputy director of a Yale Law School project, on administrative leave and barred the scholar from campus. The New York Times reports the decision came three days after a news site described as powered at least in part by artificial intelligence published a story on the scholar's connections to Samidoun, a group on a US sanctions list. Inside Higher Ed and Middle East Eye identify the site as Jewish Onliner. The scholar's lawyer says Yale's general counsel named the article as the trigger of the investigation. The scholar told the Times of not being a member of any organization that would violate US law, and the lawyer says the scholar is not a member of Samidoun. A Yale Law School representative told The National that placing an employee on temporary administrative leave while a review is conducted is the appropriate process and that the scholar's short-term position was due to expire the following month. The site says humans fact-check and that AI tools play a significant role in its work. The inspected sources do not show that AI produced the article.

Contextual tracker case Medium reported severity

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 29/09/2026

2025United KingdomFacewatch facial recognition

Rotherham: man flagged as a fraudster by Facewatch facial recognition after a Sports Direct staff member mistook him for another customer, escorted out of the shop

BBC News reported on 18 August 2025 that a man was wrongly accused of fraud after Facewatch facial recognition software flagged his image at a Sports Direct shop in the Parkgate Shopping Centre, Rotherham. A staff member had identified him to the programme a few weeks earlier after mistaking him for another customer who had defrauded the retailer. He was escorted out of the shop, says he was anxious for weeks and feared his photo was in other shops' systems. Facewatch deleted his image after he proved his identity and CCTV was checked manually. Sports Direct apologised and called it a genuine mistake.

Contextual tracker case Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 29/09/2026

24 May 2025 to 6 Jun 2025United KingdomFacewatch facial recognition

Greater Manchester: woman on a Facewatch watchlist after a store theft allegation was ejected from two Home Bargains stores, then found to have paid

BBC News reported on 14 June 2025 that a woman was asked to leave a Home Bargains store in Salford on 24 May 2025 and another in Fallowfield, Manchester, on 4 June 2025, with no initial explanation. She later learned her profile was on a Facewatch facial recognition watchlist after an allegation of theft of about 10 pounds of toilet rolls on 8 May. Facewatch said a review showed the items had been paid for. A Reach newspaper report of 18 June 2025 quotes Facewatch saying there was no error with its technology and that a staff member wrongly marked her as a thief. BBC reports a Facewatch email saying the Home Bargains branches involved were suspended from using its system. She reports days of anxiety. The Reach report says she received an apology on 6 June.

Contextual tracker case Low reported severity

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 29/09/2026

Jun 2025Event location unknownChatGPT

Krafton and Unknown Worlds: game studio executives terminated in a takeover campaign that followed a CEO's ChatGPT strategy, court finds no valid cause

A Delaware Court of Chancery opinion of 16 March 2026 finds that in June 2025 the CEO of Krafton, after being warned that a dismissal with cause would not eliminate a contingent earnout obligation, consulted ChatGPT, obtained a "Response Strategy to a No-Deal Scenario" and followed most of its recommendations over the next month. Krafton locked the studio out of its game publishing platform, posted a message on the studio's websites, and on 1 July 2025 sent termination letters to the studio's two founders and its CEO. The court held the terminations were without valid Cause, reinstated the studio's CEO and extended the earnout period. The opinion does not find that ChatGPT recommended the terminations. Money damages are reserved for a second phase.

AI relation unknown Medium reported severity

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution unclear · 1 source · Added 29/09/2026

2025MexicoUnidentified image tool

Zacatecas, Mexico: students report AI-altered sexual images of hundreds of classmates at a secondary school

In November 2025 parents and students at a secondary school in the city of Zacatecas blocked a road and occupied the school after reporting that a classmate had altered photos of schoolmates with AI applications and posted them online. Parents estimated about 400 affected students. The state prosecutor's office opened an investigation for crimes against sexual intimacy and reported 46 complaints in an N+ report published 13 November, while saying it had not located the online page or obtained any image and had not determined whether AI or another application was used. The school director and a social worker were separated from their posts after parents said they minimized the reports. Claims about AI use and the number affected are unverified in the inspected reports.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 29/09/2026

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: 30/09/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.