UK AI Security InstituteSocietal impacts§6.2

Many people lean on AI for emotional support

Early signs44 matching case files

The warning

A third of UK adults surveyed had used AI for emotional support or company in the past year, and some users of companion apps showed withdrawal-like distress when the service went down.

Paraphrased from the source. Source: Frontier AI Trends Report, UK AI Security Institute, Dec 18, 2025, section 6.2, page 39.

What the registry shows

The registry holds lawsuits, an inquest and press reports linking chatbot conversations to suicides, delusions and violence. Most are allegations in court, not findings.

Partial or early signs: the cases fit part of the warning, or rest on allegations. First real-world case on file: Feb 3, 2023 · Already on file when this research was published.

Matching case files per quarter

Status history

Date	Status	Matching case files	Change
Oct 18, 2026	Early signs	25	Tracking starts

Tracked since Oct 18, 2026. A line is added when the status changes, when the first real-world case is linked, and once a month, so the record shows when a warning moved from research to reality. research_history.json

All matching case files

The same case files in other research

Early signs Relying on AI companions harms some users · International AI Safety Report · 44 shared
Seen in real incidents Human-computer interaction · MIT AI Risk Repository · 44 shared
Seen in real incidents People's trust in AI companions turns harmful · CAIS · 44 shared
Early signs Companies ship AI before it is safe to win the race · CAIS · 3 shared

Warnings from other sources that link to some of the same case files.

Other warnings in this group

Nothing on record yet AI agents get the power to move money

Research vs reality · UK AISI →

How we match: a case file is linked to a warning when what happened is a real-world instance of the risk the source describes, judged by the editors from the facts in the case file. A match means the case fits the warning, not that it proves the source's wider argument. Allegations in lawsuits are labelled as allegations. Statuses are editorial and reviewed as new cases arrive. The matching is recomputed on every update. Data: Systematic coverage in the registry starts in 2025, so a first-case date shows when the registry first recorded the risk, not when it first happened. research.json (CC BY 4.0)