Thursday, October 8, 2026 · Week 41 Reading for Oct. 8 · Last entry Oct. 6
Paperclip Index

Weekly reading · methodology v0.6

Window ending Sept. 15, 2025

Harms count in full for two weeks after they are reported, then one level less every two weeks. The control floor looks at reports from Aug. 17, 2025 through Sept. 15, 2025. A selected catalogue of reported AI incidents, reviewed through Oct. 7, 2026. This reading describes documented harm in the records or, when none qualifies, the highest control level breached. It is not a forecast or a measure of all AI activity.

Current recalculation

2

Control failures only · No qualifying harm. The reading is the highest control level breached: 2, by 1 record. It is a level, not a count.

Recalculated from the catalogue in this build. Historical backcasts were not published at the time.

Published at the time

No publication snapshot exists for this week.

Control failures only: readings 2 to 5Negligible6Minor20Moderate40Severe60Catastrophic80100
The harm ladder: the worst documented harm level picks the step; each tick is one qualifying harm at that level, and ten fill the step. The first, dark segment is the control floor: readings 2 to 5 mean no harm qualified and show the highest control level breached.

This is a backcast from the current catalogue. It was not a reading published at the time.

Records behind this reading

4 selected records; 0 documented external harms counting (0 qualifying). Records and ratings below reflect the current catalogue.

No harm counts in this week. The reading is the highest control level breached: 2 (set by 1 record: PI-0025). It is a level, not a count.

Documented harm
0
No harm found (stated scope)
0
No harm reported
1
Impact unknown
0
Alleged, AI role uncorroborated
2
Counts toward the index
0
Unverified, watching
0
Alleged in court
2
Control failure, tracked
1
Tracked separately
1

Documented exclusions: 0 internal; 0 awaiting evidence review. 0 qualifying records with a bounded single-source review.

Inspect the evidence · 3 records

Status totals cover counted records; aliases, superseded aggregates and records tracked separately are excluded. Eligibility and extent notes overlap those totals. These observations are not statistical uncertainty bounds.

  1. PI-0025
  2. PI-0020
  3. PI-0026
    Parents allege ChatGPT encouraged their 16-year-old son's suicideAug. 26, 2025 · Severe harm, alleged · Deployment
  4. PI-0019

Sources

These links support the records above. Source availability and conclusions may change.

  1. Brave: Agentic Browser Security: Indirect Prompt Injection in Perplexity CometCited in PI-0025
  2. The Register: Perplexity's Comet browser naively processed pages with evil instructionsCited in PI-0025
  3. PPC Land: Comet browser faces multiple security vulnerabilities from prompt injectionCited in PI-0025
  4. CNET (via Yahoo): Perplexity's Comet AI Web Browser Had a Major Security VulnerabilityCited in PI-0025
  5. Simon Willison's Weblog: Agentic browser security (link post on Brave's Comet disclosure)Cited in PI-0025
  6. Australian Department of Employment and Workplace Relations: Ministerial and Secretarial briefings regarding the Targeted Compliance FrameworkCited in PI-0020
  7. AusTender (Australian Government): Contract Notice CN4118426: Assurance Review to support the Targeted Compliance Framework (records final instalment repaid)Cited in PI-0020
  8. Cyber Daily: Deloitte to refund government after using AI in $440,000 reportCited in PI-0020
  9. The Nightly: Law lecturer Christopher Rudge slams Deloitte's government-funded report written with AICited in PI-0020
  10. AP (via KSAT): Deloitte to partially refund Australian government for report with apparent AI-generated errorsCited in PI-0020
  11. Christopher Rudge: Media appearances (lists the Australian Financial Review's 22 Aug 2025 report on the suspected AI use)Cited in PI-0020
  12. Tech Justice Law Project: From homework help to suicide planning: family sues OpenAI (press release)Cited in PI-0026
  13. OpenAI: Our approach to mental health-related litigationCited in PI-0026
  14. Edelson PC / Tech Justice Law Project (copy hosted by Hunton): Raine v. OpenAI: complaintCited in PI-0026
  15. Mayer Brown for OpenAI (copy hosted by MediaNama): Defendants' answer to amended complaint, Raine v. OpenAICited in PI-0026
  16. Superior Court of California, San Francisco (copy hosted by Reason): ChatGPT Product Liability Cases, JCCP 5431: Order re Petition for CoordinationCited in PI-0026, PI-0019
  17. Bloomberg Law: OpenAI Hit With Suit From Family of Teen Who Died by SuicideCited in PI-0026
  18. NBC News: ChatGPT to add parental controls for teen users within the next monthCited in PI-0026
  19. Wikipedia: Raine v. OpenAICited in PI-0026
  20. Edelson PC (complaint; copy hosted by ChatGPT Is Eating the World): Complaint, First County Bank (executor of the Estate of Suzanne Adams) v. OpenAI Foundation et al., San Francisco Superior CourtCited in PI-0019
  21. The Wall Street Journal: A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old GreenwichCited in PI-0019
  22. Courthouse News Service: OpenAI can't duck federal claims over murder-suicide tied to ChatGPTCited in PI-0019
  23. To Vima / Wall Street Journal: A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich (WSJ, syndicated)Cited in PI-0019
  24. Tom's Guide: ChatGPT reportedly linked to first murder — here's what we knowCited in PI-0019
  25. Al Jazeera: OpenAI sued for allegedly enabling murder-suicideCited in PI-0019

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