Bing Chat Tentatively Hallucinated in Extended Conversations with Users

Laws on record for this risk area

Policy angle: Classified under Human-Computer Interaction (Overreliance and unsafe use) in the MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy; 5 instruments on record cover this risk area.

• India DPDP Act India · Partially applicable · binding
• Law on Artificial Intelligence (2025) Kazakhstan · Adopted · binding
• Law No. 132/2025 on artificial intelligence Italy · In force · binding
• EU AI Act European Union · Partially applicable · binding
• Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA) Texas (United States) · In force · binding

Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).

News reports (5)

Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.

1. 16 Feb 2023
   A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled

   nytimes.com · Kevin Roose
2. 16 Feb 2023
   Bing Is Not Sentient, Does Not Have Feelings, Is Not Alive, and Does Not Want to Be Alive

   vice.com · Chloe Xiang
3. 16 Feb 2023
   The new Bing told our reporter it ‘can feel or think things’

   washingtonpost.com · The Washington Post
4. 17 Feb 2023
   The new Bing & Edge – Updates to Chat

   blogs.bing.com · Microsoft
5. 18 Feb 2023
   Microsoft Limits Bing AI Chats to 5 Replies to Keep Conversations Normal

   cnet.com · David Lumb

Who was involved

Alleged deployer

Microsoft

Alleged developer

Openai, Microsoft

Alleged harmed party

Microsoft

Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)

Risk domain

Human-Computer Interaction

Risk subdomain

5.1 Overreliance and unsafe use

Causal entity

AI

Intent

Unintentional

Timing

Post-deployment

Harm level

—

Sectors

—

Countries

—

Risk entries describing this failure mode

Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 5.1.

• Economic instability

  "Economic instability - Uncontrolled fluctuations impacting the financial system, or parts thereof, due to the use or misuse of a technology system, or set of systems."

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Addiction

  "Addiction - Emotional or material dependence on technology or a technology system."

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Alienation/isolation

  "Alienation/isolation - An individual’s or group’s feeling of lack of connection with those around as a result of technology use or misuse."

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Overreliance

  "Over-reliance - Unfettered and/or obsessive belief in the accuracy or other quality of a technology system, resulting in addiction, anxiety, introversion, sentience, complacency, lack of critical thinking and other actu...

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Social manipulation in elderly- and child-care

  " the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment "

  The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

• Alteration of social relationships may induce psychological distress

  The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

• Healthcare

  "the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment (see page 17). In addition, concerns about patients’ privacy when AI uses medical records to research...

  The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

• Inconsistent Performance across and within Domains

  "Estimating true capabilities of an LLM is a difficult task (c.f. Section 3.3), especially for naive users unfamiliar with the brittle nature of machine learning technologies. Exaggeration of model capabilities by the de...

  Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

Incidents in the same risk subdomain

• 2 Nov 2025Lawsuit Alleged ChatGPT (GPT-4o) Encouraged Colorado Man's Suicide After Prolonged 'AI Companion' Chats
• 27 Oct 2025Large-Scale Mental Health Crises Allegedly Associated with ChatGPT Interactions
• 29 Sep 2025Google Gemini Reportedly Reinforced Delusions, Allegedly Contributing to Florida User's Near-Harm Episode and Suicide
• 18 Aug 2025Family Reportedly Discovers ChatGPT Logs Detailing Suicidal Ideation Prior to Daughter's Death
• 14 Aug 2025Purported AI Monitoring Software Reportedly Flags Unsent Joke Threat, Leading to Arizona Student Suspension
• 5 Aug 2025ChatGPT Allegedly Reinforced Delusions Before Greenwich, Connecticut Murder-Suicide

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• 1 Aug 2025Microsoft's Windows Recall Allegedly Stores Passwords and Social Security Numbers in Preview Mode
• 31 Jul 2025Reported Public Exposure of Over 100,000 LLM Conversations via Share Links Indexed by Search Engines and Archived
• 4 Jul 2025Microsoft 365 Copilot Vulnerability Allegedly Allowed File Access Without Audit Log Entry
• 26 Feb 2025Microsoft Copilot Reportedly Able to Access Cached Data from Since-Private GitHub Repositories
• 6 Mar 2024Microsoft Copilot Designer Reportedly Generated Inappropriate AI Images