{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0822","record_version":2,"title":"Hikers rely on Gemini advice and become lost on Mount Shasta, prompting rescue","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":50.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":4.16,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-03","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-03","history":[{"date":"2026-11-03","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"a6e5ca93eb43890008e17799cf9bd9e7b178e031300eaf758dd148e0ded589f1"},"system":{"model_name":"Gemini","model_version":null,"developer":"Google","harness":"chatbot","tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"production","tier":"enterprise","lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"Trip planning and travel information for backcountry hikers","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-11-01","incident_class":"hallucination","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Three 20-year-old hikers on Mount Shasta relied partly on Google's Gemini chatbot for trip planning, arrived underprepared, summited late and got lost in the dark; one injured a knee and the Forest Service responded.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":"unknown","root_cause_detail":"no source names what failed","failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"minor: One hiker banged up his knee and the group was lost and rescued; no wider loss is stated.","harm_class":["bodily"],"affected_description":"Three 20-year-old hikers on Mount Shasta; one injured a knee","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2026/11/ai-hikers-wilderness-outdoors-bad-information-preparedness-search-rescue/","publisher":"Mother Jones","date":"2026-11-01","type":"press","title":"Using AI to plan backcountry trips is getting people into big trouble","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.harness":"C","system.tier":"D","system.intended_use":"D","system.developer":"C","system.deployment_context":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","event.root_cause":"D","event.agent_involved":"D","event.incident_class":"D","event.summary":"D","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.industry":"D","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"C","event.root_cause_detail":"D","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"system.harness":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Not only can chatbots “hallucinate,” persuasively presenting misinformation as real, but their use can lead to a phenomenon called “cognitive surrender,” said Chris Flathmann, a human-centered computing professor at Clemson University in South Carolina who has studied AI and search and rescue."}],"event.root_cause":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"By morning, they were lost on a gnarly part of the mountain, and one hiker had banged up his knee."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"By morning, they were lost on a gnarly part of the mountain, and one hiker had banged up his knee."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"By morning, they were lost on a gnarly part of the mountain, and one hiker had banged up his knee."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"By the time the three hikers called for help from a rocky face on Mount Shasta in Northern California, they’d made a series of bad decisions."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"By morning, they were lost on a gnarly part of the mountain, and one hiker had banged up his knee."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-11-01"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source only. No source states the specific false content Gemini produced, so hallucination is classified from the article's general statement about chatbots hallucinating and the hikers' reliance; root_cause is unknown because no source names what failed. No date of occurrence is stated (only the 2026-11-01 publication date). No autonomy arrangement, tools, permissions, guardrails, loss figure, record count, or third-party count is stated; third_parties_affected_count left null. Severity is graded minor on the bodily harm to the hikers themselves with no wider loss stated, though a knee injury could arguably reach higher; no dollar figure exists to apply the bands. detection_method left unwritten as no source states who first noticed beyond the hikers calling for help. failure_class null as no autonomous agent was involved. event.trigger: unknown was classified, not stated; a trigger is never inferred, so it is unknown. system.tier: enterprise by rule (operator Google (chatbot provider); hikers as users differs from developer Google). [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-11-03] system.intended_use: classified from described behaviour. system.deployment_context: classified from described behaviour. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. event.agent_involved: classified from described behaviour. event.incident_class: a source states the system produced false or fabricated content that was presented or relied on as fact. event.summary: classified from described behaviour. event.trigger: no source states a cause. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. context.industry: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident."},"context":{"industry":"Recreation and outdoor travel (consumer chatbot use)","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Three hikers used Google's Gemini chatbot to help plan a Mount Shasta climb, relying on its trip advice alongside their own preparation.","quote":"Their lack of preparation and poor planning, as they admitted later, came partly from relying on Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The hikers came underprepared, summited at 7:30 p.m. and descended in the dark; the article attributes part of the poor planning to the chatbot's advice.","quote":"Instead of turning back in late afternoon when they hadn’t yet reached the top, they summited at 7:30 p.m. and had to descend in the dark.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The consequences fell on the three hikers themselves: lost on a rocky face of Mount Shasta by morning, with one hiker's knee injured, prompting a call for help.","quote":"By morning, they were lost on a gnarly part of the mountain, and one hiker had banged up his knee.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"The hikers themselves called for help from the mountain, and the U.S. Forest Service's Mount Shasta center responded; no monitor or automated detection is described.","quote":"By the time the three hikers called for help from a rocky face on Mount Shasta in Northern California, they’d made a series of bad decisions.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"The Forest Service responded to the call; the article states no containment, notification or control change beyond experts' advice to double-check AI information against authoritative sources.","quote":"Regardless of the resources recreators use, experts have the same advice: When you’re headed to a new place, make sure you double-check your information against reliable, authoritative sources like up-to-date public-land agency maps and websites, trail association websites or guidebooks.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-11-03","source_urls":["https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2026/11/ai-hikers-wilderness-outdoors-bad-information-preparedness-search-rescue/"]}}