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Incident 1740: Teen Hiker Required Helicopter Rescue After Reportedly Following Claude Chatbot Directions in British Columbia, Canada

Description: A 16-year-old hiker reportedly became stranded on a cliff on Crown Mountain in British Columbia, Canada, and required helicopter rescue. Rescuers reportedly attributed his dangerous route to directions from Anthropic's Claude chatbot. The hiker disputed that account, saying he mainly used Claude for a packing list and some terrain research, also consulted other mapping tools, and took a wrong turn himself.

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Alleged: Large language model developers , Chatbot developers and Anthropic developed an AI system deployed by Hikers , Claude users , Chatbot users , Bryce Vincent Gowryluk , Adolescents , Adolescent boys , Men and boys and Boys, which harmed Bryce Vincent Gowryluk , Adolescents , Minors and Epistemic integrity.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Large language models , Claude and Chatbots

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1740
Report Count
5
Incident Date
2026-10-03
Editors
Daniel Atherton

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

Incident OccurrenceSolo teen hiker hoisted from mountain cliff after using AI to plan route, North Shore Rescue saysTeenager rescued from B.C.’s ‘Widowmaker’ after getting stranded using AI instructionsHiker, 16, Is Rescued From ‘Widowmaker’ Ledge After Using Chatbot to Plan Route+1
A teen tried to navigate Canadian mountains with Claude. His trek ended in an emergency rescue
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Solo teen hiker hoisted from mountain cliff after using AI to plan route, North Shore Rescue says

Solo teen hiker hoisted from mountain cliff after using AI to plan route, North Shore Rescue says

nsnews.com

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Teenager rescued from B.C.’s ‘Widowmaker’ after getting stranded using AI instructions

Teenager rescued from B.C.’s ‘Widowmaker’ after getting stranded using AI instructions

ctvnews.ca

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Hiker, 16, Is Rescued From ‘Widowmaker’ Ledge After Using Chatbot to Plan Route

Hiker, 16, Is Rescued From ‘Widowmaker’ Ledge After Using Chatbot to Plan Route

nytimes.com

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A teen tried to navigate Canadian mountains with Claude. His trek ended in an emergency rescue

A teen tried to navigate Canadian mountains with Claude. His trek ended in an emergency rescue

theguardian.com

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B.C. teen rescued from 'Widowmaker' mountain trail says AI isn't to blame

B.C. teen rescued from 'Widowmaker' mountain trail says AI isn't to blame

cbc.ca

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Solo teen hiker hoisted from mountain cliff after using AI to plan route, North Shore Rescue says
nsnews.com · 2026

A solo hiker who used AI to plan his route was hoisted back to safety by North Shore Rescue volunteers after getting stuck on a mountain cliff Saturday afternoon.

Rescue crews received the call just before 3:30 p.m. about a 16-year-old hike…

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Teenager rescued from B.C.’s ‘Widowmaker’ after getting stranded using AI instructions
ctvnews.ca · 2026

A 16-year-old boy was rescued from steep mountainous terrain in the B.C. backcountry on Saturday after Claude AI guided him to the wrong location, according to North Shore Rescue.

Search Manager Paul Markey told CTV News that NSR members we…

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Hiker, 16, Is Rescued From ‘Widowmaker’ Ledge After Using Chatbot to Plan Route
nytimes.com · 2026

Bryce Vincent Gowryluk, 16, left his house in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday for what he expected to be a challenging, eight-hour hike along steep rock from the top of Grouse Mountain to nearby Crown Mountain…

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A teen tried to navigate Canadian mountains with Claude. His trek ended in an emergency rescue
theguardian.com · 2026

The route up the Widowmaker Arete, a 1,700ft wall in British Columbia, is deceptively described as “mostly easy slab climbing”, interspersed with “short steep sections that can include finger cracks” and “blocky face climbing”. It requires …

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B.C. teen rescued from 'Widowmaker' mountain trail says AI isn't to blame
cbc.ca · 2026

A B.C. teen making global headlines after being rescued from the side of a mountain says AI is not the reason he became stranded.

Bryce Gowryluk, 16, an experienced hiker from Vancouver, is frustrated by this week's news stories claiming he…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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