AI Judged Poisonous Mushroom 'Safe'; Boy, 9, Critically Ill in China

In late June 2026, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, a 9-year-old boy who ate wild mushrooms his parents had gathered in the mountains—after an AI app judged them to be non-poisonous—developed acute liver failure and other complications, briefly falling into critical condition in intensive care. He was hospitalized for eight days. The family had photographed a mushroom resembling an edible species and had it assessed by AI, but it was in fact a species containing potent toxins. The toxins are not broken down by high-heat cooking, sun-drying, or preparation with garlic, so such processing cannot render them harmless. The account was first reported by a local newspaper in Hubei and was also reported in Japan.