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Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Tokyo police say a man posted over 500,000 AI-made sexual deepfakes resembling about 300 actresses and idols on paid member sites; arrested in January 2026

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a 31-year-old unemployed man on 19 January 2026 on suspicion of displaying obscene electronic records, for posting on member sites obscene images made with image-generation AI to resemble female celebrities, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Police believe that since summer 2023 he posted more than 500,000 sexual deepfakes using images of about 300 actresses and idols and earned about 11 million yen in viewing fees. According to investigative sources, the charge covers a dozen or so obscene images resembling female celebrities posted on two member sites between December 2024 and May 2025. Police say he trained a freely available image-generation AI on the women's images, advertised with sample images on X and Instagram, and took requests from higher-paying members for which celebrity to depict.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
2023
Reported
20 January 2026
Event location
Japan
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
4 claims: 4 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: A freely available image-generation AI that, according to the Tokyo police, the suspect trained on image data of actresses and idols on his home computer to make obscene images resembling them (tool not identified)

What Happened

The arrest. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on 20 January 2026 that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had arrested an unemployed man, 31, on 19 January on suspicion of displaying obscene electronic records, for posting on member sites obscene images made with image-generation AI to resemble female celebrities, which the paper calls sexual deepfakes. According to investigative sources, the charge covers a dozen or so obscene images closely resembling female celebrities that he posted on two member sites between December 2024 and May 2025.

The scale police allege. Police believe that from summer 2023 he posted more than 500,000 sexual deepfakes using images of about 300 actresses and idols and earned about 11 million yen in viewing fees.

How the images were made. Police say he used his home computer to train a freely available image-generation AI on image data of actresses and idols and made obscene images resembling them. He posted sample images on X and Instagram to steer viewers to the two member sites, where part of each viewing fee went to the poster, and he took requests from higher-paying members for which celebrity to depict.

What is not known. The source does not name a tool, report whether any depicted woman responded, or say whether he admitted the charge. Only one report was read; Nikkei's report of the same arrest was paywalled.

Reported harm

According to the Tokyo police, a man used image-generation AI to make sexual deepfakes resembling actresses and idols without their consent and sold access to them on member sites; police believe about 300 women were depicted.

Outcome

Unknown

The Tokyo police arrested the suspect on 19 January 2026 on suspicion of displaying obscene electronic records. Whether he was indicted or tried, and whether he admitted the charge, is not reported in the source read.

What remains unknown

  • Which image-generation tool was used and how investigators established the AI generation.
  • How many women appear in the charged images, and whether any depicted woman responded.
  • Whether the suspect admitted the charge or was indicted, and the outcome.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. According to the Tokyo police and investigative sources as reported by the Yomiuri, the suspect trained a freely available image-generation AI on image data of actresses and idols and used it to make obscene images resembling them, which he posted on paid member sites; police believe more than 500,000 such images of about 300 women. Those generated sexual depictions of real women are the harm. The police do not disclose a tool, and the source does not report how the AI generation was established beyond the investigation's account.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The Tokyo police arrested a man on 19 January 2026 on suspicion of displaying obscene electronic records, for posting on member sites obscene images made with image-generation AI to resemble female celebrities.

Causal attribution. Police action as reported; the AI generation is the police's description.

  • yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    画像生成ＡＩ（人工知能）で女性芸能人に似せて作ったわいせつ画像「性的ディープフェイク」を会員制サイトに掲載したとして、警視庁が１９日 ... わいせつ電磁的記録記録媒体陳列容疑で逮捕したことがわかった。
Reported Police believe that since summer 2023 he posted more than 500,000 sexual deepfakes using images of about 300 actresses and idols and earned about 11 million yen in viewing fees.

Causal attribution. Police belief, not a finding.

  • yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    同庁は、２０２３年夏以降、計約３００人の女優やアイドルの画像を使った５０万点以上の性的ディープフェイクをサイトに掲載し、計約１１００万円の閲覧料を得たとみている。
Reported According to investigative sources, the charge covers a dozen or so obscene images resembling female celebrities posted on two member sites between December 2024 and May 2025.

Causal attribution. Investigative sources' account of the charge.

  • yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    捜査関係者によると、男は２４年１２月～昨年５月、女性芸能人に酷似したわいせつ画像計十数点を二つの会員制サイトに掲載し、不特定多数が閲覧できるようにした疑い。
Reported Police say he trained a freely available image-generation AI on image data of actresses and idols to make obscene images resembling them, and took requests from higher-paying members for which celebrity to depict.

Causal attribution. The AI generation of the images, as described by police and investigative sources.

  • yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
    無料公開されている画像生成ＡＩに女優やアイドルの画像データを学習させ、本人に似せたわいせつ画像を作成。 ... 男は高額プランの契約者から、モデルにしてほしい芸能人の要望も受け付けていたという。

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Japanese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Yomiuri Shimbun report of 20 Jan 2026 (datePublished 2026-01-20T05:00+09:00) relaying the Tokyo police and investigative sources; HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Event countries: Japan. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police made the arrest, and the images were made on the suspect's home computer in Japan and posted on member sites promoted through X and Instagram, as described, so the event country is Japan. The depicted women are described only as actresses and idols, so their countries are not recorded. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the investigating Tokyo police say a man trained a freely available image-generation AI on actresses' and idols' images and posted obscene images resembling them on paid member sites; he was arrested in January 2026. Non-consensual sexual depiction is itself the reported harm. The attribution rests on one report of the police account. No suspect or depicted woman is named.

People described

Female celebrities (actresses and idols) whose likenesses, according to the police, were reproduced in AI-made sexual deepfakes posted on paid member sites; police believe about 300 women were depicted

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

Police believe images of about 300 actresses and idols were used; the charge concerns a dozen or so images whose number of depicted women is not stated, so no count is entered and zero placeholders are used. Paying viewers are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#sexual_deepfake#generative_ai#arrest#japan

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Tokyo police say a man posted over 500,000 AI-made sexual deepfakes resembling about 300 actresses and idols on paid member sites; arrested in January 2026. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-tokyo-police-say-man-posted-ai-made-sexual-deepfakes-resembling-about-300-actresses-and-idols-on-paid-sites

BibTeX

@misc{2023_tokyo_police_say_man_posted_ai_made_sexual_deepfakes_resembling_about_300_actresses_and_idols_on_paid_sites,
  title = {Tokyo police say a man posted over 500,000 AI-made sexual deepfakes resembling about 300 actresses and idols on paid member sites; arrested in January 2026},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-tokyo-police-say-man-posted-ai-made-sexual-deepfakes-resembling-about-300-actresses-and-idols-on-paid-sites}
}

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