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NOPE
Low reported severity Criminal Charges

Lower Austria: after a woman posted AI-generated images showing two men on WhatsApp, her on-off partner, who told the court she wanted to make him jealous, drove to her flat carrying three knives and kicked her door so hard that he broke his toes; the Korneuburg regional court granted diversion with a EUR 400 fine

The Kronen Zeitung reported on 7 September 2026 a hearing at the Landesgericht Korneuburg. A woman from Lower Austria had posted on WhatsApp AI-generated images showing two men, and the 46-year-old German man with whom she had an on-off relationship took it badly. On 12 May, according to the report, he went to her flat carrying three knives (a utility knife, a pocket knife and a kitchen knife), rang, knocked and tried to call her, then tried to kick in the front door with such force that he broke his toes. He told the court she had wanted to make him jealous, that he was drunk, and that he had brought the knives to defend himself against the two male visitors. The woman eventually opened the door herself; there was no violence or threat, and there were no men. Prosecutors treated it as attempted trespass. Because he promised to continue alcohol therapy, the court granted diversion: the case will be dropped if he pays a EUR 400 fine within six months.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
7 September 2026
Event location
Austria
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Physical InjuryLegal HarmRelationship Disruption
Whose AI use
Their own AI use · Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Relationships · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
3 claims: 3 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 2 people

AI system as recorded: Unidentified image-generation tool used to make pictures of two men; the images were shared on WhatsApp

What Happened

The account comes from one court report by Sophie Pratschner in the Kronen Zeitung (7 September 2026). According to the report, the woman posted a picture, AI-generated, showing two men on WhatsApp; the defendant said 'She wanted to make me jealous. She knew that works.' The report says that on 12 May (the year is not stated) he went to her flat with three knives, rang, knocked and tried to call her without response, then tried to kick in the entrance door with full force. The judge stated that he had kicked so hard that he broke his toes, which he confirmed. He said he was 'pretty upset and drunk' and acknowledged an alcohol problem, and said he had brought the knives, listed in the charge as a utility knife, a pocket knife and a kitchen knife, to defend himself against the two male visitors. The woman then opened the door herself. The report says there was no violence and no threats, and 'of the AI affairs there was of course no trace'. The source does not name the image tool, does not say whether the woman appears in the images, and does not report her own account or any effect on her beyond the attempted entry.

Reported harm

According to a Kronen Zeitung court report, a man who took AI-generated images of two men, posted by his on-off partner, as real went to her flat carrying three knives and kicked her door, breaking his toes; he was prosecuted for attempted trespass and received diversion with a EUR 400 fine, and the relationship ended.

Outcome

Resolved

Prosecuted for attempted trespass (versuchter Hausfriedensbruch) at the Landesgericht Korneuburg; at the hearing reported on 7 September 2026 the court granted diversion on his promise to continue alcohol therapy. He has six months to pay a EUR 400 fine, after which the proceedings are finally discontinued (Kronen Zeitung). He said he intends to avoid contact with the woman.

What remains unknown

  • The year of the 12 May incident (the report gives only the day and month).
  • Which AI tool produced the images and whether the woman appears in them.
  • The woman's own account and any effect on her beyond the attempted entry.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The Kronen Zeitung court report describes the images the woman posted as AI-generated ('KI-generiert'); the tool is not named and the images were not inspected.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The woman posted on WhatsApp AI-generated images showing two men; the man, with whom she had an on-off relationship, said she did it to make him jealous.

Causal attribution. Court report; the motive is the defendant's account.

  • krone.at(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Auf WhatsApp veröffentlichte sie ein Bild mit zwei Männern – KI-generiert! Der Deutsche (46), mit dem sie eine On-Off-Beziehung führte, bekam das mehr als in den falschen Hals.'; '„Sie wollte mich eifersüchtig machen. Sie hat gewusst, dass das funktioniert“, erzählt er, dass seine On-Off-Freundin, nur um ihn wütend zu machen, KI-generierte Bilder mit gleich zwei anderen Männern auf WhatsApp veröffentlicht hatte.'
Reported The man went to the woman's flat carrying three knives, rang, knocked and tried to call her, then tried to kick in the entrance door; he said the knives were to defend himself against the two male visitors. She eventually opened the door; there was no violence or threat and no men were there.

Causal attribution. Court report quoting the charge and the defendant; he links his conduct to the images.

  • krone.at(opens in new tab) supports · German
    'Denn mit gleich drei Messern sei der Deutsche zur Wohnung der Frau. Dort habe er angeläutet, angeklopft und versucht sie anzurufen – keine Reaktion.'; 'Denn dann versuchte der 46-Jährige die Eingangstüre einzutreten – mit voller Wucht.'; 'Mit den Messern – laut Strafantrag ein Stanleymesser, ein Taschenmesser und ein Küchenmesser – habe er sich gegen die zwei männlichen Besucher verteidigen wollen.'; 'Letztlich öffnete ihm die Frau dann selbst die Türe. Zu Gewalt oder Drohungen kam es nicht. Auch von den KI-Affären fehlte natürlich jede Spur.'
Reported He broke his toes kicking the door; prosecutors treated the incident as attempted trespass, and the Korneuburg court granted diversion with a EUR 400 fine payable within six months, on his promise to continue alcohol therapy.

Causal attribution. Court report. He was drunk and acknowledged an alcohol problem, which the report presents alongside the images.

  • krone.at(opens in new tab) supports · German
    '„Sie haben so fest zu getreten, dass Sie sich die Zehen gebrochen haben“, stellt der Richter fest. „Korrekt“, sagt der gelernte Tischler mit gesenktem Kopf.'; 'Und was danach folgte, qualifiziert die Staatsanwaltschaft als versuchten Hausfriedensbruch.'; 'Weil er verspricht weiterhin eine Alkoholtherapie zu machen, gibt es eine Diversion. Er hat sechs Monate Zeit eine Geldbuße in Höhe von 400 Euro zu bezahlen, dann wird das Verfahren endgültig eingestellt.'
  • krone.at(opens in new tab) context · German
    '„Ich war ziemlich aufgebracht und betrunken“, spricht der Deutsche sein Alkoholproblem an.'

Sources

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

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Full German body read by curl on 2026-09-29 (court report by Sophie Pratschner, published 7 September 2026 17:00). Researcher's English rendering; no human translation. Applies to s1.

Event countries: Austria. Affected-person countries: Austria. Court countries: Austria.

The report calls the woman a Lower Austrian ('Niederösterreicherin') and the hearing took place at the Landesgericht Korneuburg in Lower Austria; the flat is hers. The man is described as German; where he lives is not stated, so AT is recorded for affected persons on the basis of the woman only.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: Published as a concrete court-reported case in which AI-generated images of non-existent men, shared to provoke jealousy, preceded an armed attempt to enter a woman's flat, the man's injury and his prosecution. It rests on a single Kronen Zeitung court report; neither person is named.

People described

A woman in Lower Austria (not named in the source), whose door was kicked by her armed on-off partner after she shared the AI-generated images, and the 46-year-old German man (not named), who believed the pictured men were real, broke his toes and was prosecuted

People reported harmed in this case

At least 2 people

1 AI participant · 1 other person harmed

The woman who posted the AI-generated images (1 participant user): the report says the man tried to kick in the entrance door of her flat while carrying three knives, which prosecutors charged as attempted trespass; the report states there was no violence or threat and gives no account from her, so no further harm to her is recorded. The man (1 other person): he believed the pictured men were real, broke his toes kicking the door and was prosecuted. Documented minimum 2.

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

Tags

#ai-generated-image#whatsapp#jealousy#attempted-trespass#diversion#austria#lower-austria#court-report#german-language

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Lower Austria: after a woman posted AI-generated images showing two men on WhatsApp, her on-off partner, who told the court she wanted to make him jealous, drove to her flat carrying three knives and kicked her door so hard that he broke his toes; the Korneuburg regional court granted diversion with a EUR 400 fine. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-korneuburg-ai-generated-images-other-men-partner-kicked-door-knives

BibTeX

@misc{2026_korneuburg_ai_generated_images_other_men_partner_kicked_door_knives,
  title = {Lower Austria: after a woman posted AI-generated images showing two men on WhatsApp, her on-off partner, who told the court she wanted to make him jealous, drove to her flat carrying three knives and kicked her door so hard that he broke his toes; the Korneuburg regional court granted diversion with a EUR 400 fine},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-korneuburg-ai-generated-images-other-men-partner-kicked-door-knives}
}

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