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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Perth woman tells PerthNow men at a Scarborough pub covertly photographed her and a friend and used an AI program to make sexualised images shown to the pair

A Perth woman told PerthNow (report carried by The West Australian and The Nightly, 7 October 2026) that on a Friday night at a Scarborough venue a group of eight to ten men sitting nearby began bantering with her and a friend, and that one of them photographed her without her knowledge, put the photo into an AI program and altered it into sexualised content showing her kissing several of the men. According to her account the men passed the image around and showed it to the two women while laughing, and had also made sexual content from a photo of her friend. The women reported the men to the venue, which banned them, and to Western Australia Police; in messages seen by PerthNow a detective wrote that there was at that point no law covering AI-created photos or media, while a WA Police spokesperson said state legislation criminalises non-consensual distribution of intimate images including AI-altered ones and that a statutory review is considering possession. The man who allegedly made the image later messaged her that he had made it as a joke and apologised. The images are not reported to have been distributed online; the tool is not identified; the account is the woman's own, with the man's private messages and the police correspondence as described by the newspaper.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
2 Oct 2026
Reported
7 October 2026
Event location
Australia
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbusePsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Everyday life · Privacy
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: An AI image program, as described by the depicted woman, into which a covertly taken photograph was uploaded and altered into sexualised content (tool not identified)

What Happened

The event. PerthNow reporter Tegwen Bescoby's account, published by The West Australian and The Nightly on 7 October 2026, relays a Perth woman's description of a Friday night at a Scarborough venue: a group of eight to ten men at a nearby table began friendly banter with her and a close friend; one of the men took her photo without her knowing, uploaded it into an AI program and altered it into sexualised content showing her kissing several of the men. One of the men passed the image around and showed it to her and her friend while the group laughed. The report says the men had also taken an image of her friend and used AI to create sexual content featuring her.

Reporting and responses. After leaving the venue and reflecting on what had happened, the women reported the patron to the venue and to Western Australia Police. The venue, according to the woman, took the report seriously and banned the men. In communication seen by PerthNow a detective wrote that the law and law enforcement can be slow behind changing technology and that at that point there was no law determining AI-created photos or media. A WA Police spokesperson told PerthNow that Western Australian legislation criminalises the non-consensual distribution or threatened distribution of intimate images, including images created or altered using AI, and that the force is in consultation on a statutory review considering possession of AI-generated or manipulated intimate content. The report notes that most state legislation focuses on distribution, which did not happen here because the women were shown the image in person.

Aftermath. The woman posted about the events on Instagram and TikTok; the TikTok reached 72,000 views in two days and commenters urged her to contact the eSafety Commissioner. The man who allegedly created the images messaged her privately that he had made the AI picture as a joke for a friend and apologised; PerthNow saw the messages. The tool is not identified, no charge is reported, and the account rests on the woman's own statements, the correspondence PerthNow saw and the police spokesperson's statement.

Reported harm

Two women were, by one of them's account to PerthNow, covertly photographed and depicted in AI-altered sexualised images that the men who made them showed to the pair while laughing; the woman describes the experience as horrifying and degrading and reports frustration that police could not act.

Outcome

Ongoing

According to the woman's account, the venue banned the men and the women reported the matter to WA Police; a detective's message said there was no law covering AI-created photos, and a WA Police spokesperson pointed to state offences for non-consensual distribution of intimate images including AI-altered ones and to a statutory review considering possession. The man who allegedly made the image apologised by private message. No charge is reported. The woman's TikTok about the events drew 72,000 views in two days and commenters urged her to contact the eSafety Commissioner.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI program was used and whether the images were saved, sent or posted anywhere beyond being shown in person; the report says distribution did not happen.
  • Whether WA Police opened an investigation or any charge followed; the detective's message and the spokesperson's general statement are the only police material.
  • The friend's own account; she has not spoken in the report.
  • The exact date: the report published on 7 October 2026 says 'Friday night' and the TikTok count covers two days, giving 2 October 2026 by computation, which no body states directly.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The depicted woman told PerthNow that a man put a covert photo of her into AI and altered it into sexualised content showing her kissing several of the men, and that the men showed the result to her and her friend; the man who allegedly made it wrote to her that he 'made the AI picture as a joke'. The generated images depicted the two women in sexual scenes they were never in (depicted_or_impersonated) and being shown them is the reported harm. The description of the method is the woman's and the man's own; the program is not identified and no examiner or police finding describes the images.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported On a Friday night at a Scarborough (Perth) venue, one of a group of eight to ten men at a nearby table photographed a woman without her knowledge, put the photo into an AI program and altered it into sexualised content showing her kissing several of the men.

Causal attribution. The depicted woman's own account to PerthNow; no police finding or examination of the images is described.

  • thenightly.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'when a group of eight to 10 men sitting nearby began engaging in friendly banter with the pair.'; '“I had no idea he had taken a photo of me, then he put it into AI and altered the picture into sexualised content,”'; 'saying the picture showed her making out with several of the men in the group.'
Reported The men passed the altered image around and showed it to the woman and her friend while laughing, and had also made AI sexual content from a photo of her friend.

Causal attribution. The woman's account as quoted by PerthNow and paraphrased by Brit Brief; the friend has not spoken publicly in the report.

Reported The women reported the men to the venue, which banned them, and to Western Australia Police; in correspondence seen by PerthNow a detective wrote that there was at that point no law covering AI-created photos or media.

Causal attribution. The woman's account of the venue's response and the detective's message as described and quoted by PerthNow; the venue did not confirm the ban length to the newspaper.

  • thenightly.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'contacted both the venue and law enforcement to report the patron.'; 'revealing the men had been banned from the venue over the stunt.'; '“At this point, there is no law that determines artificial intelligent created photos or media.”'
Reported A WA Police spokesperson said Western Australian legislation criminalises the non-consensual distribution or threatened distribution of intimate images, including images created or altered using AI, and that a statutory review is considering possession of AI-generated or manipulated intimate content.

Causal attribution. WA Police spokesperson's statement to PerthNow, a general statement of the law that does not address this report's handling.

  • thenightly.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · English
    '“Western Australian legislation criminalises the non-consensual distribution, or threatened distribution of intimate images, including images that have been created or altered using AI,” a spokesperson said.'; 'including in relation to the possession of AI-generated or manipulated intimate content without consent.'
Reported The man who allegedly created the images later messaged the woman that he had made the AI picture as a joke for a friend and apologised.

Causal attribution. Private messages seen by PerthNow, as quoted; the sender's identity rests on the newspaper's description of him as the man who allegedly created the images.

  • thenightly.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'the man who allegedly created the sexualised images of her.'; '“I made the AI picture as a joke to show (my friend) because we have a running joke with him and his girlfriend,”'; '“I didn’t want to make you feel that way but it clearly wasn’t a joke to you . . . that was wrong of me and you didn’t deserve any of that.”'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-10 on thenightly.com.au (HTTP 200), where The West Australian's PerthNow report by Tegwen Bescoby of 7 October 2026 is republished; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read the article. Applies to s1.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-10 on britbrief.co.uk (HTTP 200); a rewrite of the PerthNow report that quotes it, kept in the same independence group; no translation was involved. Applies to s2.

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

Event: the report places the venue in Scarborough and describes the woman as a Perth woman, with Western Australia Police receiving the report. Affected persons: both women were at the Perth venue and the one who spoke is described as a Perth woman. No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-10: Published as a core case on one attributed newspaper account: the depicted woman describes to PerthNow a covert photo altered by an AI program into sexualised images of her and her friend, shown to them by the men who made them, with the alleged maker's apology and police correspondence seen by the newspaper. All claims are attributed to the woman, the alleged maker's messages or WA Police; the tool, any distribution and any police action are recorded as unknown. Public text omits the woman's name, age and occupation.

People described

Two adult women drinking at a Scarborough (Perth) venue who were covertly photographed by men at a nearby table and then shown AI-altered sexualised images of themselves; one of them described the events to PerthNow

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

Two depicted women: the woman who spoke to PerthNow and her friend, both described as having had AI sexual content made from covert photos. The men used the tool, so participant_users_affected_min is 0. Viewers of the TikTok are not counted.

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

Tags

#deepfake#non-consensual intimate imagery#image generation#australia#privacy

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Perth woman tells PerthNow men at a Scarborough pub covertly photographed her and a friend and used an AI program to make sexualised images shown to the pair. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-perth-pub-patrons-ai-sexualised-images-of-two-women-shown-to-them

BibTeX

@misc{2026_perth_pub_patrons_ai_sexualised_images_of_two_women_shown_to_them,
  title = {Perth woman tells PerthNow men at a Scarborough pub covertly photographed her and a friend and used an AI program to make sexualised images shown to the pair},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-perth-pub-patrons-ai-sexualised-images-of-two-women-shown-to-them}
}

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