Tokyo police say a man used generative AI to turn a woman's junior-high gym photo into nude images for a high-school student; man arrested, student referred
Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department arrested a 32-year-old company employee on 1 August 2026 and referred a 17-year-old high-school student to prosecutors, on suspicion of defamation and public display of child pornography. According to the police, on 11 February 2026 the two, acting together, used generative AI to turn a photo of a woman in her 40s, taken in her first year of junior high school in gym clothes, into two fake nude images, and posted them to a group on social media; the student had asked the man to make the edits. Police say the man is also suspected of posting similar edits of three women in their 20s, that neither suspect knew the women, and that about 3,800 obscene images and videos were found on his phone. The Yomiuri Shimbun, citing investigative sources, reports that police believe he made about 300 such images of women in athletics uniforms or gym clothes and posted about 100, about half at the student's request, and that he admitted the allegations.
- AI system
- Unidentified image tool
- Occurred
- 11 Feb 2026
- Reported
- 3 August 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Exploitation or AbuseReputational Harm
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Privacy · Justice
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- At least 4 people
AI system as recorded: An unidentified generative AI tool that, according to the police, was used to turn real women's photos into fake nude images (tool not named in the reports read)
What Happened
The images. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, as reported by the Sankei Shimbun on 3 August 2026, a 32-year-old company employee and a 17-year-old high-school student acted together on 11 February 2026 to turn a photo of a woman in her 40s, taken when she was in her first year of junior high school and wearing gym clothes, into two fake nude images with generative AI, which were posted to a group on social media. Police say the student downloaded the photo from a social-media group that shared images of female athletes and asked the man to edit it, and that neither suspect knew the women.
Further images. Police say the man is also suspected of posting similar edits of three women in their 20s. About 3,800 obscene images and videos were found on his seized phone, and police were investigating whether he took other requests. The Yomiuri Shimbun, citing investigative sources, reports that police believe he made about 300 such images of women in athletics uniforms or gym clothes and posted about 100 to the group, about half of them at the student's request, and that he told investigators he was happy that the group enjoyed them.
Proceedings. The man was arrested on 1 August on suspicion of defamation and public display under the child pornography law; the student was referred to prosecutors. No charge decision or court outcome is reported.
What is not known. The reports do not name the AI tool or the social-media service, say how the women learned of the images, or describe their response.
Reported harm
According to Tokyo police, fake nude images made with generative AI from a woman's junior-high gym photo were posted to a social-media group, and the man is suspected of posting similar edits of three other women; police treat the posting as defamation.
How Harm Occurred
According to the police, a generative AI tool was used to turn real women's photos, including one taken when the woman was a junior-high pupil, into fake nude images that were posted to a social-media group, which police treat as defamation and public display of child pornography.
Outcome
PendingThe Metropolitan Police Department arrested the man on 1 August 2026 on suspicion of defamation and public display under the child prostitution and pornography law, and referred the 17-year-old student to prosecutors on the same suspicions (Sankei; the Yomiuri reported the referral to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office as planned for 3 August). Police said they were investigating whether the man took other requests. No charge decision or court outcome is reported.
What remains unknown
- Which generative AI tool and which social-media service were used.
- How the women learned of the images and how they responded.
- How many other women are depicted in the roughly 300 images.
- Whether prosecutors charge either suspect and what a court decides.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The investigating Tokyo police say the images were made by processing real women's photos with generative AI into fake nude images ('性的ディープフェイク'), and the man admitted the allegations according to both reports. The AI-generated depiction of the woman, posted to a social-media group, is the harm police treat as defamation. The tool is not named and the technical basis of the police finding is not described.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported According to the police, on 11 February 2026 the man and the student, acting together, used generative AI to turn a photo of a woman in her 40s from her first year of junior high school, in gym clothes, into two fake nude images and posted them to a social-media group.
Causal attribution. Police allegations relayed by two newspapers; both rest on the police investigation, so the claim is reported.
- sankei.com(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
2人の逮捕、書類送検容疑は共謀して2月11日、40代女性が中学1年だったころの体育着姿の画像を生成AIで全裸などに加工し、作成したわいせつな偽画像「性的ディープフェイク」2点をSNS上のグループに投稿したとしている。
- yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
男は２月１１日、実在する４０歳代女性が中学１年時に体操着姿で撮影された写真をもとに、生成ＡＩで性的に加工する「性的ディープフェイク」によって虚偽のわいせつ画像２点を作成し、ＳＮＳに投稿して女性の名誉を傷つけるなどした疑い。逮捕は今月１日。
Reported Police say the man is also suspected of posting similar edits of three women in their 20s, that neither suspect knew the women, and that about 3,800 obscene images and videos were found on his phone.
Causal attribution. Police account via the Sankei.
- sankei.com(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
会社員男は別の20代の女性3人についても、同様に加工したわいせつな画像をSNS上に投稿した疑いが持たれている。 警視庁少年育成課によると、2人と被害女性らに面識はなかった。 押収した会社員男のスマートフォンから、わいせつな画像や動画計約3800点が見つかっており、警視庁はほかにも依頼を受けていたとみて捜査している。
Reported The Yomiuri, citing investigative sources, reports that police believe the man made about 300 such images and posted about 100, about half at the student's request, and that he admitted the allegations.
Causal attribution. Investigative sources via the Yomiuri.
- yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
同庁は、男が同様に生成ＡＩを悪用して、陸上のユニホームや体操着姿の女性を加工したわいせつ画像約３００枚を作成し、ＳＮＳ上のグループに１００枚程度を投稿したとみている。このうち半数程度は男子生徒の依頼で作成したとみられるという。 男は調べに、「グループのみんなに喜んでもらえるのがうれしかった」などと容疑を認めている。
Reported The man was arrested on 1 August 2026 and the student was to be referred to prosecutors on 3 August on suspicion of public display of child pornography and other offences.
Causal attribution. Procedural status reported by the Yomiuri.
- yomiuri.co.jp(opens in new tab) supports · Japanese
逮捕は今月１日。 ... 同庁は３日、この男子生徒についても、児童買春・児童ポルノ禁止法違反（公然陳列）容疑などで東京地検に書類送検する方針。
Sources
2 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Sankei Shimbun, 3 Aug 2026: man arrested and high-school student referred over AI nude edits of a woman's junior-high gym photo(opens in new tab)
s1 · sankei.com · News report · Japanese · Inspected · 3 August 2026 · Primary
- Yomiuri Shimbun, 3 Aug 2026: company employee arrested over generative-AI obscene gym-clothes images(opens in new tab)
s2 · yomiuri.co.jp · News report · Japanese · Inspected · 3 August 2026
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in Japanese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer. Sankei Shimbun, 3 Aug 2026, attributing the account to the Metropolitan Police Department (juvenile division). HTTP 200. Applies to s1.
Read in Japanese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer. Yomiuri Shimbun, 3 Aug 2026, citing investigative sources; its own reporting of the same police investigation. HTTP 200. Applies to s2.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The investigation is by Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and the reports give the suspects' prefectures of residence, but they do not say where the images were made or posted from or where the women live; residence and the investigating force are not used to locate the event.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-21: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): Tokyo police say generative AI was used to turn a woman's junior-high photo into fake nude images posted online, at a high-school student's request, and the man admitted it. No suspect or victim is named.
People described
A woman in her 40s whose photo from her first year of junior high school was turned into fake nude images, and three women in their 20s whose images police suspect were edited the same way; none knew the suspects, according to the police
People reported harmed in this case
At least 4 people
0 AI participants · 4 other people harmed
Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.
Four women: the woman in her 40s named in the joint arrest and referral allegation, and three women in their 20s whose edited images police suspect the man posted (Sankei). The Yomiuri's police-sourced figure of about 300 images of women is a count of images, not people, so further depicted women are unquantified. The suspects are not counted.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Tokyo police say a man used generative AI to turn a woman's junior-high gym photo into nude images for a high-school student; man arrested, student referred. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-tokyo-police-say-man-used-generative-ai-to-make-nude-images-from-womans-junior-high-gym-photo-at-high-school-students-request
BibTeX
@misc{2026_tokyo_police_say_man_used_generative_ai_to_make_nude_images_from_womans_junior_high_gym_photo_at_high_school_students_request,
title = {Tokyo police say a man used generative AI to turn a woman's junior-high gym photo into nude images for a high-school student; man arrested, student referred},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-tokyo-police-say-man-used-generative-ai-to-make-nude-images-from-womans-junior-high-gym-photo-at-high-school-students-request}
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