{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T09:24:12.239Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"investigation","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2023","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":2,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":1,"coreRelations":2,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2023-slovakia-ai-voice-deepfake-of-party-leader-and-journalist-discussing-election-rigging-spread-during-moratorium","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"Len dva dni pred parlamentnými voľbami zdieľali tisíce slovenských používateľov sociálnych sietí podozrivý zvukový súbor, ktorý bol prezentovaný ako rozhovor medzi Michalom Šimečkom, predsedom Progresívneho Slovenska (PS), a Monikou Tódovou, novinárkou Denníka N. ... Na nahrávke hovoria, že voľby 30. septembra budú zmanipulované v prospech PS.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Neznámy dezinformátor alebo dezinformátori vypustili tesne pred voľbami 2023 novú formu hoaxu, ktorý mal potenciál ovplyvniť výsledky hlasovania. Terčom takzvaného deepfaku – počítačom vyrobenej nahrávky – sa stali predseda PS Michal Šimečka a novinárka Denníka N Monika Tódová. V nahrávke zneli ich hlasy tak, akoby sa dohodovali o manipulácii volieb.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Shortly before Slovakia's 2023 parliamentary election, an audio file spread on social media in which the voices of the Progressive Slovakia leader and a Denník N journalist appear to discuss rigging the election.","causal_attribution":"AFP observed the posts and file itself; Denník N reports the same file from its own position as the journalist's employer."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Na základe nášho vyhodnotenia predmetná nahrávka vykazuje viaceré znaky, že je vytvorená umelou inteligenciou pomocou algoritmov umožňujúcich vytvorenie syntetického/umelého hlasu vytrénovaného na hlasoch reálnych osôb (tzv. audio deepfake) ... Preukazuje to tón hlasu, neprirodzená dikcia, výber slov a podobne.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The director of the Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats told AFP that the centre's evaluation found several signs that the recording was created with AI algorithms producing a synthetic voice trained on real people's voices, citing tone, unnatural diction and word choice.","causal_attribution":"Government examining unit's assessment as quoted by AFP; its full method is not published."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Viacerí analytici však pre agentúru AFP na základe hneď niekoľkých faktorov zvukového záznamu uviedli, že nahrávka je podvod vytvorený umelou inteligenciou a technológiou syntetického hlasu.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Several analysts consulted by AFP said, on the basis of several features of the recording, that it was a fake created with artificial intelligence and synthetic-voice technology.","causal_attribution":"Expert assessments gathered by AFP; one expert said it could alternatively be spliced from other calls."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"bývalý poslanec strany Sme Rodina, ktorý ho 28. septembra zverejnil na svojom facebookovom účte. ... napísal v príspevku, ktorý nazbieral viac ako 2200 zdieľaní. ... Jeden z príspevkov na Facebooku bol zdieľaný viac ako 3 000-krát pred tým, ako bol odstránený.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A former member of parliament posted the recording on Facebook on 28 September as authentic and called the party leader a traitor and fraudster, in a post shared more than 2,200 times; another Facebook post was shared more than 3,000 times before removal.","causal_attribution":"AFP's observation of the posts."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Naši súperi vytvorili ďalšie falošné video s hlasom od umelej inteligencie","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The party leader called the recording fake and said his opponents had made another fake video with an AI voice.","causal_attribution":"Depicted person's own statement, relayed by AFP."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Novinárkin advokát Tomáš Kamenec postavil trestné oznámenie na paragrafoch o ohováraní a poškodzovaní cudzích práv. ... Jej trestné oznámenie polícia prvýkrát odmietla už po pár týždňoch. Vyšetrovateľ síce uznal, že išlo o zjavný podvrh, podľa neho však bol málo presvedčivý, a teda nemohol ovplyvniť významnejšiu skupinu voličov. ... S postupom polície sa vtedy nestotožnil ani prokurátor Okresnej prokuratúry Bratislava III, ktorý vyšetrovateľom nariadil prípad riadne prešetriť.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The journalist filed a criminal complaint through her lawyer on defamation and interference with others' rights; police first dismissed it, saying the fake was obvious and unconvincing, and the district prosecutor then ordered a proper investigation.","causal_attribution":"Reported by the journalist's employer; the police and prosecutor decisions themselves were not read."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Vyšetrovateľka Okresného riaditeľstva Bratislava III prerušila trestné stíhanie s vysvetlením, že „sa nepodarilo zistiť skutočnosti oprávňujúce vykonať trestné stíhanie voči konkrétnej osobe“. ... Novinárka Tódová podala prostredníctvom advokátskej kancelárie Paul Q proti tomuto rozhodnutiu sťažnosť.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"After almost a year, an investigator suspended the prosecution because no specific suspect could be identified, and the journalist filed a complaint against that decision.","causal_attribution":"Reported by the journalist's employer."}],"effects":[{"label":"party leader and journalist falsely depicted plotting election fraud; recording spread as genuine; criminal complaint filed","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://fakty.afp.com/doc.afp.com.33WY9LF","kind":"fact_check","access":"read","language":"sk","translation_note":"Read in Slovak 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. AFP Fakty fact-check published 28 Sep 2023 21:51, updated 29 Apr 2024; direct fetch 403, read in full from an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2024id_/).","independence_group":"afp-fakty-sep-2023"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://dennikn.sk/4249286/policia-povedala-ze-nevie-vypatrat-autora-deepfaku-ktory-sa-snazil-ovplyvnit-volby/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"sk","translation_note":"Read in Slovak 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. Denník N report of 27 Oct 2024; Denník N employs the depicted journalist. Direct fetch 403, read in full from an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2025id_/).","independence_group":"dennik-n-oct-2024"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["public_life","justice"],"unknowns":["Who made the recording and with which tool.","How the hybrid-threats centre and the analysts assessed the recording beyond the features they cite.","What happened to the journalist's complaint against the 2024 suspension; later reports were not read for this review."],"geography":{"basis":"AFP reports the file spread among Slovak social-media users before the Slovak parliamentary election, so the event country is Slovakia. The party leader leads a Slovak party and the journalist works for the Slovak daily Denník N and filed her complaint with Slovak police (Denník N), so both are placed in Slovakia. No court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["SK"],"affected_person_countries":["SK"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Slovak Interior Ministry's hybrid-threats centre, which evaluated the recording, said it showed signs of AI synthetic-voice generation, and the imitated voices of a party leader and a journalist were spread as a record of them plotting election fraud. The leader denounced it and the journalist filed a criminal complaint for defamation, which police later suspended for want of a suspect.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-22"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"AFP Fakty quotes the director of the Slovak Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats saying that the centre's evaluation of this recording found several signs that it was created with AI algorithms producing a synthetic voice trained on real people's voices, citing tone, unnatural diction and word choice; several analysts consulted by AFP said the same on the basis of features of the recording. The generated voices of the party leader and the journalist were what spread as a supposed record of them plotting election fraud. The tool is not identified, and one expert said the file could alternatively have been spliced from other calls.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Slovakia: audio of a party leader and a journalist discussing vote rigging, which a ministry unit said showed signs of AI, spread before the 2023 election","summary":"Two days before Slovakia's parliamentary election of 30 September 2023, during the pre-election moratorium, an audio file presented as a phone call between Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Šimečka and Denník N journalist Monika Tódová spread on Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and chain e-mails. In it, the two voices discuss rigging the election in the party's favour. The director of the Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats told AFP that the ministry's evaluation found several signs that the recording was created with AI synthetic-voice algorithms trained on real people's voices, and other analysts consulted by AFP said it was an AI-made fake. A former member of parliament shared it as authentic, calling Šimečka a traitor and fraudster. Šimečka called it fake. Tódová filed a criminal complaint for defamation; according to Denník N, police first dismissed it, a prosecutor ordered an investigation, and in 2024 an investigator suspended the case because no suspect could be identified.","incidentDate":"2023-09-28","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2023-09-28","aiSystem":"Synthetic-voice (audio deepfake) generation imitating the voices of a party leader and a journalist, according to the Slovak Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats and analysts consulted by AFP (tool not identified)","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to AFP Fakty and Denník N, a party leader and a journalist were falsely depicted, through imitated voices that the Interior Ministry's hybrid-threats centre said showed signs of AI generation, as plotting to rig an election; the file spread widely during the moratorium, a former MP presented it as genuine and called the leader a traitor, the leader denounced it, and the journalist filed a criminal complaint for defamation.","frameworkFacets":[],"pathwayDirection":"outward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Two depicted people, the party leader and the journalist, each with a reported objection (the leader's public denial reported by AFP; the journalist's criminal complaint reported by Denník N). Voters who heard or shared the file are an audience and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"SK","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://fakty.afp.com/doc.afp.com.33WY9LF","primarySourceLabel":"AFP Fakty, 28 Sep 2023: Údajná nahrávka telefonátu predsedu PS a novinárky Denníka N vykazuje podľa expertov početné známky manipulácie","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-22T03:05:17.620696+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-22T03:05:17.620696+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice_clone","audio_deepfake","election","journalist","defamation","slovakia"]},{"id":"2023-merseyside-police-say-man-used-ai-to-make-indecent-pseudo-images-of-children-and-sexual-deepfakes-jailed","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child, sharing a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state for the purpose of sexual gratification and voyeurism. ... He was jailed for two years and two months yesterday, Tuesday 22 October, at Liverpool Crown Court.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"He was jailed for two years and two months on October 22 at Liverpool Crown Court.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The man pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child, sharing a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state for the purpose of sexual gratification, and voyeurism, and was jailed for two years and two months at Liverpool Crown Court on 22 October 2024.","causal_attribution":"Court outcome as announced by the police; no AI role is stated in the offence names."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"As part of a complex investigation, it was also found that between July 2023 and January 2024, ... made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Merseyside Police say an investigation found that between July 2023 and January 2024 the man made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology.","causal_attribution":"The investigating police attribute the 266 pseudo-images to AI technology; they do not name the tool or say how they established its use."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"including creating and sharing digitally altered pornographic images of children and women – known more commonly as ‘deepfakes’. ... A ‘deepfake’ is an image or video that has been digitally altered with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace the face of one person with the face of another. ... used the faces of real women and children without their knowledge to create pornographic images and shared them online.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"using artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the faces of real women and children before sharing them online, Merseyside Police said.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The police say the man used the faces of real women and children without their knowledge to create pornographic images and shared them online, and describe the images as digitally altered images known as deepfakes, which the release defines as images altered with the help of AI to replace one person's face with another's.","causal_attribution":"Police account; the release's own AI statement (c2) concerns the pseudo-images of children, and the BBC relay extends the AI wording to the women's images."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Knowing those images of me are out there circulating the internet is so violating. ... A second woman who was targeted in the same way said in her Victim Impact Statement","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"I worry when a man looks at me for too long and panic that he may have seen the images.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Two women gave victim impact statements, published by the police, describing a sense of violation, fear that others had seen the images, anxiety and difficulty sleeping.","causal_attribution":"The statements describe harm from the pornographic images; the sources do not say whether these women's images were made with AI."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"he obviously didn't know how to create these deepfake images at that point, so he had uploaded hundreds of headshots of me off my Facebook, Instagram, family photos that were shared in our groupchat and he had asked people to deface them. ... there was no law against deepfake pornography at the time so technically no crime had been committed. ... was arrested in January 2023, with police pinning their investigation on the missing black heels. ... It never went to the Crown Prosecution Service. They decided on that day there was not a case to be answered.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"opened Facebook in September 2022, she found an anonymous message ... Then a quick Google search of the username uncovered a series of digitally altered images, with her face superimposed onto the naked bodies of other women. ... There was no law against deepfake pornography at the time so technically no crime had been committed","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"A woman related to the man by marriage says the explicit images of her that she found online after anonymous messages in September 2022 were made by other people he had asked to deface her photos, because he did not then know how to make deepfakes himself, and that the case never went to prosecutors after his arrest in January 2023; the Echo and SWNS report that no law then covered such images.","causal_attribution":"In this account the earlier images of her were made by other people he asked to deface her photos (the method is not stated); they predate the period the police describe and are context, not among the AI-made images the police count."}],"effects":[{"label":"real children's and women's faces used in sexual images, which the police say included 266 AI-made pseudo-images of children","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"two women describe violation, anxiety and fear after discovering the images","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.merseyside.police.uk/news/merseyside/news/2024/october/southport-man-jailed-for-creating-digitally-altered-pornographic-images-of-children-and-women/","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-20 through an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2024id_/...), because the live page returned HTTP 403; no translation needed.","independence_group":"merseyside-police-oct-2024"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3820nq7zo","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-20; HTTP 200. BBC report relaying the Merseyside Police release and victim impact statements, the same police origin as s1.","independence_group":"merseyside-police-oct-2024"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://metro.co.uk/2024/10/23/man-jailed-making-indecent-deepfake-images-children-women-21851607/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-20; HTTP 200. Metro report reproducing the police release wording, the same police origin as s1.","independence_group":"merseyside-police-oct-2024"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mums-deepfake-horror-brother-law-33992504","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-20 through an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2026id_/...), because the live page returned an empty HTTP 202; interview with a woman related to the man by marriage.","independence_group":"relative-interviews-2026"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.jambalayanews.com/news/national/woman-victim-of-deepfake-porn-by-family-member-helps-change-law/article_c5780438-a23f-5667-8247-deca2c6d5cce.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-20; HTTP 200. SWNS feature syndicated by Jambalaya News, based on an interview with the same woman as s4, so not independent of s4.","independence_group":"relative-interviews-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["Which AI tool was used and how the police established its use.","How many children and women were depicted; 266 is the police count of AI-made pseudo-images of children.","Whether the two women who gave victim impact statements were depicted in AI-made images or in images made by other means.","Where the images were shared online and whether they were removed."],"geography":{"basis":"The case was investigated by Merseyside Police and sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court, so the court country is the United Kingdom (GB). The sources describe the man as from Southport but do not say where the images were made, uploaded or viewed, or where the depicted children and women live, so no event or affected-person country is recorded.","court_countries":["GB"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the investigating Merseyside Police say the man made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology and used real women's and children's faces in pornographic images he shared online; he pleaded guilty and was jailed. The technical basis of the police AI attribution is undisclosed, and a relative's account that her earlier images were edited by other people is recorded as context. No victim is named.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-20"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The investigating Merseyside Police say the man made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology between July 2023 and January 2024 and that he used the faces of real women and children without their knowledge in pornographic images he shared online. The AI-made depictions of real people were the sexual images at the centre of the offences. The police do not name the tool or say how they established its use, and their explicit statement of AI use concerns the pseudo-images of children; the images of women are called deepfakes, which the release defines as images altered with the help of AI.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Merseyside police say a man used AI to make 266 indecent pseudo-images of children and made sexual deepfakes of real women; he was jailed in 2024","summary":"Merseyside Police said in October 2024 that a Southport man had been jailed for two years and two months at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child, sharing an intimate photograph or film, and voyeurism. According to the police, an investigation found that between July 2023 and January 2024 he made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology, and that he used the faces of real women and children without their knowledge to create pornographic images, which the force calls deepfakes, and shared them online. Two women described in victim impact statements lasting fear, anxiety and a sense of violation. A woman related to him by marriage later told the Liverpool Echo that explicit images of her, which she found online after anonymous messages in September 2022, were made by other people he had asked to deface her photos, and that the case never went to prosecutors after his arrest in January 2023.","incidentDate":"2023-07-01","incidentEndDate":"2024-01-31","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2024-10-23","aiSystem":"Unnamed AI technology that Merseyside Police say the man used to make indecent pseudo-images of children (tool not identified)","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Merseyside Police say the man made 266 indecent pseudo-images of children using AI technology between July 2023 and January 2024, and used the faces of real women and children without their knowledge in pornographic images he shared online; two women described lasting anxiety and a sense of violation.","frameworkFacets":[],"pathwayDirection":"outward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"unquantified","affectedCountEvidence":"No reliable count: the police say real children's and women's faces were used but give no number of people depicted (266 is a count of images). Two women gave victim impact statements, but the sources do not establish that their images were among those the police tie to AI, so they are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"GB","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.merseyside.police.uk/news/merseyside/news/2024/october/southport-man-jailed-for-creating-digitally-altered-pornographic-images-of-children-and-women/","primarySourceLabel":"Merseyside Police, 23 Oct 2024: Southport man jailed for creating digitally altered pornographic images of children and women","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-20T03:04:09.115741+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-20T03:04:09.115741+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["ai_generated_images","pseudo_images_of_children","sexual_deepfakes","guilty_plea","united_kingdom"]}]}