{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-20T07:15:32.120Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"sexual_deepfakes","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2023","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":1,"coreRelations":1,"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-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"]}]}