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| - WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Photos show NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott in hospital.
OUR VERDICT
False. The images were created using artificial intelligence.
AAP FACTCHECK - Foreign-run Facebook pages are sharing AI-generated images to exploit the cancer diagnosis of a hero police officer who ended a stabbing massacre in a Sydney shopping centre.
Google's artificial intelligence (AI) detection tool indicates the images of NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott were generated using the tech company's AI image generation tools.
The posts featuring the images alongside emotional captions are engagement bait designed to direct users to click links to external websites.
Insp Scott was widely praised for running towards and then shooting dead Joel Cauchi to end his stabbing attack at Bondi Junction in Sydney's east in April 2024.
In January 2026, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed the mother-of-two had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.
A Facebook post features a collage of images, including three genuine photos of her police uniform and at the scene of the 2024 attack.
"THE 'STUNNING' REACTION: Australia rallies behind Bondi hero Amy Scott as a remarkable sum is raised overnight — after one powerful detail from her story struck a nerve nationwide," the caption states.
However, a fourth image shows the police inspector appearing unwell with intravenous lines in her chest in a hospital bed.
When uploaded to Google Images, the "About this image" feature identifies the image as being "Made with Google AI".
This is because it contains an invisible "Synth ID watermark" that Google embeds in the pixels of all images generated by its AI tools.
Other posts include a fake image of a bald Insp Scott sitting in a hospital bed smiling, supposedly experiencing chemotherapy hair loss, and a purported image of her lying in a hospital bed.
However, none of the images match her appearance in any photos released by NSW Police, her family or credible news outlets.
Engagement-bait operations on Facebook are publishing sensational AI-generated text and images to drive traffic to external websites that are often laden with scams, ads and viruses.
AAP FactCheck has also debunked AI-generated images of another police officer wounded in the Bondi Beach shooting massacre.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
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