School staffer uses AI to generate racist rant in principal's voice

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – In a clip that circulated on social media, what sounded like the voice of a school principal in the Baltimore, Md., area could be heard saying offensive things about Black and Jewish students. It wasn’t real, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

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This Thursday, the Baltimore County Police Department announced that 31-year-old Dazhon Darien, the athletic director of Pikesville High School, was arrested on charges of stalking, theft and disruption of school operations. Authorities said Darien is believed to have made an artificial intelligence-generated recording to sound like Principal Eric Eiswert, “who at the time was pursuing an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds.”

According to CBS News , the faked clip had “significant repercussions” for Eiswert. He was reportedly temporarily removed from the school, there were waves of hate-filled messages circulating on social media and the school received phone calls.

After Eiswert told police he believed the recording was falsified and made using AI, an investigation began on Jan. 17.

“As part of their investigation, detectives requested a forensic analyst contracted with the FBI to analyze the recording. The results from that analysis indicated the recording contained traces of AI-generated content,” said the department.

Still, they sought a second opinion from a forensic analyst with the University of California, Berkley. Those researchers also determined that the recording was not authentic.

“Based on that information and further investigation, it’s been determined the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence technology,” said the police. “It’s believed Mr. Darien, who was an Athletic Director at Pikesville High School, made the recording to retaliate against Mr. Eiswert,” the department added.

Darien was released on a $5,000 bond Thursday afternoon. He still faces the charges brought against him.

AI technology has become more popular in recent years, especially with the emergence of programs such as ChatGPT. With that rise in popularity have come concerns.

For example, Audacy reported on explicit AI-generated images of superstar Taylor Swift that were shared so many times on social media that it prompted a response from the White House. Last spring, Audacy did a deep-dive town hall event exploring the technology and how it is changing our reality.

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