AI-generated pornographic photos of female students at a New Jersey high school and distributed among their male classmates has sparked outrage among parents and school officials and prompted an investigation by police, according to a report.
Girls at Westfield High School in an affluent town of colonial-style homes and tree-lined streets about 25 miles west of New York City recently discovered that their male counterparts were sharing nude photos of them created with an online AI tool, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The mother of one of the girls said her daughter told her that sophomore boys were acting "weird" on Oct. 16, talking among themselves and being quieter than normal.
Then on Oct. 20, one of the boys confided in some of the girls that at least one student had used an AI-powered website to make pornographic images from photos of the girls found online and began sharing them.
School officials were alerted and administrators began questioning the boys for more information.
And while the high school confirmed the photos in an email to parents, a spokeswoman for Westfield Public Schools, citing student confidentiality, declined to give the Wall Street Journal details about the number of students involved or whether any disciplinary action had been taken.
In an email to parents on Oct. 20, Westfield High School Principal Mary Asfendis said she believed the photos had been deleted.
"This is a very serious incident," she wrote. "New technologies have made it possible to falsify images and students need to know the impact and damage those actions can cause to others."
But parents say their daughters have been humiliated and left feeling powerless by the experience and fear that the images could surface later, further damaging their children.
Dorota Mani said her 14-year-old daughter, Francesca, was told by the school that her photo was used.
"I am terrified by how this is going to surface and when. My daughter has a bright future and no one can guarantee this won't impact her professionally, academically or socially," Dorota Mani told the outlet.
She filed a police report and doesn't want her daughter to be in the same school with whomever created the photos.
"To be in a situation where you see young girls traumatized at a vulnerable stage of their lives is hard to witness," Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindle told the publication.
Westfield police have launched an investigation, and state Sen. Jon Bramnick, whose district includes Westfield, said he is looking into whether there are any existing or pending New Jersey laws covering the creation of faked material.
"This has to be a serious crime in New Jersey," he said, noting that he has asked the county prosecutor to investigate.
Some states, including Virginia, California, Minnesota and New York, have banned distribution of the images or allow victims to sue creators in civil court.
President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order that will establish new rules and safeguards around artificial intelligence.
Videos of celebrities generated by AI have also been used to hawk products and services without their knowledge.
Tom Hanks had his image used by a dental company, and Scarlett Johansson has sued an AI app maker for using her voice and appearance in an ad without getting her permission.
A recent study found that there have been more than 113,000 digitally altered images and fake videos uploaded to sites that host "deepfake porn" through September this year.
And between 50% and 80% of the traffic to the websites comes from searches started on some of the internet's biggest sites, including Google and Bing.