Associated Incidents
WESTFIELD, N.J. (WCBS/CNN/CNN Newsource/WKRC) - High school students were accused of circulating AI-generated explicit photos of their classmates.
The incident happened over the summer in Westfield, New Jersey, but was only recently brought to the attention of school administrators. WCBS reporters spoke with a parent at the school, who planned to advocate with her daughter for laws to protect people from so-called "deepfakes."
Dorota Mani, an owner at a New Jersey city daycare, told the station she was concerned with the potential impact artificial intelligence could have on kids.
"AI problem? I would call it AI pandemic at this point," Mani told WCBS.
Mani told the outlet she was more worried now that her daughter, a high school student, has become a victim.
"My daughter texted me, 'mom, naked pictures of me are being distributed.' That's it. Heading to the principal's office," Mani told the station.
According to WCBS, parents received an email from the principal which read in part: "Students brought to our attention that some of our students had used artificial intelligence to create pornographic images from original photos. The kind of altered pictures known online as deepfakes."
"She started crying, and she's seen other girls of Westfield High School crying, some of them victims and some of them just friends of the victims that just felt for them," Mani told the station.
The principal went on to warn parents that "new technologies have made it possible to falsify images and students need to know the impact and dangers those actions can cause to others."
The email encouraged parents of the victims to contact the police, and Mani told WCBS she had filed a report. The police department told the station that it had no comment.
"It's something that we will need to learn, our children will need to be aware of," Mani explained to WCBS's reporters.
Congress is considering a bill, which was introduced by Representative Joe Morelle of New York, that would make it illegal to share non-consensual deepfake images online.
The school district told WCBS that it couldn't comment on any disciplinary action taken. Mani and her daughter told the outlet that they planned to advocate for better laws to protect people from deepfakes.