From The Baltimore Banner: Ex-athletic director arrested for framing principal with AI-generated voice
Baltimore County Police arrested Pikesville High School’s former athletic director Thursday morning and charged him with using artificial intelligence to impersonate Principal Eric Eiswert, leading the public to believe Eiswert made racist and antisemitic comments behind closed doors.
Dazhon Darien was charged with disrupting school activities, after investigators determined Darien faked Eiswert’s voice and circulated the audio on social media in January, according to the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office. Darien’s nickname, DJ, was among the names mentioned in the audio clips he allegedly faked.
Eiswert’s voice, which police and AI experts believe was simulated, made disparaging comments toward Black students and the surrounding Jewish community, was widely circulated on social media.
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Oh, it’s even better — apparently he was arrested while trying to carry a gun onto an airplane.Report
Although also interesting to me is the side-story about the other teacher who forwarded the clip to a student “who she knew would rapidly spread the message around various social media outlets and throughout the school”.
I feel about that the same way I feel about teachers who talk kids into having sex with them.Report
That makes this… what? “Conspiracy to Slander”?
While I’m not surprised that there probably aren’t any laws about this specific thing, there probably are laws that cover the general thing.Report
They’ll be charged with libel, the case will bog down in arguments over whether a suburban high-school principal is a “public figure”, and it’ll end with the two teachers being found not guilty. (Darien will do some time for gun-on-a-plane charges.)
The only hope for the prosecution is to directly tie the clip-sender’s email account to Darien. That will show that Darien acted intentionally to harm Eiswert. Otherwise it’s just “well where’d you get the clip” “some dude on the internet” “where’d he get it” “dunno, didn’t ask” “don’t you think it’s grossly irresponsible to share such a terrible thing to a bunch of people without verifying its provenance or asking after the source” “can you really blame a black man for thinking that showing everyone proof that the guy in charge was a disgusting racist was more important than worrying about tiny little details”Report
They won’t be charged with libel because libel is a civil tort, not a crime. (Some states do have obsolete criminal libel laws. I don’t know about Maryland, but I would bet against prosecution under such laws if they exist.) If the principal sues for libel, as she damn well should, it will be fairly easy to show that she is not a “public figure,” and in any event, making up imaginary conversations would satisfy the actual malice requirement that would apply with public figures.Report
“where’d you get the clip” “some dude on the internet” “where’d he get it” “dunno, didn’t ask”
If a jury is motivated to be Against Racism then you’ll need more argument than “how the hell could this have happened any other way”.
And it’s easy to argue that someone’s a public figure. Just show a few headlines of local principals getting raked over the coals for this-or-that act by the school, maybe some good stuff about “book banning”, and easy-peasy I can convince a motivated jury to figure that someone in that position of power over students’ lives ought to be prepared to take a couple of shots. And besides if people were so readily convinced that he was a horrible racist then there must be something going on, right?Report
The folks who arrested him think they have proof that he originated the fakes. They could be wrong, but we’ll see. And, sure, we can imagine stuff that might make the principal a public figure, but the defendant will have to bring the receipts. And you can always conjure up a rogue jury. Anything you can always make up about any case is unlikely to shed any light on any real case.Report