A high school’s cautionary (and downright nasty) tale about AI.
Even after years of hearing about the potential reach of artificial intelligence, we weren’t yet prepared for the sordid tale of how the athletic director at Pikesville High School might have used AI to frame the school’s principal this year.
Last week, authorities said they arrested 31-year-old Dazhon Darien as he tried to board a flight out of state (with a gun in his luggage) on charges he used AI technology to create a bogus recording of the school’s principal spewing obnoxious, racist and antisemitic things. Why? According to police, it was to get back at the principal, who was investigating him for misusing school funds and for theft, and was not renewing his contract. In other words: revenge.
According to Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger, this may be the first such prosecution of its kind in the nation. So instead of bragging about how Maryland is at the center of the AI revolution, we can now boast that we’re trendsetters in abusing it.
None of this should come as a great shock, we suppose. Anyone who has witnessed those deep fake videos on YouTube where average people can put words into the mouths of Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin could have predicted this. The real surprise might be that the alleged incident originated in a school’s athletic department and not its computer lab. Apparently, the teen-age students have better judgment.
Still, it’s clearly time to stop thinking of AI as something out of a science-fiction movie. The manipulation of sound, images and video is here, now, and it’s not just targeting politicians or celebrities. It’s looking to bring down a neighborhood principal. Going forward, if you think you just heard a recording of a U.S. Senate candidate or your boss or your spouse, you might have to think again. Trust can no longer come so easily, and Shellenberger is surely correct that criminal statutes will have to be updated as soon as possible (At least we think that was him saying that at the news conference Thursday).
It doesn’t require spymasters from Beijing or Moscow to try to drive home a hateful message in the United States. Apparently, it just takes a cell phone, a laptop and a serious lack of principles about principals.
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