Teenage boys at a New Jersey high school allegedly used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make deep fake porn of female classmates. Girls at Westfield High School noticed that the Sophomore boys at their school were acting “weird” and it was discovered on October 20 that deepfake nudes of the girls were in fact being circulated beginning in summer of this year, according to reporting on Nov. 2 from the Wall Street Journal.
The boys allegedly used AI generators to make the pornographic images of the teen girls and shared them in group chats. It took the school four days to discover that the images were not real. One student was temporarily suspended, although it is thought that more than one boy was responsible.
In response to the activity, Principal Mary Asfendis sent an email to the parents stating her concern over the incident:
“This is a very serious incident. New technologies have made it possible to falsify images and students need to know the impact and damage those actions can cause to others.” She added, “We will continue to educate your children on the importance of responsible use of technology and hope you reinforce these messages at home.”
School Superintendent Raymond Gonzáles said the district is aware and working on “strengthening efforts to prevent this from happening” in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media,
“All school districts are grappling with the challenges and impact of Artificial Intelligence and other technology available to students at any time and anywhere,” Superintendent Raymond González said in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media. “The Westfield Public School District has safeguards in place to prevent this from happening on our network and school-issued devices. We continue to strengthen our efforts by educating our students and establishing clear guidelines to ensure that these new technologies are used responsibly in our schools and beyond.”
Dorota Mani, the mother of one of the victims, spoke out about how this could affect her 14-year-old daughter, Francesca. Her daughter’s photo was allegedly used. Mani, who filed a police report on behalf of her daughter, told The Wall Street Journal, “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.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, parents in the district have reported that their daughters feel “humiliated” and “powerless” and they are all concerned about the images resurfacing later, seeing no resolution in sight. Many girls are uncomfortable even attending school with the boys who did this to them.
As this is new technology, there are currently few laws to protect children from this happening to them. The Wall Street Journal reported:
“It’s also unclear if what the boys did was illegal. There is currently no federal law restricting the creation of faked sexual images of real people, and in June, child safety experts reported that there was seemingly no way to stop thousands of realistic but fake AI child sex images from being shared on line.”
Unfortunately, deep fake porn is becoming more commonplace. The AI image generators are easy to access and becoming easier to use, causing a rise in more of these images being spread.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order on October 30, 2023 directing “new standards for AI safety and security.” The hope is that, among other things, the new standards will pressure lawmakers to pass protections against these harmful actions. However it could take years before they are introduced in an impactful way. The good news is that some states have decided not to wait for the passing of federal laws. Several state legislatures have begun to ooutlaw the distribution of faked porn. In short, we do not have adequate laws and criminal statutes in place to protect victims of faked porn, whether it is targeted at children or adults.
Sadly, the story out of New Jersey is just the tip of the iceberg in the potential abuse of AI. AI is providing new ways for predators to exploit children with no laws in existence to protect them. Citizens must take matters into their own hands by contacting our representatives and urging them to draft new laws that will protect our children.
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