Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Apr 26, 2024 11:10:56 GMT -5
A Baltimore-area teacher is accused of using AI to make his boss appear racist
APRIL 26, 20245:00 AM ETA Maryland high school athletic director is facing criminal charges after police say he used artificial intelligence to duplicate the voice of Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert, leading the community to believe Eiswert said racist and antisemitic things about teachers and students.
"We now have conclusive evidence that the recording was not authentic," Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters during a news conference Thursday. "It's been determined the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence technology."
Dazhon Darien, 31, was arrested Thursday on charges of stalking, theft, disruption of school operations and retaliation against a witness after a monthslong investigation from the Baltimore County Police Department.
Attempts to contact Darien or Eiswert for comment were not successful.
The wild, headline-making details of this case aside, it emphasizes the serious potential for criminal misuse of artificial intelligence that experts have been warning about for some time, said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in digital forensics.
Farid said he helped analyze the recording for police. Baltimore County police also consulted with another analyst and experts at the FBI. Their conclusion was that the recording was suspicious and unlikely to be authentic.
For just a few dollars, anyone can harness artificial intelligence to make audio and visual deepfakes. Stakes are high, but deepfake detection software doesn't always get it right.
This Baltimore-area case is not a canary in the coal mine. "I think the canary has been dead for quite awhile," Farid said.
"What's so particularly poignant here is that this is a Baltimore school principal. This is not Taylor Swift. It's not Joe Biden. It's not Elon Musk. It's just some guy trying to get through his day," he said. "It shows you the vulnerability. How anybody can create this stuff and they can weaponize it against anybody."
Darien allegedly sought to retaliate against his boss
Darien's alleged scheme began in January in an attempt to retaliate against Eiswert, investigators wrote in the charging documents provided to NPR. The two men were at odds with each other over Darien's "work performance challenges," police wrote.
Eiswert launched an investigation into Darien in December 2023 over the potential mishandling of $1,916 in school funds. The money was paid to a person hired as an assistant girl's soccer coach, but the person never did the job, according to police.
Further, Eiswert had reprimanded Darien for firing a coach without his approval.
Eiswert had told Darien that his contract was possibly "not being renewed next semester," according to the arrest warrant.
continues: www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1247237175/baltimore-ai-generated-racist-audio-crime
