(PatriotWise.com) — Public schools in the United States are grappling with the troubling and often illegal ramifications of the sudden popularity of AI image-generating programs as female students have become the target of bullying through the use of deepfake nude images, the New York Times reported.
After chatbot programs like ChatGPT grew in popularity, schools rushed to ban text-generating AI to prevent students from cheating on class assignments.
While studies showed that cheating fears were overblown, AI image-generating programs are causing an alarming problem for schools across the country.
Male students in several school districts have been using “nudification” apps to create nude photos of their female classmates. The app allows a user to take an authentic photo of a clothed female and create a graphic and realistic nude image.
In some instances, the boys have shared the deepfake nudes with their fellow students on the bus, in the cafeteria, and on group chat platforms or social media.
Child exploitation experts warn that the use of nonconsensual deepfakes to humiliate, harass, or bully female students could pose a risk to their mental health, physical safety, reputations, and even their college prospects.
In late March, the FBI warned that distributing computer-generated child abuse material, including AI-generated explicit images of minors, is illegal.
However, the phenomenon is so new, that some schools have yet to catch up and address it.
Stanford research scholar Riana Pfefferkorn, an expert on legal issues related to computer-generated child porn, said many school districts are “unprepared and unsure what to do.”
Administrators from Beverly Vista Middle School in California contacted the Beverly Hills police in February after they discovered that five male students had shared an AI-generated explicit image that depicted a female classmate. The Beverly Hills Unified School Board later voted to expel the five students.
Superintendent Michael Bregy told the New York Times that school districts and lawmakers had to act quickly to address the problem. He said the abuse of AI-generated images was an “invasion of students’ personal, emotional safety.”
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