Another California high school has launched an investigation after AI-generated nude photographs of female students were shared among boys.
Parents of Laguna Beach High School students were notified last week that inappropriate or explicit photographs generated through artificial intelligence had been spread online.
The nude photographs may have been sent around over text messages, but the school has not yet identified who might be behind the AI images or how many victims there were.
Parents were devastated by the news, abc7 reported. ‘High school is hard enough, and to have to deal with something like this is just soul-crushing,’ said Mary Torres, a parent at the school.
‘It’s like evolving so fast, but I think my reaction is obviously concern just because you see things like this happen to big stars like Taylor Swift, so if Taylor Swift can’t even be protected from things like this, then what about our kids?’ said Torres.
Parents of Laguna Beach High School students were notified last week that inappropriate or explicit photographs generated through artificial intelligence had been spread online
‘There’s so much AI, and it’s very prevalent out there, and kids are very smart, they’re very tech savvy, much more than we are,’ said parent Aimee Tabor. ‘But their decision making capabilities aren’t the best’
‘There’s so much AI, and it’s very prevalent out there, and kids are very smart, they’re very tech savvy, much more than we are,’ said parent Aimee Tabor. ‘But their decision making capabilities aren’t the best.’
‘I support the discipline. Children need to have consequences, and even though it’s a tough lesson to learn, AI is only going to be more prevalent,’ said Tabor.
Another parent, Parul Doshi, was not surprised by the news. ‘I think the teens are super tech savvy, so this is just one other arm of that,’ she said.
In a letter to parents, Principal Jason Allemann said, ‘In our small community, these incidents can have far-reaching impact on our campus culture.
‘These actions not only compromise individual dignity but also undermine the positive and supportive environment we aim to foster at LBHS.’
LBHS will host panel discussions this week to discuss online privacy, legal and ethical considerations of sharing contact, the impact of online behavior on future opportunities and relationships and managing digital footprints.
The Laguna Beach Police Department have been alerted about the situation and will help in the investigation.
Laguna Beach Unified School District released a statement regarding the explicit images, saying ‘we are required by law to keep student discipline matters confidential to protect the privacy and well-being of our students.’
LBHS will host panel discussions this week to discuss online privacy, legal and ethical considerations of sharing contact, the impact of online behavior on future opportunities and relationships and managing digital footprints
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first California school to deal with the issue of AI-generated nudes.
Last month, a group of Beverly Hills middle school students were expelled after they made AI generated fake nude pictures of their classmates.
The five unnamed eighth graders attended Beverly Vista Middle School in California’s infamously fancy neighborhood.
Explicit images shared through messaging apps in February depicted their classmates’ faces superimposed on artificially generated naked bodies.
The victims of the fake pornographic images were 16 eighth-grade students, who would have been aged 13-14, whose genders have not been confirmed.
Days later, the Beverly Hills Unified School District board of education voted at a special meeting to approve stipulated agreement of expulsion with the five teens, aged 13-14.
Neither the students nor their parents contested the punishment and the hearing was held.
The agreements are confidential, but such agreements outline how long a student is expelled for and the terms of their return to school.
A group of Beverly Hills middle school students have been expelled after they made AI generated fake nude pictures of their classmates
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According to Supt. Michael Bregy, the five students who were the focus of its investigation were the ‘most egregiously involved’ in the creation and sharing of the images, LA Times reported.
The Beverly Hills Police Department and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office are still investigating the incident, but there haven’t yet been any arrests or charges.
AI-generated nudes can be made using several free apps. In 2020, researchers discovered a ‘deepfake ecosystem’ on the messaging app Telegram.
The bot-generated images typically used images of women taken from their social media accounts and turned them into pornographic images which were circulated on the messaging app.
A high schooler in Calabasas claimed that a former friend used AI to generate pornographic images of her which were then shared with classmates.
In March, another California high school was hit with an AI porn scandal.
A high schooler in Calabasas claimed that a former friend used AI to generate pornographic images of her which were then shared with classmates.
The victim, a 16-year-old student at Calabasas High School, said her friend spread the images as revenge after they got into an argument about a boy and a concert.
She said the perpetrator took photos of her in the shower and used artificial intelligence to turn them into fake photos of her in x-rated positions.
The teen’s mother, Jacqueline Smith, claimed the photos were shared around the school using Snapchat and Airdrop, and it has been detrimental to her daughter’s mental health.
The student told KTLA: ‘I didn’t want to go to school, didn’t want to leave my room. I was scared, I was embarrassed, I was humiliated.’
‘To my understanding she manipulated my face on to another image taken from PornHub of a girl who could have a similar body type to mine.’