Baltimore teacher accused of using AI to create fake, racist recording of principal
A high school athletics director suspected of using artificial intelligence to create a fake, racist recording of a principal in Baltimore has been arrested by police.
Police arrested 31-year-old Dazhon Darien of Pikesville high school on Thursday after an investigation into an AI-generated recording which featured the duplicated voice of the school’s principal, Eric Eiswert. Officers allege that Eiswert was investigating Darien in connection with the potential mishandling of school funds when the latter man purportedly created the recording.
In the recording which surfaced on 17 January and sparked swift outrage across the Baltimore community, the voice in question could be heard complaining about students and various faculty members. It said, “I seriously don’t understand why I have to constantly put up with these dumbasses here every day” and went on to complain about “these ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag”.
At one point, the voice said: “And if I have to get one more complaint from one more Jew in this community, I’m going to join the other side.”
In a press conference on Thursday, Baltimore county police chief Robert McCullough said: “We have now conclusive evidence that the recording was not authentic. The Baltimore county police department reached that determination after conducting an extensive investigation which included bringing in a forensic analyst contracted with the FBI to review the recording. The results of the analysis indicated the recording contained traces of AI-generated content.”
McCullough added that detectives also obtained a second expert opinion from a forensic analyst with the University of California, Berkeley, who also determined that the recording was inauthentic.
“Based off of those findings and further investigation, it has been determined the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence technology,” McCullough said. The chief added: “Through their investigation, detectives alleged Mr Darien … made the recording to retaliate against the principal who had launched an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds.”
According to police charging documents reviewed by NPR, Darien and Eiswert had spoke about Darien’s “work performance challenges”. And Eiswert had opened an investigation into Darien last December over the potential mishandling of $1,916 in school funds.
Moreover, Eiswert reprimanded Darien for firing a coach without his approval and had told Darien that his contract was possibly “not being renewed next semester”, NPR reported.
Authorities also wrote that Darien accessed the school’s network several times between last December and January in search of OpenAI tools, according to the Baltimore Banner, which also reviewed the police charging documents.
Darien had also allegedly used “large language models” that practice “deep learning, which involves pulling in vast amounts of data from various sources on the internet, can recognize text inputted by the user, and produce conversational results”, police said.
McCullough said Darien was taken into custody at the Baltimore-Washington international Thurgood Marshall airport on Thursday morning after he was stopped and questioned over the packaging method of his declared firearm.
When officers looked into Darien’s background, they noticed that he had an open arrest warrant.
In a statement released by Baltimore county public schools following Darien’s arrest, superintendent Myriam Rogers said: “We are taking appropriate action regarding Mr Darien’s conduct, up to and including a recommendation for termination.
“This has been a difficult time for the Pikesville high school community, principal Eiswert and his family, and [local public schools]. We are proud of the students and staff and how they have stepped up to support one another.”