A former high school athletic director is accused of using an AI-generated voice to frame the school’s principal of saying antisemitic remarks.

According to People (School Athletic Director Allegedly Tried to Frame Principal for Crime Using AI-Generated Voice, written by Sean Neumann and available here), Baltimore County Police announced yesterday that authorities arrested a former high school athletic director who is accused of using an AI-generated voice to frame the school’s principal of saying antisemitic remarks.

At a press conference, Baltimore County Chief of Police Robert McCollough said Dazhon Darien, 31, was arrested earlier while trying to board a flight with a firearm. The former school athletic director, who already had an active warrant out for his arrest, has been charged with disrupting school activities, theft, retaliating against a witness, and stalking, McCollough said. He is being held on a $5,000 bond.

Authorities allege that Darien had programmed Principal Eric Eiswert’s voice to say antisemitic remarks in an audio clip he later spread on social media, The Baltimore Banner reported Thursday morning.

“The audio clip … had profound repercussions,” the police’s charging documents read, according to the outlet. “It not only led to Eiswert’s temporary removal from the school but also triggered a wave of hate-filled messages on social media and numerous calls to the school” and “also caused significant disruptions” for school staff and students.

McCollough told reporters that police believe Darien leaked the fake audio “to retaliate” against Eiswert, who placed Darien under investigation earlier this year for allegedly mishandling school finances. Darien allegedly used school computers to search for the AI audio technology, McCollough added.

WBAL-TV reported that the audio clip led to stiff backlash against Eiswert at the time and forced him to step away from his duties as principal while the clip was being investigated.

The principal required police presence at his home and had received threatening messages after the fake audio spread online, according to The Banner.

McCollough said Thursday that investigators found “conclusive evidence that the recording was not authentic” and that two forensic analysts found the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence. They also tied Darien to an email connected to the social media account that initially shared the AI-generated audio clip.

Scary stuff, especially when you consider how easy it is to create an AI-generated voice recording of someone else. Even with the law enforcement press conference being held that clears Eiswert of having made those comments, I can imagine he’s not totally comfortable just yet. It only takes one person who has heard the audio clip on social media – but isn’t aware of the exonerating press conference – to take action and do something tragic. Hopefully, it won’t happen here, but for somebody whose voice is spoofed at some point, I’m afraid it will.

So, what do you think? What can we do to protect people from an AI-generated representation of their voice being used against them? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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