Baltimore Athletic Director Arrested & Charged After Using A.I. To Make Racist Recording Of School’s Principal

Baltimore Athletic Director Arrested & Charged After Using A.I. To Make Racist Recording Of School’s Principal

A.I. is a powerful tool.

According to reports, Thursday morning (Apr. 25), former athletic director Dazhon Darien, 31, was arrested and charged with disrupting school activities after using artificial intelligence to impersonate Pikesville High School’s Principal Eric Eiswert. In January, audio surfaced online of a voice eerily similar to Principal Eiswert making racist and disheartening remarks about Black and Jewish students at the Baltimore County school.

The voice clip, which has since gone viral, made comments on “ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag.” The recording also 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.”

After the audio was released, an investigation was started and Eiswert was removed from the school. He continued to maintain his innocence. However, it’s said that police were sent to watch his home as he received multiple threats online over the harsh remarks.

Following the investigation, it was determined that the voice did not belong to Eiswert but was created by A.I., and Darien is suspected to be behind the entire ordeal. Authorities wrote in charging documents,

“The audio clip … had profound repercussions. 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. The recording also caused significant disruptions for the PHS staff and students.”

According to the documents, Darien used the school’s network several times in December and January in search of OpenAI tools.

In addition, the docs said he 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.”

 

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Police also tied the email that initially distributed the recording back to Darien. As for the reason for the A.I. audio, it’s alleged that Darien was angry his contract for his position as the school’s athletic director was not renewed. It’s also important to note that he was investigated for theft last year for allegedly paying his roommate and another person to help coach sports programs at the school, positions they never actually held.

He was also reportedly charged with theft and retaliating against a witness in connection to the unapproved payments.

What are your thoughts on this entire situation? Do you think A.I. has come too far? Weigh in the comments below! 

[VIA: 1,2]