A physical education teacher was arrested after trying to expel a school principal using AI-synthesized voice

Dazon Darien, a former athletic director and physical education teacher at Pikesville High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, was arrested on charges of using AI to create audio recordings of the school's principal, Eric Eiswert, making racist and anti-Semitic comments and distributing them on social media.

Dazhon Darien: Ex-athletic director accused of framing principal with AI arrested at airport with gun - The Baltimore Banner
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/eric-eiswert-ai-audio-baltimore-county-YBJNJAS6OZEE5OQVF5LFOFYN6M/

School athletic director arrested for framing principal using AI voice synthesis | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/04/alleged-ai-voice-imitation-leads-to-arrest-in-baltimore-school-racism-controversy/

Baltimore coach allegedly used AI voice cloning to get principal fired - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/25/24140556/ai-voice-cloning-baltimore-school-misuse

In January 2024, a recording of Principal Eiswert making racist comments was spread on social media. As a result of this incident, Principal Eiswert was temporarily suspended. When the Baltimore County Police investigated the recording, it was found to have characteristics of an AI-synthesized voice, such as a 'flat tone with unusually clean background sounds, but a lack of consistent breathing or pauses.' In addition, the filename of the audio file contained the name of Dazon Darien, a physical education teacher at Pikesville High School, the same school as Principal Eiswert.

According to reports from WBAL 11 and NBC News , Darien used a computer at Pikesville High School to access OpenAI tools and Microsoft's Bing Chat to generate the AI-synthesized voice. Darien's email address and phone number were also linked to the fake voice. However, it is unclear what AI-generating tools Darien used.

Baltimore County Police arrested Darien on Thursday, April 25, 2024 (local time) and released a statement saying, 'Darien, who was the athletic director at Pikesville High School, is believed to have created the AI synthetic voice in order to retaliate against Mr. Eiswart, who was investigating possible mishandling of school funds at the time.' Darien has been released on bail at the time of writing, but is charged with theft of school funds, obstruction of school operations, retaliation against witnesses, and stalking.

Darien's crimes using AI-synthesized voices were also reported by WBAL-TV, a local media outlet in Baltimore.

LIVE: Pikesville HS investigation update on AI-generated hoax - wbaltv.com - YouTube


As the accuracy of AI-synthesized voices improves, interest in AI-based voice cloning technology is growing, but many problems are also emerging. In January 2024, a phone call using an AI-generated voice of President Joe Biden was made to voters, which developed into a major issue. In response to this, the Federal Trade Commission Act (FCC) declared that ' the use of AI voices for robocalls is illegal .'

AI-generated 'fake voice' phone calls of President Biden are being made to many voters - GIGAZINE

Amid growing concerns about AI synthetic voices, OpenAI released an AI model called 'Voice Engine' that can generate cloned voices from just 15 seconds of audio in late March 2024. However, in response to concerns about AI synthetic voices, OpenAI said that it is taking a cautious and informed approach to the broad release of Voice Engine, stating that 'due to the potential for synthetic voices to be misused.'

OpenAI releases 'Voice Engine', an AI model that can generate cloned voices from just 15 seconds of audio - GIGAZINE