A former high school athletic director was arrested for using artificial intelligence to impersonate the school principal and record racist and antisemitic comments about individuals at the school. Dazhon Darien faces charges such as theft, stalking, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness. Investigators discovered that Darien faked the principal’s voice and circulated the audio on social media in January, including his own nickname, DJ, in the audio clips.
Baltimore County detectives revealed that Darien created the recording in retaliation against Principal Eric Eiswert, who had been investigating potential mishandling of school funds. The voice in the recording, believed to be simulated by police and AI experts, made derogatory comments about Black students and the Jewish community. Darien was arrested at an airport trying to board a flight to Houston and was found to have a firearm on him. The recording depicted a fake conversation between Eiswert and one of the school’s assistant principals, causing significant repercussions at the school.
After a meeting with police, Eiswert stated that he believed the audio clip was falsified using AI and suspected that Darien was responsible for it. Interviews with school administrators revealed that Darien had multiple work-related issues since starting as the athletic director. He had previously been reprimanded for terminating a coach without approval and had accessed the school’s network multiple times in December and January, searching for OpenAI tools. The recording, analyzed by experts, showed traces of AI-generated content and human editing for realism.
The circulation of the audio clip on social media led to Eiswert being temporarily removed from the school and an influx of hate-filled messages online. The school received numerous phone calls in response to the recording, causing further distress within the Pikesville High School community. School leadership, including Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers, expressed support for the students and staff during the difficult period. Rogers emphasized that the statements in the recording did not reflect the core values of the school system and indicated that appropriate action, potentially including termination, would be taken following Darien’s arrest.
The use of AI technology to impersonate a school official highlights the potential dangers of advanced technology in creating deceptive and harmful content. The case also underscores the importance of thorough investigations and expertise in detecting manipulated audio recordings. The impact of such incidents on school communities and individuals involved, as well as the need for swift and appropriate responses from educational institutions and law enforcement agencies, is evident in this situation. Moving forward, measures to prevent similar incidents and protect against AI-generated impersonation should be considered to safeguard the integrity and security of educational environments.
