Maryland Teacher Arrested for using and spreading AI-generated Racist Rant in Principle’s Voice

Baltimore County, MD: The authorities in Maryland have arrested a high school teacher. The teacher is accused of using AI to make fake audio in which he put racist and antisemitic words. He used the audio to defame the principal of the school where he was employed.

Public officials say that in January, Dazhon Darien, a physical education teacher and athletic head at Pikesville High School, was accused of falsifying the voice of principal Eric Eiswert.

Chief Robert McCullough of the Baltimore County Police Department told reporters in Towson, “We now have conclusive evidence that the recording was not real.” “It’s been determined the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence technology.”

He is charged with disrupting school activities and other counts as per NBC News.

On Wednesday afternoon, a judge signed an arrest warrant for Darien. He was caught at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Thursday morning.

Darien was about to fly to Houston when security asked him if he had packed his gun properly for the trip, McCullough said.

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McCullough also said that Darien was arrested after his name was searched through police records and the warrant came up. Other allegations against Darien include theft, threats, and getting back at a witness.

An arrest warrant says that he and Eiswert had been fighting over “work performance challenges” and that Darien’s contract might “not be renewed next semester.”

McCullough added, “Through their investigation, detectives allege that Mr. Darien, who was athletic director at the high school, made the recording to retaliate against the principal, who had launched an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds.”

As police say, Eiswert was looking into a $1,916 payment that Darien is said to have made to an assistant girls’ soccer teacher who the head coach and players said never helped the team.

Police said Eiswert had also scolded Darien for firing a coach without his permission.
Eiswert got a lot of criticism when an audio recording circulated online appearing to show him using cruel language and making fun of Black and Jewish people.

Initially thought to be Eiswert’s voice, the voice said Black students couldn’t “test their way out of a paper bag,” as shown in the court record.

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“The recording went on to make disparaging comments about Jewish individuals and two teachers … who ‘should have never been hired’ at the school,” the warrant stated.

The recording was sent to Darien and two other teachers on the night of January 16. Eiswert has always said it was fake.

The audio quickly went viral on social media and “had profound repercussions,” according to the arrest warrant. It caused “significant disruptions for the PHS staff and students.”

“We will work with principal Eiswert and the Pikesville community concerning next year,” Rogers told us.

An FBI-hired forensic expert also said that the recording “contained traces of AI-generated content with human editing after the fact,” which is what the arrest warrant said.

The audio clip was sent out on January 15, but Darien was seen using the Baltimore County Public Schools network to access OpenAI tools and Microsoft Bing Chat services on December 18 and 19.