A New Jersey girl has slammed her school for letting a boy who allegedly used AI to create fake child porn images of her to return to class.
Francesca Mani, 14, who attends Westfield High School, said the boy’s presence makes her ‘very uncomfortable and scared’ after she found out fake nude images of herself had been disseminated to students in her grade on Snapchat.
According to students, sophomore boys at Westfield High were acting ‘weird’ on October 16, one mom told the WSJ.
The boys were whispering and being quieter than normal.
Four days later, one boy told the girls why they had been so secretive – and that there were AI generated explicit images of them being sent on group chats.
Francesca Mani, 14, (right) with her mom Dorota (left). Mani, 14, who attends Westfield High School said the boy’s presence makes her ‘very uncomfortable and scared’ after she found out fake nude images of herself had been disseminated to students in her grade on Snapchat
According to students, sophomore boys at Westfield High were acting ‘weird’ on October 16
The girls then reported the situation to the school, who started investigating.
When finding out about the images of herself, Francesca Mani told GMA: ‘I realized I should be mad. I told my mom. I told her that we have to do something about this. It isn’t fair to girls and it is just not right.’
Her mother Dorota Mani said: ‘My first initial feeling, obviously, was shock. Hearing that from her daughter. The photographs were distributed to people.
‘He mentioned I should not worry. He said snap chats only last a few seconds. We know that’s not right.
‘This is a moment where we should be teaching our girls that they are worth it to fight for and what happened is not okay. We should be teaching our boys there will be consequences.’
According to the mother and daughter, the boy involved served a short suspension and is already back at school. They have filed a complaint with the police.
Francesca, 14, added: ‘I just feel very uncomfortable and very scared like a lot of others. We just don’t think it’s right that he’s walking the hallways.’
Westfield High School Principal Mary Asfendis alerted parents to the situation in an email on October 20.
‘This is a very serious incident,’ Asfendis wrote.
‘New technologies have made it possible to falsify images and students need to know the impact and damage those actions can cause to others.’
Asfendis said she believed the images had now been deleted and were no longer being circulated.
Westfield high’s principal sent a letter to parents saying: ‘Students brought to our attention that some students used artificial intelligence to create pornographic images from original photos.
Westfield High School Principal Mary Asfendis alerted parents to the situation in an email on October 20
‘At this time we believe any created images have been deleted and are not being circulated. This is a very serious incident. We are continuing to investigate.’
A spokesperson for Westfield Public Schools told the Journal they would not provide details on the number of students involved or confirm whether any disciplinary action had been taken, due to student confidentiality.
‘To be in a situation where you see young girls traumatized at a vulnerable stage of their lives is hard to witness,’ Westfield’s first female Mayor Shelley Brindle told the publication.
More than 90% of such false imagery known as ‘deep fakes’ are porn, according to image-detection firm Sensity AI.
States, including Virginia, California, Minnesota and New York, have outlawed the distribution of faked porn or given victims the right to sue its creators in civil court however experts believe federal law is failing to keep up with technological changes of this sort.
‘This has to be a serious crime in New Jersey,’ Jon Bramnick, a New Jersey state senator whose district includes Westfield told the Journal.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
