Illinois High School Under Investigation for Allegedly Using AI To Edit Students' Photos to be Explicit

Students from an Illinois high school are claiming that the education establishment used artificial intelligence to edit their images to make them explicit, prompting an official investigation.

Law enforcement personnel in Richmond, Illinois, in McHenry County near the Wisconsin state line, are handling the probe. The situation comes as one sophomore at Richmond Burton Community High School said that she did not even know that it was possible to have her own photo manipulated in such a way.

Editing Photos With AI

Richmond police are investigating an incident where students from an Illinois high school had their photos taken, edited with AI to become explicit, and sent to other classmates.(not actual photo)
(Photo : STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The young woman, who was identified as Stevie Hyder, was not sharing her story in an effort to warn others about the issue. The student said that she never imagined that a photo taken before a school dance would be used against her.

She added that she and many other students felt like they were "extremely violated," noting that after she saw the photo personally, she felt "nauseous." Hyder argued that AI-generated nude photos were created from the innocent before-the-dance picture and later circulated among other classmates, according to CBS News.

The situation prompted the investigation by Richmond police, which would alongside the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. Hyder said that they themselves knew that the images were fake. However, she argued that if they go out to an employer or are placed in college applications, they would not know immediately that they were edited.

Stephanie Essex, Hyder's mother, said that other students were also victims of the AI-editing efforts. She said that when she finally had the chance to speak with the high school's principal, he let her know that her daughter was number 22 on the list of affected students.

The latest issue comes after AI-generated sexually explicit images of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift went viral earlier this year. Following that incident, the White House addressed the dangers of AI images as well as the disproportionate impact of abuse of the technology on women and girls.

Potential Criminal Charges

Various photo-swapping apps have come under fire as users are able to crop someone's face into an adult video, creating pornographic images of people without their consent. A professor of computer science at DePaul, Bamshad Mobasher, said that these types of technologies allow for bad actors to take advantage of them to create misinformation and deep fakes, said WGN9.

The incident comes as Congress is currently taking into consideration legislation known as the "Defiance Act," which would better regulate the AI world as well as deep fakes. Hyder said that they still do not know everyone that the edited images have been sent to.

Essex noted that she was still unsure where the situation falls under the law as her discussion with Richmond police revealed that they are still working to figure out how to lay charges for the editing of the photos.

With AI technology growing rapidly worldwide, even the royal family was not exempt from editing accusations. Photos experts have claimed that the Princess of Wales may have used the technology to alter an image showing her and her three children that became viral after being taken down by news and photo agencies, according to Yahoo News.