Baltimore County police arrested the high school's athletic director Thursday morning in connection with an AI-generated audio clip of the school's principal having a fake racist conversation.
Dazon Darien, 31, was charged with disrupting school activities after police say he faked an audio recording of Eric Eiswart in January. An audio clip using Eiswart's voice went viral and was quickly condemned by the Baltimore County community. The school was inundated with angry calls, requiring more police and extra counselors.
Darien's charges have not yet been listed in online court records. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The recordings included offensive remarks about black teachers, black students' test scores, and Jewish parents. Eiswart was expelled from school and had to have police present at his home because of the online threats. He maintained his innocence through a union spokesperson.
Baltimore County police wrote in a 17-page indictment that Eiswart initially believed Darien, the athletic director at Pikesville High School, had made the fake recordings out of frustration that his contract was not renewed. did. Eiswart also told police that Darien fired his long-time coach without his approval.
In the recording, a male voice can be heard speaking to someone named Kathy, which many listeners interpreted as Vice Principal Kathy Albert. She told police there was no conversation in the video.
A male voice on the recording said he had to “put up” with “ungrateful black kids who can't even pull themselves out of a paper bag” and black teachers who “never should have been hired.” The recording continues, with the man saying, “I'm tired of the inadequacies of these people,” and adding, “If I have to make one more complaint from another Jew in this community, I'll be on the other side.” I plan to join in,” he said.
Three Pikesville High School employees, including Darien and two physical education teachers who police say are Darien's friends, sent an email to an unfamiliar email address around 10 p.m. on Jan. 16, about 30 minutes before the video went viral on social media. I received an email with an MP3 recording from. .
One of the physical education teachers told detectives that he had a professional problem with Eiswart and would not renew his contract to work at Pikesville High School. She received an email with the audio clip, which she sent to her students and emailed to multiple news outlets, she told police. The student then “rapidly spread the message across various social media and throughout the school,” police wrote.
When questioned by detectives, Darien denied any involvement in recording or releasing the video. He wasn't used to emailing recordings. Police wrote in the indictment that over the course of two months, detectives subpoenaed documents from Google, AT&T and T-Mobile that led to the address of the internet provider registered to Darien's grandmother.
Police said the recovery cell phone number associated with the Google account was registered to Darien. This number has since become invalid. Detectives also consulted FBI contractors and forensic analysts, who said the recordings “contain traces of AI-generated content that was edited by humans after the fact,” including background noise for realism. Ta.
When Baltimore County Public Schools information technology staff searched for Darien's access to the BCPS network, they used language tools and OpenAI tools three times between December and January 15, the day before the audio clip. and the Microsoft Bing Chat service, which is similar to OpenAI. Freed.
A second expert opinion from a forensic analyst said the recordings were manipulated by placing multiple recordings together, police wrote.
Cindy Sexton, president of the Baltimore County Teachers Association, which represents athletic leaders, said Darien was “not in front of students” as of Thursday and that the union was awaiting developments in the criminal investigation. TABCO and the National Education Association have a problem with AI being manipulated and used against educators, she said.
“As a society, we need to stand up to AI and use it to our advantage, because unfortunately, this is going to continue to be the case,” Sexton said. “Our students are technology savvy. Many are. It opens up a whole new world of interest to all of us. We all have a voice.”
Police said the recordings raised concerns among teachers that a recording device had been placed inside the school, causing a rift in the trust between teachers and administrators.
Police said Eiswart also began investigating Darien's theft last year. Darien allegedly paid her roommate and junior varsity coach $1,910 as an assistant coach for the women's soccer team, but her roommate never paid her. An internal BCPS auditor confirmed the fraudulent payments were made in addition to $4,420 in fraudulent payments for her roommate's men's basketball scholarship.
A BCPS spokesperson declined to comment Thursday.
This story will be updated.