A family from Louisiana is furious over the handling of deepfake nude images involving their 13-year-old daughter and other girls, which reportedly circulated among male students at her middle school.
“It’s unsettling. Those images are appalling. They’re highly explicit, and they appear very realistic. You can’t tell the difference,” stated the father, Joseph Daniels.
Daniels’ daughter was expelled from school in August after she confronted one of the boys accused of sharing the images on a bus and struck him. Daniels claims she felt compelled to act due to the school’s lack of response to earlier reports of the images that same day. The family intends to file a federal lawsuit against the school district.
Lafourche Parish School District disputes the claim that the school failed to respond, asserting that administrators at Sixth Ward Middle School and a school resource officer initiated an immediate investigation following the complaints.
“In keeping with established protocol, several students were interviewed and parents were contacted throughout the day concerning the allegations,” a joint statement from the Lafourche Parish sheriff and the superintendent announced. “Despite efforts made, investigators were unable to locate any images or evidence of their existence by the end of the school day.”
The bus incident occurred after dismissal on the day the images were reported, according to the statement.
While looking into that incident, “juvenile detectives and school resource officers uncovered A.I. generated nude images of eight female middle school students and two adults,” the sheriff and superintendent reported.
A male student faced charges weeks later for 10 counts of unlawful dissemination of images created by artificial intelligence, the sheriff’s office disclosed. Further arrests or charges may still occur.
The male student was not expelled or suspended but was instead transferred to another school following the incident, as stated by the family’s attorney.
“In cases involving school incidents, criminal charges can influence but do not automatically determine disciplinary measures,” the district stated.
The girl was permitted to return to school last week but remains on probation until at least January, limiting her participation in school dances, sports, or other extracurricular activities.
Daniels mentioned that the expulsion has affected his daughter significantly.
“She’s resilient, but this has taken a mental toll on her. She’s faced depression and anxiety,” he remarked. “To me, her eighth-grade year has essentially been ruined, which is a crucial year in middle school.”
As per a recent study by Thorn, a nonprofit focus group for child advocacy, 1 in 17 children nationwide have been victims of A.I. deepfake pornography.
The family’s attorney, Greg Miller, seeks to highlight the ease with which teenagers can access technology for creating deepfakes.
“There’s no doubt this trend will continue to grow, as we live in a society where 13-year-olds can obtain such software and quickly exploit it against their peers. The public must be made aware, as this issue is escalating and will only worsen,” he explained.
