AI photos showing girl students with nude bodies roil private school in Pennsylvania
Images depicting girls’ faces with naked bodies have led to the resignation of leaders of a Pennsylvania private school, a student protest and a criminal investigation.
A juvenile suspect was “removed from” Lancaster Country Day School and his cellphone was seized by investigators in August, Susquehanna Regional Police Detective Laurel Bair said Tuesday.
It is the latest example of how the use of artificial intelligence to create or manipulate images with sexual content has become a problem, including within school settings.
American law enforcement has been cracking on graphic images of computer-generated children and on manipulated photographs of real children. The Justice Department says it is pursuing those who exploit AI tools states racing enact laws to address the problem.
A new Pennsylvania state law which comes into effect at the end of next month, explicitly criminalizes the creation or distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
And police in South Korea are working on one seven months pushing to combat explicit deepfake content, with tougher penalties, expanded use of undercover agents and stricter regulation of social media. Concerns increased in South Korea after unconfirmed lists of school victims were circulated earlier this year.
As part of the police investigation into what Lancaster Country Day School describes as “disturbing AI-generated photos,” a search warrant was used this summer to obtain an iPhone 11 linked to a 15-year-old, according to court records. Do not identify the teen.
A woman told police that her daughter said a fellow student had “taken photographs of students and used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to depict the female juvenile students nude,” according to an affidavit used in filing for the search warrant. .
Matt Micciche, the school’s principal at the time, told police that the school received a complaint about the photos through the Safe2Say Something program in November 2023, but the suspect, identified by his initials, denied the allegations, according to Bair’s affidavit.
When some parents became aware of the photos in May, Bair wrote, they also learned that the “AI nudes” had been posted in a chat room.
Bair, who is leading the investigation because the suspect lives in Susquehanna Regional Police territory, said there has been shock at the school “that this is even happening and that it has happened within their small community.” She declined to say how many girls were seen in the footage, but added that more information about the case is likely to be made public in the next two weeks.
Erik Yabor, spokesman for Lancaster District Attorney Heather Adams, said Tuesday that Lancaster County prosecutors had no comment on the ongoing investigation.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Michelle Henry’s office said the agency could not discuss specific tips or reports made on the Safe2Say Something platform, which handles anonymous reports from students and others about security threats.
“Generally, our team takes tips and sends them to the appropriate law enforcement or school personnel for review,” said Brett Hambright. “We have confirmed that this has been done in relation to the matter you inquired about.”
LNP in Lancaster reported that most of Lancaster Country Day high school students held a walkout on Friday, November 8, marching across campus and chanting, “Hear us. Acknowledge us. See us.” School was canceled on Monday.
LNP said the school announced on Friday that it had “parted ways” with Micciche and that board chair Angela Ang-Alhadeff had resigned. The Associated Press left phone messages with them Tuesday seeking comment. A letter sent to the school community Monday by the Lancaster Country Day Board of Trustees said it was working to replace them and was “still finalizing resolution of the matter.”
“What we can say is that over the past week the board has been made aware of information that has led us to the decision to resolve the matter,” the board wrote, including acting “in the best interests of the girls who have been impacted and in the best long-term interests of the school.”
The school said counseling has been offered to students and the institution is reviewing reporting procedures, safety practices and other policies related to student safety.