Three high school students from Carmel High School created deepfake videos using AI technology that depicted a middle school principal and law enforcement officer making violent racist threats against Black students, which were posted on TikTok and caused significant harm to the targeted individuals and community.
In February 2023, three high school students from Carmel High School near New York City used deepfake AI technology to create fake videos impersonating John Piscitella, principal of nearby George Fischer Middle School, and a member of the Putnam County Sheriff's Department. The deepfake videos showed these individuals making violent racist slurs and threats against Black students, including threats to bring weapons to school and references to lynching. The videos were posted on TikTok and circulated before being taken down. The incident was reported to school authorities on February 12, and the Carmel Central School District Board of Education issued a statement on February 15 condemning the videos. The Putnam County Sheriff's office investigated but determined no laws were broken. Parents criticized the school's inadequate response, lack of proper notification about the threats, and failure to provide additional security. The incident highlighted ongoing racism issues in the district and prompted plans for a lawsuit against school authorities. A similar but separate incident occurred at nearby Mahopac Central School District involving racist threats in a Snapchat group chat.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed