How can such a short article have so much wrong with it?!?!
About the only thing clear is what started it all: “a group of middle school students were accused of using artificial intelligence to create nude images of their classmates.” and “the fake images contained students’ faces superimposed onto nude bodies.”
The rest of it is awful – and not entirely the reporter’s fault.
“Beverly Hills police said they launched an investigation”. Why? Assuming the superimposed onto bodies were not real, underage bodies, that’s not illegal. And children having self-taken child porn is a legal nightmare. Why involve the police?
“Authorities said the noncriminal investigation was initiated…” Police authorities or school authorities is not specified. And, really, more than one authority? Again, if it’s a “noncriminal investigation”, why are the police involved? Are there no criminals in Beverly Hills? I suppose it’s possible.
“the accused students … could be expelled from the district, depending on the school system’s own investigation.” “Could” is such a flexible word. I would hope ANY student “could” be expelled. An absolutely meaningless statement.
“This behavior rises to a level that requires the entire community to work in partnership to ensure it stops immediately.” In other words, parents, be sure to tell your children that creating fake nude photos of other children is bad. I’m a long way from middle school, but I highly doubt that is an effective strategy. It’s like a “keep off the grass” sign: Those who need to be told will ignore it and those that don’t ignore it already know.
“Mr. Bregy also urged Congress and California’s state government to create laws addressing certain AI images of people without their consent.” That doesn’t violate the First Amendment at all.
As an adult, the easy way out is to post an actual nude photo saying, “those are fakes; this is what I really look like naked.” A bit more subtle would be “it’s not me; I have a tattoo that is missing from the picture.” One could even get such a tattoo if one doesn’t already have it.
For children, school rules would be a good start. I’m pretty sure they get broad leeway when it comes to First Amendment issues – de facto, if not de jur.
BTW: An AI generated nude middle schooler would be an appropriate image for this post, but that’s a beyond the pale even for me. Stable Diffusion did generate them, though. That’s more than a bit creepy, but now I know.
Marked Up 