A Maryland high school teacher was arrested after he allegedly used artificial intelligence to create phony audio, planting racist and antisemitic words into the voice of his boss, authorities said Thursday.
Dazhon Darien, a physical education teacher and the athletic director at Pikesville High School, was accused of falsifying the voice of principal Eric Eiswert in January, authorities said.
“We now have conclusive evidence that the recording was not authentic,” Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters in Towson. “It’s been determined the recording was generated through the use of artificial intelligence technology.”
Darien was charged with disrupting school activities and other counts.
“As you could imagine, this has been a very difficult time for [the] Pikesville High School community, principal Eiswert and his family,” Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Myriam Rogers said.
A judge signed on Wednesday afternoon an arrest warrant for Darien, who was caught Thursday morning at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Darien was scheduled to fly to Houston when security questioned whether he had properly packed his gun for travel, McCullough said.
Darien’s name was run through police records, and the warrant showed up, leading to his arrest, McCullough added.
McCullough stopped short of saying whether Darien was seeking to flee.
Darien was also charged with theft, retaliation against a witness and stalking.
He and Eiswert had been at odds over “work performance challenges” with Darien’s contract possibly “not being renewed next semester,” according to the arrest warrant.
“Through their investigation, detectives allege that Mr. Darien, who was athletic director at the high school, made the recording to retaliate against the principal, who had launched an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds,” McCullough said.
Eiswert had been following up on a $1,916 payment Darien allegedly…
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