BALTIMORE — A previous significant college athletic director was arrested Thursday early morning soon after allegedly working with artificial intelligence to impersonate the faculty principal in a recording that included racist and antisemitic comments about men and women at the college.
Dazhon Darien is struggling with prices such as theft, stalking, disruption of faculty operations and retaliation versus a witness.
Investigators determined he faked principal Eric Eiswert’s voice and circulated the audio on social media in January. Darien’s nickname, DJ, was among the names described in the audio clips he allegedly faked, according to the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office environment.
Baltimore County detectives say Darien created the recording as retaliation against Eiswert, who experienced introduced an investigation into the possible mishandling of university funds, Baltimore County Law enforcement Main Robert McCullough mentioned on Thursday.
Eiswert’s voice, which law enforcement and AI professionals believe was simulated, manufactured disparaging reviews toward Black students and the surrounding Jewish group. The audio was greatly circulated on social media.
Baltimore County Police reported Darien was at the airport trying to get on a flight to Houston when he was arrested. He experienced a firearm on him at the time, in accordance to police.
“Mr. Darien was stopped mainly because of the way his declared firearm was packaged when officers looked into his track record they discovered he had an open arrest warrant,” McCullough said.
Race-primarily based commentary
On the audio clip, a voice that mimicked Principal Eiswert created race-centered commentary, like statements that African-American pupils had been not able to “test their way out of a paper bag,” according to charging paperwork.
There were also responses about Jewish persons and two teachers who “must hardly ever have been employed at the university.” Police explained the recording depicted a phony discussion among Eiswert and one particular of the school’s assistant principals.
The clip’s viral circulation on social media had significant repercussions. Eiswert was briefly eliminated from the college, and waves of despise-stuffed messages circulated on social media, although the school gained numerous mobile phone phone calls.
Recording’s authenticity was questioned
Soon after a assembly, Eiswert instructed law enforcement he considered the audio clip was falsified employing AI. According to charging files, Eiswert advised police that he considered Darien was liable. He mentioned that Darien was “technologically savvy and considered he was familiar with AI,” and that there experienced been discussions with Darien about his deal not being renewed the following semester due to frequent get the job done functionality difficulties.
Interviews with several directors at Pikesville Large College exposed that Darien experienced many work-similar difficulties given that he commenced his part as athletic director in July 2023. Police said Darien had been reprimanded for terminating a very long-standing mentor at the school without acceptance.
Investigators say Darien had accessed the school’s community several moments in December and January, carrying out on-line lookups for OpenAI resources – which law enforcement connected to compensated OpenAI accounts.
A forensic analyst and college professor contracted by the FBI done an audio evaluation of the file. The effects determined that the recording contained traces of AI-created written content, with human modifying that extra history noises for realism right after the point, in accordance to the charging paperwork. One more specialist at the College of California, Berkley, analyzed the audio and also identified that it was manipulated.
Reaction from college leadership
“As you can imagine, this has been a incredibly challenging time for Pikesville Substantial Faculty group, principal Eiswert and his family, and group BCPS. We are incredibly proud of the pupils and staff and how they have stepped up to guidance a single an additional,” Baltimore County Faculties Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers claimed. “As I claimed then, and it bears repeating, the statements on the recording do not reflect the core values of our process.”
Rogers added that the county is getting “ideal motion” pursuing Darien’s arrest, “up to and which include a advice for termination.”
