Lawmakers in Annapolis are considering legislation that would criminalize using artificial intelligence to create false, harmful impersonations like the one a former Pikesville High School employee is accused of creating to impersonate the school’s principal making racist and antisemitic remarks in a case that gained national attention.
The Pikesville incident exposed gaps in existing state law surrounding artificial intelligence, said Senator Shelly Hettleman, a Democrat whose district includes the Pikesville area. She is sponsoring SB 362, a bill that would make it illegal to distribute a “forged digital likeness” designed to deceive viewers or listeners.
“I just feel our current laws were insufficient to address the horrible things that happened to the principal of Pikesville High School,” Hettleman said. “We need to make sure that our laws are keeping up with technological advancements.”
The Pikesville High School case left prosecutors poring through law books to determine what charge they could file, said Scott Shellenberger, the Baltimore County state’s attorney.
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“We realized, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s nothing there,‘” he said. “Finally, we found ‘disturbing school activities.’”
That’s one of the charges the office brought against Dazhon Darien, 32, who is accused of using AI to create the recording, allegedly in retaliation for an investigation into improper use of school funds. The recording went viral and caused chaos in the school community.
Shellenberger said if the Pikesville AI case hadn’t involved a school principal, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office would have been left without a clear way to prosecute for the fake audio recording.
“That just shows that there was a missing piece” in the law, he said.
The forged digital likeness bill will receive a hearing before the Maryland Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday.
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Violating the law would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to three years in prison. People charged under the law would be able to defend themselves in court by arguing they took “reasonable action” to inform viewers the digital likeness was fake.
Maryland lawmakers are grappling with artificial intelligence across a range of bills this legislative session. One would bar the use of AI-manipulated video or audio recordings of political candidates to influence voters; another would make it illegal to distribute AI “revenge porn,” or computer-generated images of sexual activity, and allow victims to sue for defamation.
The General Assembly in 2019 passed legislation that added computer-generated images to the state’s child pornography statute.
At least 45 states introduced AI-related bills in the 2024 legislative session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Maryland adopted new policies governing how state agencies can use AI.
Senator Katie Fry Hester, a Democrat representing parts of Howard and Montgomery counties, is behind several piece of AI-related legislation this year, including the forged digital likeness bill.
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The Pikesville High situation shows the need for legislation that protects against the misuse of AI, she said.
“We wanted to go broad on purpose, because you can’t predict what the next case is going to be,” she said. “We wanted to develop a legal framework that would help prevent these bad actors from using AI.”
The bill is also designed to protect First Amendment rights, she said, by taking aim only at fraudulent speech. In an October letter, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office wrote that the proposal would likely stand up to constitutional scrutiny as long as it limits harmful false speech, and not parodies or other protected forms of expression.
The legal situation for Darien, the defendant in the Pikesville High case, went from bad to worse this week: He was arrested Monday on federal child pornography and sexual exploitation of children charges when he appeared for a hearing in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
Investigators reported finding sexually explicit images of teen boys during a search of Darien’s online accounts, and one teen reported meeting with Darien at a hotel to engage in sexually explicit conduct.
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Prosecutors in the Baltimore County case accused Darien of disrupting school activities after investigators determined he used AI to fake the voice of Pikesville High’s principal, Eric Eiswert, making racist and antisemitic comments.
“The audio clip ... had profound repercussions,” police wrote in charging documents. “It not only led to Eiswert’s temporary removal from the school but also triggered a wave of hate-filled messages on social media and numerous calls to the school. The recording also caused significant disruptions for the PHS staff and students.”
Eiswert is now the principal of Sparrows Point Middle School in Edgemere. He has sued the school system, alleging in the lawsuit that Darien was hired despite numerous red flags and falsities on his resume that should have been discovered sooner.
Darien is also charged with theft, retaliating against a witness and stalking in the Baltimore County case. It is unclear whether the state charges will move forward now that Darien has been charged in federal court. Sexual exploitation of children carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
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