Children can be so mean, and with increased exposure to social media apps, cyberbullying has become an epidemic. Artificial intelligence isn’t making things any easier for kids or parents doing their best to keep their kids safe. A 13-year-old girl in Louisiana reportedly became the victim of relentless bullying from kids at her school after fake nude photos of her appeared on Snapchat. The AI images made her life a living hell, and one day, she couldn’t take it anymore. The teenager snapped and attacked a boy on the bus. What the school board did next is truly appalling.
The unidentified teenager attended Sixth Ward Middle School in Thibodaux, the Associated Press reported. She claimed she went to the school and begged for help, but because the images were on Snapchat and had disappeared, some administrators doubted they even existed. Then one day, things came to a head on the bus. A boy was showing the AI nude photos to a friend, and the girl couldn’t take it anymore.
“That’s when I got angry,” she said during a disciplinary hearing, per the AP. The teenager admitted to attacking the student suspected of creating the AI photos and encouraging others to join her. As a result of her actions, the district sent her to an alternative school for 10 weeks.
“She just felt like she was victimized multiple times — by the pictures and by the school not believing her and by them putting her on a bus and then expelling her for her actions,” her father, Joseph Daniels, said in an interview.
The suspect got no punishment. Then police began to investigate, and that’s when things changed.
According to a release from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, a male student is now facing 10 counts of unlawful dissemination of images created by artificial intelligence, and more charges could come.
“After the incident was publicized at last week’s meeting of the Lafourche Parish School Board, we have decided to provide an update to this ongoing investigation,” Sheriff Craig Webre shared in a statement. “These types of investigations, which involve technology and social media platforms, can take many weeks or even months to attain and investigate digital evidence. Our detectives are focused on completing a thorough investigation to ensure accountability of those involved.”
He added that the female victim will not face charges in the attack.
“Due to the totality of the circumstances, we chose not to pursue charges on the female student,” the sheriff noted in the statement. “While the ability to alter images has been available for decades, the rise of A.I. has made it easier for anyone to alter or create such images with little to no training or experience. This incident highlights a serious concern that all parents should address with their children.”
The school board ultimately changed its position and allowed the student back to school in early November. She remains on probation until the end of January. She can’t play sports, attend dances, or attend other school events until then. Daniels said he had high hopes for his daughter’s middle school years, but now he’s unsure of what the future holds.
“I was hoping she would make great friends, they would go to the high school together and, you know, it’d keep everybody out of trouble on the right tracks,” her father told AP. “I think they ruined that.”
These school administrators should be ashamed of themselves. No one deserves this level of humiliation. They’re lucky all she did was attack someone on the bus. This could have been so much worse.
