Forget it Jake, It's Baltimore

Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert

From Brady Knox at WaEx, Baltimore principal was framed by school athletic director using AI to fabricate racist attack 

A former Baltimore County athletics director was arrested after being caught using AI to frame a principal for making racist and antisemitic remarks.

According to the Baltimore Banner, Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert was temporarily removed from his position after an audio clip surfaced appearing to show him making disparaging remarks about black students and the Jewish community. A police investigation found the clip was created using AI, the alleged work of embittered former athletic director Dazhon Darien, who was arrested.

Dazhon Darien

“The audio clip … had profound repercussions,” police wrote in charging documents, according to the outlet. “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.”

Darien is also being charged with theft, retaliating against a witness, and stalking.

In January, an audio clip was published on the Instagram account murder_ink_bmore, appearing to show Eiswert saying that black students “couldn’t test their way out of a paper bag,” and that if he got “one more complaint from one more Jew in this community, I’m going to join the other side,” among other remarks. The post, made on an account with over 200,000 followers, garnered over 7,000 likes and gained the attention of the school.

Though Eiswert was briefly removed, authorities and AI experts soon began questioning the clip’s authenticity. In charging documents, police said that Darien had searched for OpenAI tools on the school’s network on several occasions. He was also connected to an email account that distributed the recording.

That certainly speaks of a level of tech savviness that I night not have expected from a Baltimore area jock.