Racist, ominous video of principal was really student-made deepfake, NY school says
A video of a principal making racist and violent remarks was created by students using artificial intelligence, a New York School district said.
The Carmel Central School District Board of Education said it was “appalled” after discovering fake videos of school administrators making disturbing comments in early February. After working with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, officials say they discovered that several high school students in the district were behind the deepfake videos.
McClatchy News reached out to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and the Carmel Central School District on March 15 and was awaiting a response from both.
The board of education said it “condemns these recent videos, along with the blatant racism, hatred and disregard for humanity displayed in some of them,” in a statement on Facebook.
A “deepfake” is an image or recording that has been changed or manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not done or said.
Deepfakes, like the one of George Fischer Middle School principal John Piscitella, made by Carmel High School students, are made using artificial intelligence.
In the fake video, Piscitella appears to say numerous racist remarks and threats, The Washington Post reported. The principal is digitally manipulated to appear to use racial slurs and say, “I am bringing my machine gun to school,” the outlet reported.
The students connected to the fake videos are being “dealt with in accordance with the district’s code of conduct,” according to the district’s statement. It did not specify how the students would be disciplined.
Putnam County Sheriff Kevin McConville told the Rockland/Westchester Journal News in a story published March 2 that the action did not rise to a criminal level and was not considered a hate crime.
The school district was alerted to the videos on Feb. 12, and the Carmel Central School District Board of Education released a statement on Feb. 15, Vice reported. Some parents said they felt the response time was too slow.
“The fact that we weren’t warned that our kids were in any kind of threat or danger in the moment is not OK,” Carmel Middle School parent Pierre Claude told the Journal News.
The Carmel Central School District Board of Education said it would commit to continued work toward a full inclusive school community.
“No one is as strong as all of us, and together we can work to unite and send a strong message to all that racism and all forms of hatred have no place in our schools,” the board said in its statement.
Carmel is about 60 miles north of New York City.
This story was originally published March 15, 2023 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Racist, ominous video of principal was really student-made deepfake, NY school says."
