Deepfake scandal shuts down school in Pennsylvania

An deepfaked nude photo scandal has shut down a Pennsylvania private school. On Monday, classes were canceled after parents forced school leaders to either resign or face a lawsuit potentially seeking criminal penalties and accusing the school of skipping mandatory reporting of the harmful images.

The outcry erupted after a single student created sexually explicit AI images of nearly 50 female classmates at Lancaster Country Day School, Lancaster Online reported.

The head of School seemingly first learned of the problem in November 2023, when a student anonymously reported the explicit deepfakes through a school portal run by the state attorney’s general office. But the head of school, allegedly did nothing, allowed more students to be targeted for months until police were tipped off in mid-2024.

Parents, who were shocked by the school's failure to uphold mandatory reporting responsibilities following any suspicion of child abuse, filed a court summons threatening to sue last week unless the school leaders responsible for the mishandled response resigned within 48 hours.

In a statement announcing that classes were canceled Monday, Lancaster Country Day School—which, according to Wikipedia, serves about 600 students in pre-kindergarten through high school—offered support during this "difficult time" for the community.