Massachusetts Education Officials Issue Deepfake Guidance

Massachusetts education officials asked school districts on Wednesday, April 15, to investigate and address the rapid spread of fake AI-generated explicit images of students.

Officials from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a letter to school districts offering guidance on how school administrators can address the threat. The letter follows a Boston Globe report that Massachusetts schools have not instituted policies to address sexual harassment and artificial intelligence (AI).

Analysis from the Globe found that AI-generated sexual harassment guidance is detailed in only nine of the 113 school district policies posted on the website of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Only five noted that disciplinary action would be administered for students who use AI to create harmful images of others.

During the week of April 6, the Globe reported that one mother, Megan Mancini, spent several months seeking action from school officials after a fake AI-generated naked image of her daughter, Grace, was shared throughout the hallways of Hingham Middle School last fall. Mancini said no action had been taken for months.

According to the Globe, the eighth-grader who created it was not punished by the school district. Mancini said Hingham administrators also refused to address the problem in the student handbook.

After Mancini shared her story publicly, she received a call from Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who was “appalled” by Hingham Public Schools inaction.

“It's both terrible and totally unacceptable that young people today are living with the fear that their classmates might create and distribute AI-generated nude images of them,” Healey said in a statement shared with The Boston Globe. “They and their parents deserve to know that, if that happens, their school and community officials will take it seriously and that it would be investigated with perpetrators held accountable just like any other crime.”

State Senator Patrick O'Connor said he is supporting legislation to toughen laws on child pornography and AI.