{"id":419572,"date":"2026-01-19T16:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/419572\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:38:13","slug":"pupils-behind-explicit-ai-images-tracked-down-says-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/419572\/","title":{"rendered":"Pupils behind explicit AI images tracked down, says principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RoyalRoyal School Armagh<\/p>\n

Graham Montgomery is the principal of the Royal School Armagh<\/p>\n

The principal of a County Armagh school at the centre of controversy over AI-generated explicit images said those allegedly behind their creation have been identified.<\/p>\n

Graham Montgomery, headmaster of the Royal School Armagh, issued a letter to parents on Monday, in which he said the school believes to have identified “all those of whom images had been manipulated and those allegedly responsible”.<\/p>\n

He said the actions are “shocking and without excuse”, while the number of those targeted is in the “single figures”.<\/p>\n

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has confirmed that an investigation is under way.<\/a><\/p>\n

It has been reported that the images were created using artificial intelligence and the fake pictures were then shared among some students.<\/p>\n

In his letter, Montgomery said the number of teenagers affected is in the “single figures” after reports that “potentially dozens of girls” had been targeted. <\/p>\n

He said that while that does not lessen the impact of what has happened to the victims, he hoped it would “contain any sense of panic among the wider school community”. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Royal School Armagh teaches about 800 boys and girls up to the age of 18<\/p>\n

‘Safety and well-being’<\/p>\n

Montgomery said the school first became aware of the circulation of images on Thursday 8 January, and subsequently referred the matter to the “appropriate authorities”.<\/p>\n

He said he wanted to “reassure all members of the school community that procedures are in place for the safeguarding and well-being of pupils”. <\/p>\n

The PSNI said “local officers are also engaging with the appropriate school authorities and the parents\/guardians of the pupils affected”.<\/p>\n

‘Refrain from speculation’ <\/p>\n

Montgomery told parents that “this has been a particularly difficult time for the pupils of whom manipulated images were created”.<\/p>\n

He urged people to be “mindful that we are dealing with teenagers” and “refrain from comment and speculation where possible, including on social media”. <\/p>\n

He said the safety and well-being of all pupils remains a “key concern”. <\/p>\n

‘Traumatising’ ordeal for all<\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/p>\n

Online safety expert Jim Gamble has spoken to the Royal School Armagh following the ordeal<\/p>\n

Jim Gamble is the chief executive of the INEQE Safeguarding Group. <\/p>\n

He said the creation and distribution of AI-generated images is a problem that knows no “geographical bounds”.<\/p>\n

He described the ordeal as “traumatising” not just for the victims, but also for their families, and for the young people who created the images. <\/p>\n

Gamble said that due to the accessibility of AI-apps, and the fact many are not age restricted, means perpetrators may believe that “because they were able to go online and search for a nudification app and find one, then it may not possibly be unlawful”. <\/p>\n

That he said, is not the case, and “the unfortunate thing is that these young people are committing the exact same criminal offence as creating an indecent pornographic image”. <\/p>\n

Gamble has called for calm, and urged anyone who may have created an image, or been the victim one, to come forward their school, and to the police. <\/p>\n

“Everybody needs to pause and reflect that we are dealing with children and do the right thing so everybody walks away from this with lessons learned and lives intact.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Royal School Armagh Graham Montgomery is the principal of the Royal School Armagh The principal of a County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-419572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}