LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Two teenage boys who used artificial intelligence to create fake nude photos of their classmates at an exclusive private school in Pennsylvania received probation Wednesday after dozens of victims described the images\u2019 traumatizing effect on them.<\/p>\n
The boys were 14 at the time. They admitted this month that they made about 350 images, showing at least 59 girls under 18, along with other victims who so far have not been identified.<\/p>\n
Authorities said the boys took images of the girls from school photos, yearbooks, Instagram, TikTok and FaceTime chats in 2023 and 2024, and morphed them with images of adults depicting nudity or sexual activity.<\/p>\n
More than 100 students and parents from Lancaster Country Day School were in court to hear victims describe the shock of having to identify their own faces in pornographic photos to detectives. Juvenile proceedings in Pennsylvania are normally closed, but this was opened by the judge, providing an unusual opportunity for the community to be seen and heard.<\/p>\n
The girls described the fallout \u2014 anxiety attacks, a loss of trust, problems focusing on schoolwork and a fear that the images may someday surface in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n
The two young men stood stone-faced throughout, flanked by their lawyers and parents, as they were called pedophiles, \u201csick and twisted\u201d and perverted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never understand why they did this,\u201d one victim told Judge Leonard Brown, saying it \u201cdestroyed my innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n
One young woman told Brown \u201chow excruciating it is to bring these feelings up again and again.\u201d Another choked back tears as she excoriated one of the defendants for expressing \u201cfake empathy\u201d as girls confided with him about their pain, before it became known that he had been part of creating and disseminating the images. Still another said all of her friends transferred schools, and that she \u201cneeded trauma therapy to even walk around my neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defendants declined several opportunities to comment to the judge, who said he had not heard either boy take responsibility or apologize.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been a regrettable, long, torturous process for everyone involved,\u201d said Heidi Freese, defense attorney for one of the defendants. \u201cThere were very interesting, underlying legal issues surrounding the charges in this case and those will be decided on a different day in a different case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown ordered each to perform 60 hours of community service, have no contact with the victims and pay an unspecified amount of restitution. If they don\u2019t have any additional legal problems, Brown said, the case can be expunged after two years.<\/p>\n
As he imposed his sentence, Brown said that if they were adults, they probably would be headed for state prison. He said they should \u201ctake this opportunity to really examine\u201d themselves.<\/p>\n
The resolution of the Pennsylvania case comes days after three teenagers in Tennessee sued Elon Musk\u2019s xAI,<\/a> claiming the company\u2019s Grok tools morphed their real photos into explicitly sexual images<\/a>. The high school students are seeking class-action status to represent what the lawsuit says are thousands of people who were similarly victimized as minors.<\/p>\n The scandal in Pennsylvania led to a student protest<\/a>, criminal charges against the two teenagers and the departure of leaders at the school, which says it has about 600 students K-12, class sizes averaging just 12 kids, and \u201can endowment in excess of $25 million.\u201d<\/p>\n Nadeem Bezar, a Philadelphia lawyer who represents at least 10 of the victims, said Tuesday he expects to file a claim \u201cagainst the school and anybody else we think has culpability in these deepfakes being created and disseminated.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he has not yet seen the photos but expects the legal process to determine \u201cexactly when and where and how the school knew, how the boys created these images, what platforms they used to create these images and how they were disseminated.\u201d<\/p>\n As AI has become accessible and powerful, lawmakers across the country have passed laws aimed at barring deepfakes.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump signed the Take it Down Act<\/a> last year, making it illegal to publish intimate images including deepfakes without consent, and requiring websites and social media sites to remove such material within 48 hours of being notified by a victim.<\/p>\n Forty-six states now have laws addressing deepfakes, with legislation introduced in the remaining four — Alaska, Missouri, New Mexico and Ohio — according to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. <\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n