On January 18, 2024, the Pikesville High School community was jolted awake by an alleged recording of their principal, Eric Eiswert (“Eiswert”), posted on social media.[1] In the recording, Eiswert is depicted ranting about the “ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag” and how if he “ha[s] to get one more complaint from one more Jew in this community, [he is] going to join the other side.”[2] While a union representative’s claim that the recording was an artificial intelligence (“AI”) deepfake[3] prompted an investigation, the damage to the local community had already been done.[4]

NAACP representative Danita Tolson stated that she was “disappointed, but not surprised” by the comments.[5] Others on social media began to support or criticize Eiswert based on the recording.[6] Three months later, the Baltimore County Police Department (“BCPD”) confirmed that the recording was, in fact, AI-generated.[7] BCPD traced the original recording back to a server connected with Dazhon Darien, the school’s athletic director.[8] Using the school computer network,  Darien created the AI recording in order to retaliate against Eiswert for knowing about Darien’s alleged theft of school funds.[9]

On January 7, 2025, Eiswert filed a lawsuit against Baltimore County Public Schools and others for the alleged negligence in handling the incident which “‘allowed the national destruction’ of his reputation to go on while he endured ‘public humiliation and violent threats.’”[10] Eiswert’s lawsuit emphasizes the danger of deepfake technology and offers Maryland the opportunity to potentially set precedent for how schools and other organizations should respond to such situations.[11] Most importantly, there is opportunity to determine how Maryland will hold individuals accountable for their response to deepfakes or fraudulent AI in the workplace.[12] Ignorance of AI technologies can no longer be an excuse. However, the issue is twofold; individuals can easily claim that any media is AI generated[13] and deepfake detection can be very difficult.[14] Maryland practitioners and citizens alike must educate themselves about deepfake technology and remain vigilant regarding suspicious media and, especially when that media becomes evidence.[15]

Karrington Hatton is a third-year day student at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a second-year Staff Editor for Law Forum. Karrington graduated from Towson University in 2022 with a B.S. in Law & American Civilization and a minor in Theatre Arts. Before law school, he interned with the Honorable Judge Charles H. Dorsey III in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. In his 1L summer, Karrington studied abroad at Scotland’s University of Aberdeen School of Law, studying Comparative Human Rights Law and Comparative Business Law. He is currently working in the University of Baltimore Mediation Clinic for Families and as a teacher’s assistant for 1L legal writing students.

[1] Hannah Hoffman, Pikesville High School Under New Leadership as BCPS Investigates Principal, WBALTV11 (Jan. 30, 2024, 5:08 PM), https://www.wbaltv.com/article/pikesville-high-school-new-leadership-principal-alleged-racist-comments/46586234; Kristen Griffith, Baltimore County Public Schools Investigates Offensive Recording Alleged to Be Principal, The Balt. Banner (Jan. 17, 2024), https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/pikesville-high-principal-eric-eiswert-NT7K7N4K6RDEJNL5Z7ULTEG7VY/.

[2] Griffith, supra note 1.

[3] Deepfakes refer to audio or visual representations of a person that have been modified, making it possible to capture and manipulate a person’s face, voice, or body. Catherine Bernaciak & Dominic A. Ross, How Easy Is It to Make and Detect a Deepfake?, Carnegie Mellon Univ.: SEI Blog (Mar. 14, 2022), https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/blog/how-easy-is-it-to-make-and-detect-a-deepfake/.

[4] Griffith, supra note 1.

[5] Id.

[6] @murder_ink_bmore, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2NEEDrMo8_/?igsh=MTYwZWE4MnpxdDFvbA%3D%3D (last visited Jan. 19, 2025).

[7] Marianna Spring, The Racist AI Deepfake that Fooled and Divided a Community, BBC (Oct. 4, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9k5dv1zdo.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Anna Merod, Former Principal Sues Baltimore County Schools Over Alleged Racist AI Deepfake, The K-12Dive (Jan. 10, 2025), https://www.k12dive.com/news/baltimore-county-schools-lawsuit-principal-deepfake/737105/.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Jake Horton & Shayan Sardarizadeh, False Claims of ‘Deepfake’ President Biden Go Viral, BBC (July 28, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/news/62338593.

[14] Pamela Langham, Deep Fakes and Voice Cloning: The Upcoming Evidentiary Crisis, Md. State Bar Ass’n (Mar. 21, 2024), https://www.msba.org/site/content/News-and-Publications/News/General-News/Deepfakes_and_Voice_Cloning.aspx?WebsiteKey=5379acd8-e637-4c48-a814-b520fa60a952.

[15] See id.