Girl Used AI-Altered Image To Frame Ex-BF In School Threat: Hillsborough Sheriff

RIVERVIEW, FL — A teenage girl is facing charges after authorities say she used an artificial intelligence-altered image to frame another student, her ex-boyfriend, for threatening a shooting at Riverview High School.

Deputies responded to the school on Wednesday after school administrators received an email containing a screenshot of an Instagram post threatening a shooting at the school, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The post appeared to have been made by a Riverview High School student. However, detectives interviewed him and determined he wasn’t responsible for the post, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators instead linked the image to the student's 15-year-old ex-girlfriend, a former Riverview High School student.

When detectives contacted the girl, she admitted to sending the email and knowing the image had been altered using AI, the sheriff’s office said.

The teenager was arrested and charged with written or electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and disrupting a school campus or function.

While the sheriff's office has named the suspect, it's Patch policy not to name minors accused of a crime unless they're being charged as an adult. HCSO hasn't said whether the suspect is being charged as a juvenile or an adult.

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