Pupils behind explicit AI images tracked down, says principal

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.

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".

He said the actions are "shocking and without excuse", while the number of those targeted is in the "single figures".

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has confirmed that an investigation is under way.

It has been reported that the images were created using artificial intelligence and the fake pictures were then shared among some students.

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.

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".

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".

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".

The PSNI said "local officers are also engaging with the appropriate school authorities and the parents/guardians of the pupils affected".

Montgomery told parents that "this has been a particularly difficult time for the pupils of whom manipulated images were created".

He urged people to be "mindful that we are dealing with teenagers" and "refrain from comment and speculation where possible, including on social media".

He said the safety and well-being of all pupils remains a "key concern".

Jim Gamble, a former police officer and chief executive of the INEQE Safeguarding Group, said the creation and distribution of AI-generated images is a problem that knew no "geographical bounds".

He described the ordeal as traumatising for the victims and their families and for the young people who created the images.

"The people who have perpetrated in this instance are teenagers, they are children themselves," he added.

"I am not trying to play that down, or to mitigate it, but it is really important that we do consider that, that they are young people and young people can make errors of judgement and the law is a very blunt tool."

He urged anyone who may have created an image, or been the victim of one, to come forward to their school and the police.

"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."

Prof Clare McGlynn, an expert on violence against women and girls from Durham University, said it was an "extremely violating act" for the victims.

"This will not be an isolated incident we have seen this happening in schools around the world for the last few years – any school that thinks it's not happening in their grounds will be naive – and really needs to look hard at what is happening," she said.