Dorota Mani and her daughter, Francesca, have asked legislators and President Biden to address AI being used to harm children
A mother in New Jersey is advocating for changes in Artificial Intelligence (AI) laws after her daughter’s face was utilized to generate a fake nude image, which reportedly circulated among her classmates.
Dorota Mani asserts that her 14-year-old daughter Francesca, along with other female students at Westfield High, N.J., had their photos used by a classmate to create pornographic images using AI. Despite the incident being brought to the attention of the girls and the school in October, the images were shared during the preceding summer. Mani informed Fox News Digital that she filed a police report and has been in communication with Westfield High regarding the matter. As an educator herself, Mani expressed dissatisfaction with how her daughter’s school handled the situation, describing it as “at best, incompetent.”
However, the New Jersey mother stated that she is no longer dwelling on the situation and is prepared to take proactive measures to safeguard other victims of AI abuse. She has shared her daughter’s story with New Jersey’s Republican State Senator Jon Bramnick and U.S. Representative Tom Kean, R-N.J., in an effort to advocate for legislation regulating AI at both the state and federal levels.
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Senator Bramnick informed Fox News Digital that he is collaborating on a bill with Republican State Senator Kristin M. Corrado to establish penalties for deepfake pornography, which he considers a “serious breach of the law.”
The proposed legislation aims to categorize the act of using people’s faces and associating them with pornographic images as a “significant crime.” Senator Bramnick emphasized the severity of such images, stating that they are “almost as bad as child pornography.”
“What you’re doing is you’re taking a child’s face and putting it on a naked body. That will be a serious offense in New Jersey when our legislation passes,” he affirmed.
Francesca Mani is actively working to make a positive impact amid the distressing incident. She has created an informative webpage about deepfakes, offering guidance for parents and children on how to protect and advocate for themselves if their images are manipulated by this technology. The teenager also penned a letter to President Biden, urging him to garner support from governors across all 50 states for the passage of AI legislation to safeguard children’s photos from inappropriate use.
Westfield Schools had previously informed Fox News Digital that the Westfield High principal sent a letter to parents, offered counseling for students, and alerted the Westfield Police Department and the school resource officer upon learning of the incident in October.
Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Raymond González issued the following statement to Fox News Digital:
“All school districts are grappling with the challenges and impact of Artificial Intelligence and other technology available to students at any time and anywhere. The Westfield Public School District has safeguards in place to prevent this from happening on our network and school-issued devices. We continue to strengthen our efforts by educating our students and establishing clear guidelines to ensure that these new technologies are used responsibly in our schools and beyond.”
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues its rapid evolution, law enforcement officials from all 50 states are urging Congress to establish a commission to examine how AI is being used to exploit children. The aim is to expand existing restrictions on child sexual abuse materials to specifically cover AI-generated images, as reported by the Associated Press.
Dorota Mani emphasized that these AI incidents are occurring globally. She has connected with individuals in Texas, Wisconsin, and even as far away as Paris and Japan who have been grappling with similar AI-related incidents.
“It’s happening all over. It’s just that the victims are being shamed and portrayed as… crying, poor, helpless. And I think this is my platform to change it,” she stated.