Five students at Beverly Vista Middle School, Los Angeles, created and shared AI-generated images of fellow students, resulting in a police investigation and their expulsion.

School principal Dr. Kelly Skon said in a statement to parents that staff had been alerted about the photos in which the faces of students were added to nude bodies using AI technology. The five 'egregiously involved eighth-grade students' were later expelled.

The discovery sparked outrage amongst parents, students and school authorities. One student told NBC4 that students were too scared to go to school lest they be targeted. A mother of a student at the school told CBS that she felt victimised even though her daughter was not one of the victims. 

The incident was the latest in a spate of similar events, and was seen to highlight gaps in California and US federal law on child pornography. 

Some parents argued that taking disciplinary action against the accused group was inadequate and that companies creating and facilitating deepfake and nudifier technologies should also be held responsible.