A King’s High School old boy contacted the school last Friday, concerned about a photo seemingly showing students performing an offensive gesture associated with the far right.
After the school analysed the photo, it was believed the photo might be around 10 years old and have been altered using artificial intelligence.
The picture was posted on social media alongside the caption ‘‘on behalf of Dunedin: you’re going to get deported’’ on June 9.
The original poster was replying to the statement made by another user who said ‘‘on behalf of Dunedin: if we catch you posting that imported culture war boomer slop you know what’s gonna happen’’.
The account holder appeared to be a fervent supporter of the group ‘‘Remigration New Zealand’’ — a far right, fringe anti-immigration political group that advocates for the removal and forced return of minority and immigrant populations, specifically the Indian diaspora, to their countries of origin.
King’s High School rector Nick McIvor saw the picture, and immediately noticed some discrepancies.
A raised mound in the school quad was missing — the feature was added to the quad during the former rector’s tenure.
There were missing brass panels which should have run through the quad at the angle the picture was taken.
A Braille pathway that was added to the quad in 2022 was also missing, and the picture featured a green bin King’s High School had not had on its grounds for about a decade.
‘‘Based on the above, we estimate that this is a partially or fully manipulated image about 10-plus years old,’’ he said.
Mr McIvor said people were living in ‘‘challenging times’’, especially those in the private sector, media and education industries who now had to work through all the challenges AI brought.
‘‘It’s a journey for all of us. In my entire tenure at King’s, there has never been even a hint of far-right rhetoric around the school.’’
The incident follows a rise in AI deepfakes and altered images used to target teachers at schools around New Zealand.
Earlier this week, RNZ reported several teachers nationwide had been made the subject of AI-generated deep fake pornographic images, or were depicted bad-mouthing students and their schools.
Many teachers were traumatised and unable to work after such images were generated.
The Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill is making its way through Parliament and would amend the Crimes Act and Harmful Digital Communications Act by expanding the definition of ‘‘intimate visual recording’’ to include images created, synthesised or altered to show a person’s likeness in intimate contexts without their consent.
