Ex-teacher accused of creating AI-generated porn of students in Mississippi
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A former teacher in Mississippi has been federally indicted for allegedly using artificial intelligence to create videos of teenage students engaging in sexual behaviors, according to court documents.
Wilson Jones, 30, is being charged with producing and possessing a morphed image of child pornography, a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi on March 6 says.
Jones, who resigned from the Corinth School District on Nov. 21, 2024, was a teacher at Corinth Middle School, the complaint reads.
'The Corinth School District internet filtering system alerted district administration of inappropriate activity on a teacher computer," the district told WMC in a statement. "The District investigated the complaint, took action, and reported the matter, as required, to the Mississippi Department of Education Office of Educator Misconduct."
"Since this relates to the employment of a former school district employee and is subject to a current law enforcement investigation, the District cannot offer any additional comment at this time. The District has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with any law enforcement request for assistance.'
USA TODAY contacted the Corinth School District and Jones' defense attorney on Friday but has not received a response.
AI videos depict Corinth Middle School students engaging in 'inappropriate behavior'
Corinth police learned about Wilson's alleged crimes when the department received an email from the Mississippi Department of Education on Feb. 26 regarding an incident that was reported to their office on Jan. 29, according to the complaint.
On Feb. 27, police met with Corinth School District Superintendent Lee Childress, the complaint reads. The FBI served the school district a subpoena to get all evidence, documentation, statements, laptops, videos and anything else related to the incident, the document continued.
While reviewing the material handed over by the district, FBI agents noticed that on Nov. 19, 2024, the Corinth Middle School principal received a text from another employee about a Bark Alert on Wilson's computer, according to the complaint. The Bark app monitors the network of school district computers and scans for illicit content being downloaded or shared, the charging document reads.
The severe alert from the app, tagged as "sexual," came in around 1:17 p.m. on Nov. 19, according to the court filing. The principal was able to get access to three of the videos on Wilson's computer, which depicted Corinth students between the ages of 14 and 16 engaging in "inappropriate behavior, including kissing and exposing themselves," the complaint says.
Wilson Jones admits to creating AI videos, but claims none are sexual
When the principal met with Jones the next morning, the teacher admitted to using an AI tool to create the videos, but he "claimed it was not sexual," according to the complaint. The teacher also claimed the images he used to create the videos came from social media, and acknowledged that one of the images was of a local student, the court filing continued.
According to the charging document, Jones had files, including videos and screenshots containing email usernames and passwords of students no longer at the middle school, stored on his Google Drive "without a legitimate reason."
Keystrokes made by Wilson around the time of the Bark alert were also examined and indicate that he typed several explicit prompts into the AI system, the complaint reads. Upon reviewing the material in the videos, FBI agents identified eight teenage victims who are known children from the Corinth School District, the charging document says.
'We need to know what's going on at our schools and with our children and not only our own but anybody else's children,' Jasmica Wade, the parent of a student in the district, told WREG. 'That's what we send them to school to learn, but not to go through this, they shouldn't have to go through that.'
Wilson posted a $20,000 bond on Thursday and was released from custody, court records show. He was scheduled to appear in court Friday, local outlet WKRG reported.
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