On October 16, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Florida, the United States, disclosed that a 15-year-old girl had been taken into custody on three charges. She was accused of utilizing AI technology to edit and concoct a screenshot of an Instagram post, falsely implicating her ex-boyfriend in threatening a school shooting at a local high school. This act could result in her serving up to 15 years behind bars.

On October 14, Riverview High School received an email containing the fabricated screenshot. The email appeared to originate from the account of a male student enrolled at the school. Following an interview with the boy, law enforcement officials confirmed that he had not posted the content in question. They soon uncovered that the screenshot had been created using AI by a 15-year-old former student, who also happened to be the boy's ex-girlfriend.

After her arrest, the girl confessed to sending the email and acknowledged that she was aware the screenshot had been altered using AI. The male student was swiftly exonerated of any wrongdoing and faced no disciplinary measures. The girl, on the other hand, was charged with three offenses: making written or electronic threats of a mass shooting or terrorist attack (a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine), unlawful use of a two-way communication device, and disrupting school instruction and activities.

The relevant legal provisions explicitly encompass digital forms of text, graphics, videos, and photos. AI-altered screenshots also fall within the purview of these regulations. Police stressed that in Hillsborough County, threatening a school constitutes a felony, regardless of whether it is intended as a joke, whether AI technology is employed, whether it is an impulsive act, or whether there is an intention to frame someone. There will be legal consequences for such actions.