MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The FBI is warning parents and students about AI-generated school threats, including fake images of the “Cat in the Hat” character threatening schools.
AI used to create threats
The threats start with a phone and an AI image generator. In one case, someone used the technology to place the Cat in the Hat character around a school building, implying the character would show up and cause harm.
Dorothea Salo teaches at UW-Madison’s Information School. She said it is a new tool for an old threat.
“There’s a case in Kentucky where image generators, AI image generators, are being used as sort of a sophisticated Photoshop. So they’re putting cartoon characters like the Cat in the Hat around a school building and implying somehow that the Cat in the Hat is going to show up and do damage. So it’s that level of using these new tools to make some very old-style threats,” Salo said…