What was intended as a media literacy lesson has been turned into an unintended case study showing that a video of the AI-generated school teachers' AI-generated tigers roaming the school corridor caused panic between students and parents at Urakal Sarakadalia Haimadrasa, located in the 24th Parganas district of North Kolkata.
The realistic video has been circulating through word of mouth on social media, scaring students. They stopped coming to school for two days starting Wednesday, and the administration received calls from parents who were afraid of the presence of wildlife on campus.
Monirul Mallick, the school's principal, later revealed that the video was completely artificial and was created using artificial intelligence (AI) by Mohammad Yamin Mallick, the school's geographic assistant teacher.
“This video was made by the teacher as part of the education initiative,” Malick said, “If I found myself causing panic, I contacted my parents, assured me the truth and immediately deleted the video.”
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Malik, who created the AI-generated clip, said his motivation was to raise awareness among students about the deceptive nature of digital content. “My goal was to help students realize that everything they see online is not authentic,” he explained, adding, “A video was created to show how AI can spread the wrong information. I was scared of anyone and I was not going to sincerely apologize for the confusion and fear it caused.”
Since then, school officials have confirmed that the facilities are completely safe, there is no wildlife in any way, and regular classes resumed on Thursday. They also promise to deal with the use of such technologies carefully in the future.
Although no disciplinary action has been made against teachers up to now, the incident underscores the urgent need for the responsible use of new technologies in education, particularly when dealing with impressive students.
