Dozens of Bacchus Marsh Grammar girls targeted with AI fake nudes

A 16-year-old female student vomited after coming across fake AI nude images of about 50 girls at Bacchus Marsh Grammar, as police arrest a teenage boy over the scandal.

A mother whose daughter attends Bacchus Marsh Grammar says her daughter “threw up” after coming across fake AI nude images of female students shared on social media.

Emily said her 16-year-old daughter had been left “sick to her stomach” and deeply upset after coming across the material on social media about 11:30pm Saturday.

Police are investigating after about 50 female students, in years nine to 12, had fake graphic images of them shared on social media platforms including Instagram and Snapchat.

“It was incredibly graphic,” Emily told ABC Morning radio on Wednesday.

“It’s very traumatising… she was so upset she was throwing up… it’s sickening.”

Emily said the pictures combined the faces to girls — harvested from social media accounts — and manipulated them with AI technology to create explicit content.

Her daughter had not attended school this week, she said.

“It was so graphic — I almost threw up when I saw it, it was really, really awful,” she said.

“We’ve been trying to do the best we can to let her know that, you know, it’s not going to happen again hopefully, but how can you reassure them that the measures are in place that it won’t happen again.”

Bacchus Marsh Grammar has been caught up in a fake AI nude scandal. Picture: Supplied

Another concerned Bacchus Marsh Grammar parent, whose child is in grade four, said she does not feel safe posting any photos of her child on social media.

“I try not to post school related photos because I don’t know who could take the photos and maybe morph them,” the mother said.

“I hope the school will do some education and awareness so the kids can become aware of how to deal with social media crimes.”

Bacchus Marsh Grammar acting principal Kevin Richardson said the school was on Monday made aware of the production and circulation of video content that included images of students from the school.

“On behalf of the persons and families affected, Bacchus Marsh Grammar is taking this matter very seriously and we have contacted Victoria Police,” he said in a statement to the Herald Sun.

“The wellbeing of our students and their families is paramount.”

The Herald Sun has been told that students who don’t attend Bacchus Marsh Grammar were also targeted in the video.

It is believed that old Instagram photos, some of which were from school formals, were doctored into explicit content.

Police are investigating the incident at Bacchus Marsh Grammar. Picture: Supplied

In the school’s latest statement, acting principal Kevin Richardson said the wellbeing of students and their families was of “paramount importance” to the college.

“All students affected are being offered support from our wellbeing staff,” Mr Richardson said.

“Media reports indicate that a teenage boy has been arrested in relation to this matter, however, at this stage the school has not been contacted by Victoria Police with an update.

“As the matter is currently with Victoria Police Bacchus Marsh Grammar will not be making any further public comment at this time and request that the school’s privacy and wellbeing of students be respected.”

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said police had arrested a teenager in relation to explicit images being circulated online.

He was released pending further inquiries.

She said that police believed that images had been sent to an individual 13km from one of the school’s campuses.

“Officers have been told a number of images were sent to a person in the Melton area via an online platform on Friday, 7 June,” she said.

“As the investigation remains ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

Bacchus Marsh Grammar is a combined, independent college with three campuses in Maddingley, Woodlea and Staughton Vale.

Fees range from $6893 for a prep student to $13,876 for a year 12 student.

The incident comes days after a 15-year-old from Salesian College’s Chadstone campus was expelled for pro­ducing explicit images of a teacher using artificial intelligence.

In a statement, Salesian said it had investigated the matter and made the steps to immediately remove the student.

The school said it continued to support the teacher involved and had received no complaints from parents regarding the incident.

However, several parents said they were angered by the student’s actions.

“It’s very upsetting that this has occurred and we feel for the teacher involved,” one parent said.

Two male students from Yarra Valley Grammar were expelled last month after creating a cruel and misogynist spreadsheet assessing their female classmates.

The ranking categories included terms such as “wifeys”, “cuties”, “mid”, “object”, “get out” and “unrapeable”.

Yarra Valley Grammar principal Mark Merry had been under intense pressure to take action, with a petition from 118 former students calling for the expulsion of those involved.

Meanwhile, Victoria Police were called in over another scandal at McClelland College in Frankston, where male pupils used a ranking list to rate their female classmates.