JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. — Federal and state law enforcement agencies are investigating a series of connected, artificial intelligence-generated bomb threats delivered to schools in Jackson and Hall counties.
Searches conducted by law enforcement officers turned up no explosives or safety hazards at any of the affected campuses.
The automated robocall threats prompted school evacuations and districtwide closures on Friday morning. Investigators with the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency confirmed that the threats appear to be linked and are assessing whether schools in other districts were also targeted.
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In Jackson County, sheriff’s deputies and bomb-sniffing dogs searched six schools on Friday morning after automated voice messages were received.
Jackson County Sheriff Kevin McCook described the automated nature of the calls.
“Something like an AI-generated call with a particular type of threat,” McCook told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot.
Because of the time required to inspect and clear each building, Jackson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Philip Brown made the decision to cancel classes across the entire district.
“We didn’t feel like we would have enough time during the school day to get our students here safely and get them fed,” Brown said.
In neighboring Hall County, Cherokee Bluff High School received one of the automated threat calls after the school day had already begun. The call prompted a brief evacuation and physical search of the building before law enforcement cleared students to re-enter.
Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield took to social media to inform parents about the incident and confirm state-level involvement.
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“I have spoken with the governor himself this morning who has the GBI highly engaged and once again, they’re corroborating with the FBI that this is certainly AI-generated,” Schofield wrote.
The situation caused significant concern among local parents.
Natalia Romero chose to pull her daughter, Martina, out of a different Hall County school following news of the threats.
Romero said that’s she’s not angry about the situation, she’s just worried.
Cybersecurity experts noted that while automated robocall threats are not a new phenomenon, artificial intelligence significantly simplifies the process for bad actors.
Beau Woods, a cyber security expert with Stratego Security, explained how the technology lowers barriers for creating such disruptions.
“Of course, it’s going to make it faster. It’s going to make it easier. It’s going to lower the technical and organizational bar to entry for these types of things,” Woods said.
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