As students return to classrooms this fall, many teachers are worried about new AI tools that will get in the way of learning. However, more worrying AI trends are developing. Older children are beginning to create deep nudes of their peers using the “undressing” app. Follow some news articles of events in places like California and New Jersey,The prevalence of this phenomenon is unknown, but it does not seem to overwhelm the schools yet. So it's time for parents and schools to actively plan to prevent and respond to this degradation and illegal use.
High Policy Fellow Riana Pfefferkorn We will study the proliferation and impact of child sexual abuse materials generated by AI. May 2025 Reportco-author with her Shelby Grossman and Sunny Liu We gathered insights from educators, platforms, law enforcement agencies, lawmakers and victims to assess the scope of the issue and how schools handle new risks.
“It was early on, and there is no accurate view of how widespread the issue is, but most schools still haven’t addressed the risk of child sexual abuse material generated.
Easy access, catastrophic consequences
Previous research has established that the spread of child sexual abuse material is an increasing problem in the age of AI. a 2023 Research Stanford scholars have created consciousness by looking at the meaning of very realistic explicit content generated by generated machine learning models. That same year, Follow-up Report We analyzed the presence of known child sexual abuse images in a common dataset used to train AI models. Based on this work, Pfefferkorn and her colleagues wanted to understand how schools, platforms, and law enforcement agencies handle the latest threats to child safety.
Unlike past technologies that can be used for illegal purposes, the so-called “nudify” or “undressing” apps are dedicated to allowing undressed users to create pornographic images using only photos of people who are dressed. You don't have to worry about getting to know Photoshop or training open source AI models to create believable images that can emotionally hurt those drawn or undermine their reputation. Kids can come across these tools through social media app stores, search engines and ads. And while they may not consider their actions as cyberbullying or illegal child pornography, they still have devastating consequences.
“These apps have previously eliminated all the work needed to create child sexual abuse material, so it's surprisingly easy for students to discover and use these tools from one another,” explains Pfefferkorn.
Reduces damage
The community has several ways to reduce the harm of deepfake nude. Federal law requires technology platforms to report and remove child sexual abuse material when they find it on the service, whether realistic or AI, and businesses appear to be compliant, according to Stanford reports. Furthermore, New federal law Immediately, you should remove any nudes (real or deep) posted online non-sensoryly at the victim's request. Victims can also take legal action against those who have created or shared nude images of deepfakes. However, since the criminal justice system is not ready for child offenders, Stanford has questioned whether criminal outcomes for children are appropriate.
Schools are also reliant on, as outlined in recent HAI policy briefs. Addressing AI-generated child sex abuse material: opportunities for education policy. You can suspend or expel the assailant or refer him to a restorative justice program. However, to date, few academic institutions appear to have established policies to manage this new type of risk. Pfefferkorn's report finds that schools being captured as unprepared in deep nude cases could misconstru a legal obligation, and that failing school responses could exacerbate the suffering of victims and undermine the trust of the community.
Against this background, Pfefferkorn concludes that the best way to stop deepfake nudity is prevention rather than reaction. This means that parents must be involved. She recommends that they follow these safety tips:
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Teaching children about consent and respecting physical autonomy involves images of people, similar images and even composite images. Kids need to realize that it's not fun to “nudify” someone's photos. It is harmful and can cause them to get into big trouble.
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If students see this behavior happening to them, encourage them to tell them. If children feel comfortable talking to adults directly or fear that they will be blamed, many schools already have an anonymous tip line for students to alert authorities of cyberbullying behavior.
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Think carefully about sharing images of your child on social media. There, bad actors can find and manipulate them with tools to undress. For example, use a photo editing tool to cover your child's face with emojis.
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Ask school administrators what steps they take to raise awareness and mitigate the harmful effects of AI-generated child sexual abuse materials. If sufficient parents express their concerns, the school will take action.
A combination of preventive parenting, school messaging and regulations will not allow apps to be wiped out from the internet forever, but it reduces the likelihood that young people will discover and use these tools. Pfefferkorn says to all parties who play a role in protecting the safety of their children, “don't normalize this behavior.”
For the work of HAI Policy Fellow Riana Pfefferkorn, please understand the proliferation and impact of child sexual abuse material generated by AI during this upcoming HAI seminar.
