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Deepfakes and Your Kid: A Parent's Guide to AI-Generated Fake Images
AI-generated deepfakes targeting minors are increasing sharply. Parents need to understand what they are, how they're made, and exactly what to do if their child is targeted.
A 14-year-old in New Jersey comes home from school in tears. Her classmates have been sharing AI-generated images of her — realistic-looking, but fake — created from photos she had posted on Instagram. She didn’t consent to this. She has no idea how many people have seen them. The person who created them is someone she knows from class. This scenario, which played out in a widely reported 2023 incident, is no longer unusual. The technology that makes it possible is available as a free app download. The only requirement is a few photos of the target.
Deepfakes — AI-generated images or videos that realistically depict a person in situations they never experienced — have moved from science fiction to a genuine safety concern for families with children online. Understanding what they are, how they’re created, and what parents can do is no longer optional knowledge.
Key Takeaways
- AI tools capable of generating realistic fake images from a handful of real photos are now freely accessible and require no technical skill to use
- Non-consensual deepfake imagery involving minors — even when not explicitly sexual — can constitute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) under federal and many state laws
- The FBI and NCMEC have both documented increases in reports involving AI-generated imagery of minors
- Social media images of children (even clothed, innocuous photos) provide the raw material for deepfake tools — this is a reason many parents reconsider public sharing
- Reporting deepfake imagery of a minor should go to NCMEC’s CyberTipline and, in parallel, to local law enforcement
What Deepfakes Are and How They’re Made
The term “deepfake” originally referred to a specific AI technique called a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) used to swap faces in videos. The technology has since expanded to include a broader category of AI-generated synthetic media: fake photos, fake videos, and fake audio recordings that realistically depict real people.
Current AI image generation tools — including several available as free apps and browser-based tools — can take a small set of photos of a real person and generate new, realistic images of that person in any pose, setting, or state of undress. The quality of output has improved dramatically in the past three years. In many cases, these images are indistinguishable from real photographs to the untrained eye.
The pipeline from a social media profile to a realistic fake image can now take less than two minutes and requires no programming knowledge. This is the fundamental reason the threat has escalated.
Types of Deepfake Content Affecting Minors
- Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII): Fake images depicting a minor in sexual contexts. This is CSAM under federal law regardless of whether the underlying technology is AI.
- Humiliating or degrading imagery: Fake images that are embarrassing or designed to harm reputation without sexual content — placing a minor’s face on a body engaged in drug use, criminal activity, or gross behavior.
- Impersonation content: Fake videos or images that make it appear a minor said or did something they didn’t — used for harassment campaigns.
- Financial sextortion: Perpetrators create fake NCII and then threaten to share it unless the minor pays money or provides real images.
The Legal Framework
Federal Law
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2256, the federal definition of child sexual abuse material includes AI-generated images that depict a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The PROTECT Act (2003) explicitly criminalized “morphed” images — a category that encompasses AI-generated deepfakes of minors. Creating, distributing, or possessing such material is a federal felony regardless of whether any real child was harmed in its creation.
State Laws on Deepfakes
Several states have enacted specific deepfake laws in recent years:
| State | Law | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| California | AB 602, AB 730 | Civil remedies for deepfake NCII; criminal penalties for deepfakes in elections |
| Virginia | Code § 18.2-386.2 | Criminal penalties for non-consensual deepfake pornography |
| Georgia | SB 337 | Criminal penalties for non-consensual intimate deepfakes |
| Texas | SB 1736 | Criminal penalties for deepfake sexual content |
| Federal (proposed) | DEFIANCE Act, TAKE IT DOWN Act | Would create federal civil right of action and require platform takedowns |
As of 2026, the TAKE IT DOWN Act has passed the U.S. Senate and is under House consideration, which would require platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images — including AI-generated fakes — within 48 hours of a valid report.
What This Means Practically
If someone creates deepfake sexual imagery of your child, that person has likely committed a federal felony and possibly state crimes. Law enforcement can and does investigate these cases. The challenge is identification — particularly when the creator uses anonymous accounts or tools that don’t log user activity.
Warning Signs That Your Child May Be Targeted
- Your child discovers images of themselves they didn’t create or authorize
- School peers reference images they’ve seen of your child that don’t match real photos you know of
- Your child receives messages threatening to share images unless they comply with demands (sextortion)
- Your child becomes suddenly withdrawn, refuses to attend school, or expresses fear about their phone or accounts
- You find that someone has been systematically collecting photos of your child from multiple social media accounts
What to Do If Your Child Is Targeted
Step 1: Do Not Delete
Before anything else: preserve evidence. Screenshot every instance of the content you can locate, including the account information of anyone sharing it. If the content is on a website, document the URL and a screenshot showing the URL and the content.
Do not attempt to have the content removed before documenting it. Platform removals can be irreversible and may eliminate evidence needed by law enforcement.
Step 2: Report to NCMEC
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children operates the CyberTipline at cybertipline.org. This is the federally designated system for reporting child sexual exploitation online, including AI-generated content. File a report here immediately. NCMEC coordinates with law enforcement and can expedite platform takedown requests in ways that individual reporters cannot.
Step 3: Report to Law Enforcement
Contact your local police department and the FBI (tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI). Provide your documentation. Federal jurisdiction means the FBI can investigate cases that cross state lines or involve the internet, even when the local police have limited resources for cyber investigations.
Step 4: Report to the Platform
Submit content takedown requests to every platform hosting or distributing the material. For known CSAM, platforms are legally required to remove it and report it to NCMEC. Use the platform’s CSAM-specific reporting channels where available — these receive priority handling compared to general harassment reports.
Step 5: Reach Out for Support
Your child has experienced a serious violation. Professional support from a therapist familiar with trauma and online abuse is appropriate. The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (cybercivilrights.org) provides resources specifically for victims of non-consensual image sharing and offers a crisis helpline.
Reducing Future Risk: Rethinking Social Media Sharing
This is a conversation no parent wants to have, but the mechanism by which deepfakes are created — using real photos as source material — means that publicly available photos of your child are the raw material. Parents who post extensively public photos of their children (on accounts without privacy settings) are providing source data to anyone who wants it.
This doesn’t mean you can’t share photos of your children. It means the risk calculation has changed. Consider:
- Setting all social media accounts to private
- Limiting the number and variety of close-up face photos posted publicly
- Being thoughtful about which platforms host children’s photos and what their terms of service say about data use
- Explaining to older children why they might want to limit what they share publicly
None of these steps eliminate the risk — someone who has met your child at school has access to photos the most restrictive social media settings can’t prevent. But they meaningfully reduce the availability of source material for this specific threat.
What to Watch For Over 3 Months
Month 1: Review the privacy settings on every account where photos of your child appear. Identify any public-facing photos that could serve as source material and decide whether to restrict or remove them.
Month 2: Have an age-appropriate conversation with your child about deepfakes — what they are, that creating them is illegal, and that they should tell you immediately if they encounter any. Frame this as information, not alarm.
Month 3: Revisit what your child’s school is doing to address AI-generated imagery specifically. Many school districts have not yet updated their bullying and harassment policies to explicitly cover AI-generated content. Advocating for that update at the school board level is a meaningful action.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are deepfakes of fully clothed minors illegal?
It depends. AI-generated images that are not sexually explicit are generally not covered by CSAM statutes, but they may still violate state harassment or defamation laws, and platforms prohibit them under their community standards. The legal picture is evolving rapidly as states pass broader deepfake legislation.
Can AI-detection tools tell if an image is fake?
Current AI detection tools are improving but imperfect. They work better on some types of generated content than others, and sophisticated bad actors can defeat detection tools. Do not rely on detection tools to confirm whether an image of your child is real or fake — treat any suspicious image as potentially requiring investigation.
My child found someone else’s deepfake image, not their own. What should I do?
If the image depicts a minor, report it to NCMEC’s CyberTipline regardless of whether you know whose child it depicts. Encountering this content should also prompt a conversation with your child about why AI-generated fake images of real people — especially children — are harmful and illegal.
How do I explain this to a young child without creating excessive fear?
Keep the explanation age-appropriate and matter-of-fact. For younger children: “There are computer programs that can make fake pictures that look real. It’s never okay for anyone to make fake pictures of you, and if someone ever shows you a picture of yourself that you know isn’t real, come tell me right away.” You don’t need to explain the full scope of the problem to a 9-year-old.
Do schools have to address deepfakes of students?
Most existing school anti-bullying policies don’t explicitly mention deepfakes, but school administrators typically have authority to discipline students for conduct that substantially disrupts the school environment — which AI-generated harassment clearly does. Some states are beginning to explicitly require schools to address synthetic media harassment.
About the author: Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.
Sources
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024). Sextortion and AI-Generated Images of Minors. https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/sextortion-involving-ai
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (2024). CyberTipline 2023 Annual Report. https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline
- U.S. Department of Justice. (2024). Federal Child Sexual Abuse Material Laws. https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-obscenity
- Westerlund, M. (2019). The emergence of deepfake technology: A review. Technology Innovation Management Review, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1282
- Chesney, R., & Citron, D. (2019). Deepfakes and the new disinformation war. Foreign Affairs, 98(1). https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2018-12-11/deepfakes-and-new-disinformation-war
- Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. (2024). Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery Resources. https://cybercivilrights.org/
- Stanford Internet Observatory. (2023). AI-Generated CSAM and Platform Detection Challenges. https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/
