By Kerry Gallagher
Teens and kids today aren’t strangers to the digital world—they live in it. They know how to navigate apps and manage complex online dynamics. But what they do not always know is how to protect themselves from the emotional toll of deepfake explicit media, even if they recognize it as fake. They may also not be aware of the manipulative tactics behind sextortion. That is where adults come in. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or community leader, you play a crucial role in helping young people understand the risks and feel supported in reporting harm. Prevention does not mean shielding them from every danger—it means empowering them with the knowledge, language, and trust they need to stay safe. Tools like the OCEPI Ten Best Practices and recent guidance on generative AI (GenAI) safety offer actionable steps to start that conversation.
The Online Child Exploitation Prevention Initiative (OCEPI), established in 2023, aims to “establish a technology safety partnership with an ongoing goal of working collaboratively to achieve a consistent and effective global prevention message.” As the most comprehensive and collaborative online safety group in the U.S., OCEPI brings together experts, including federal, state, and local law enforcement; researchers, educators, prevention specialists, and child protection organizations. ConnectSafely is proud to be a founding member of OCEPI. All OCEPI partners are committed to one shared goal: keeping children safe online, even as GenAI is pushing change faster than anyone expected.
AI and Explicit Images
Parents might be aware of the use of GenAI to help with meal plans, grocery lists, vacation ideas, and packing lists. Educators might already use GenAI to brainstorm creative lesson ideas or to create materials at the right reading level to meet their students’ needs. Community leaders are likely already using GenAI to help plan events and draft communications to various sponsors and stakeholders. AI is helping us become more efficient and productive, and modeling these great uses with our children is important.
Unfortunately, along with these rewarding uses come some risks, including the potential use of AI to create explicit images. Examples of how this can happen include:
- Face-swapping apps that can put the face of a person on an already explicit image
- Nudify apps that can take a non-explicit image and change it to an explicit image.
- Text to image creation of explicit images.
Depending on the sophistication of the tools, photo-realism can be achieved and differentiation of AI-generated images from photographs is nearly impossible. Parents, educators, and community organizers are rightly concerned to see that some of these images depict children and sometimes these images are generated by youth themselves using GenAI tools.
What Can Schools and Communities Do?
As early as 2024, schools were facing the reality that even youth themselves can be creators of deepfake explicit images with GenAI tools. As noted in Politico, “Teachers and school leaders say the effects of GenAI are roiling the classroom, and they demand tailored solutions even as bigger debates roll on. For example, it’s not always clear who should be punished for making and circulating deepfakes. When perpetrators are minors, there are even more questions. And there are not clear mandates on reporting deepfake incidents to law enforcement. In short: educators want help, and they want it now.”
There is guidance available now for schools and their community partners thanks to the collaborative effort of the partners, including ConnectSafely, who are part of OCEPI.
Step 1: Prevention
Traditional prevention programs that preach to kids and teens to avoid social media or use the “stranger danger” approach online have borne out to be ineffective. When youth find themselves in the unfortunate position of having an explicit image of themselves shared by others, these traditional messages can cause them to feel shame and be afraid to seek help out of worry they will be blamed for what’s happened. Research shows that schools and youth-serving organizations should swap the victim-blaming approach for a victim-centered one.
OCEPI’s Ten Best Practices for Prevention Programs provides help for creating effective prevention programs, whether they are assemblies at school, materials distributed via email newsletters, or evening gatherings for parents. For example, if a teen discloses to the presenter at the end of a program that they are a victim of shared deepfake explicit images, the guide suggests that a victim-centered response would be, “I’m so glad you asked for help. This individual took advantage of you. Let’s figure out the next steps together.” This is one of several suggestions, covering a broad range of online risks.
Acknowledging the challenges facing the teen, offering support, and suggesting a plan that includes their voice and choice make this an effective and victim-centered approach.
Step 2: Protocols
Unlike when adults create explicit images of children using GenAI – a circumstance the criminal justice system is well-equipped to deal with – our institutions are often less prepared for situations in which minors create these deepfake images of one another or even of themselves. A minor may do so out of curiosity and without knowing the potential harm to their peers. OCEPI’s Guidance for School-Based Professional and School Leaders is a research-based and important read for educators, parents, and community organizers.
Victims of shared deepfake explicit images often suffer anxiety, embarrassment, and reputational injury. There is worry that friends, family, and trusted adults will believe the image is real, which may deter them from coming forward and asking for help.
A victim-centered protocol will recognize the gravity of harm to the victim, provide counseling and support for the victim, and a plan for helping the victim get the image removed from certain platforms using services like NCMEC’s Take it Down.
Similarly, protocols should include age-appropriate accountability and support if the image was created by a minor. Schools can provide information to the youth who created or shared the image about the harm caused and offer counseling. These steps will teach an important lesson and prevent future instances of GenAI-created explicit deepfakes.
Collaborating for Impact
By combining education, empathy, and clear protocols, adults can help kids and teens feel supported and prepared to respond to the risks they face online. The challenges of GenAI are real—but with the right tools and open conversations, we can guide adolescents to navigate them with confidence and care.