This back-to-school season, kids have a lot on their plates, especially when it comes to their online presence. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children wants to sound the alarm about what it’s calling one of the fastest-growing online threats facing children today: generative artificial intelligence (GAI) exploitation.
The risk was highlighted in the latest episode of an online animated series produced by the center called “Into the Cloud.”
In the video, several female characters discuss some pictures that have been shared by boys they know.
“I just can’t understand why anyone would believe we’d send pictures like this,” one character says.
“It’s because they look real,” another answers. “It doesn’t look like someone just copied and pasted my head onto a body without clothes. It looks like me, but it’s not. It’s AI.”
It’s a jarring reality check for parents of 10 and 11-year-olds, the age group this video is geared toward. But that’s the reality kids face in this new age of technology.
NCMEC said in 2024, it saw a 1,325% increase in GAI-related reports to its CyberTipline. That included cases where kids used apps or other online tools to create and share fake, explicit images of their classmates. It also included cases where offenders used GAI images to blackmail children.
News 5 spoke with Stacy Garrett, the Vice President of Content and Community Engagement for NCMEC. She encouraged parents to share the video with their kids as a starting point.
“Have conversations with your kids,” she said. “Make sure they know that these risks are out there, that they could potentially happen. But more than that, that they know that you are there for them. Because ultimately, we want our kids to be able to turn to us, come to us for help.”
You can check out the episode, “That’s Not Me!” from Season 3 of “Into the Cloud” by CLICKING HERE.
NCMEC also has tips for how you can talk to your kids about AI and online safety HERE.
