DD victim of online AI image based abuse??

[Angielka]

DD (14) told me last night that she and a group of female friends have discovered that a boy in their year at school took photos of them, used AI to create nudes and tried to sell them online.

She was pretty matter of fact about it, said he’d apologised and that one of the girls is considering going to complain to the head when the new school term starts and that she would go with her.

I am so angry, and shocked, and feeling surprisingly lost about what to do. How can we protect our girls?

I am considering contacting his parents, the school, the police… WWYD?

Probably everything you've said... I would want the fucking book thrown at this child. Hopefully some kind of record so that his life chances are limited, e.g. restrictive travel, DBS. Probably wouldn't happen given his age though.

I feel for him in a way, and if he suffers he'd be a scapegoat for every other boy that learns from it, but these things are necessary sometimes.

That’s the thing though isn’t it? They are all children and we are in this shitty situation where (some) boys feel they can do this to girls. Like their bodies are someone else’s property. I also want him to face consequences. But the more I think about it the more sadness I feel. Fucking hell

if your DD has proof, Police tomorrow. They will take it very seriously.

Police first. This is serious and could have much longer term implications, you don’t know how widely these images have been circulated.

I’m not sure what proof she has - but that’ll be my first question in the morning. Thank you.

That’s what terrifies me. We don’t know how widely they have been circulated and when they might pop up again in her future.

On Tuesday contact a reputation management company who should be able to do a comprehensive Internet search. Some companies work pro bono if minors are involved.

That’s an excellent tip. Thank you

You can report him to the police. Child sexual abuse images are illegal whether they’re AI generated or not.

Sadly I think this is now so easy to do that soon everyone will have horrible AI versions of themselves online

A similar situation happened to my daughter (we are in another country) and although the teachers and police were supportive in our case we didn’t know who initiated it and they were sent via Snapchat we don’t know where the pictures ended up and there was nothing we could do - I didn’t think about the scraping service so will look into that if they resurface.

It angers me that as mentioned some boys will need to get in big trouble with life implications to protect the victims and be a deterrent to other boys, when at the same time there are people making money from the apps used in the creation and distribution of the pictures.

Police, regardless of proof.

What you have described is unquestionably illegal and the police will take it extremely seriously.

Absolute best case scenario, this is just a case of an extremely stupid and misguided kid making a serious mistake without truly considering the consequences, and nothing more sinister than that. Reporting it will put the fear of God in him and ensure he doesn't do it again.

Obviously I don't need to tell you what the worst case scenario is.

Either way, he will absolutely face consequences if he still has those images (or similar). From the Internet Watch Foundation...

"IWF analysts confirmed 245 reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse in 2024 compared with 51 in 2023, a 380% rise. Of these reports, 193 involved imagery that was so realistic it had to be treated exactly the same as ‘real’ photographic imagery of child sexual abuse."

New laws are currently being brought in to specifically outlaw any AI model designed to generate this kind of content. The police will take it very seriously.

I’m a teacher. This happened at our school. It was taken extremely seriously. Police were involved as classed as making and distributing indecent images of children.

I don’t know how far the police took things but the boys were expelled.

Definitely speak to the school. Safeguarding issues should be monitored over the summer. And I would also contact the police.

Contact the police or CEOP. We had to contact CEOP about something earlier this summer. They were very good and fortunately nothing ever came of the perceived threat to DC but we had to make sure we’d done everything possible to protect them.

Surely that’s immediate expulsion? School needs to make an example of the little toad so the other boys see the outcome of doing this.

Also not sure I would panic about the future / online reputation management etc. Just a robust - that’s not me. Sadly think this is more prevalent that us women realise 😢.

Thank you for all your messages. I sent a message to the boy’s parents through the school online system; I have spoken with the mother of one of the other girls; and I have spoken to the police. At the beginning of next week we have a meeting with the head and we will take it from there.

I really appreciate your perspectives. Thank you.

That’s awful op. His behaviour is awful but I think it highlights a bigger issue in the your DD was matter of fact about it.
Im not criticising your DD in any way, absolutely not, but it’s scary that young girls are not outraged at this happening.
It’s sad that boys think this is acceptable and girls think it’s normal.
I really hope the police take this seriously op and your DD is ok

I would report it to the police and push for them to seize his devices before the evidence can be deleted. He can be prosecuted for distributing CSA material (and he should be). This sort of thing needs to start being taken seriously before it becomes even more normalised.

You need to go to the police. He needs a fright I think. We cant let this stuff be normalised in our young.

This happened in a school near me. It was taken very serious and the creator expelled (independent school). It needs reporting to the police asap