A photo of your child does not have to be embarrassing, private, or inappropriate to become a problem online.
It could be an ordinary school photo.
A selfie posted on social media.
A short video from a birthday.
Even a few seconds of someone’s voice.
Artificial intelligence can now manipulate ordinary images, video, and audio to make it appear that a person said or did something that never actually happened.
These creations are commonly called deepfakes.
For parents raising Gen Alpha, understanding deepfakes is quickly becoming an important part of online safety.
Deepfakes can be funny or creative. But they can also be used for bullying, scams, impersonation, misinformation, harassment, sexualized images, and extortion.
Here is what parents need to know.
Table of Contents
What Is an AI Deepfake?
A deepfake is an image, video, or audio recording created or manipulated using artificial intelligence to convincingly imitate a real person.
For example, AI could potentially make it appear that someone:
- Said something they never said
- Appeared in a video they never recorded
- Was somewhere they never visited
- Wore clothing they never wore
- Participated in an embarrassing situation that never happened
The Australian Government’s eSafety Commissioner describes deepfakes as highly realistic fake images or videos showing a real person doing or saying something they did not actually do or say.
As AI improves, identifying manipulated content simply by looking at it is becoming increasingly difficult.
That makes AI literacy an important part of modern digital parenting.
Why Should Parents Worry About Deepfakes?
Deepfakes are not only a celebrity or political misinformation problem.
Children and teenagers can be targets too.
In 2025, child-safety organization Thorn published research involving 1,200 young people ages 13–20. It found that 1 in 8 teens surveyed said they personally knew someone who had been targeted by deepfake nude imagery.
More recent youth research published by Thorn in 2026 found that 1 in 25 surveyed teens reported personally being the victim of an AI-generated deepfake nude.
UNICEF has also warned about the growing problem of AI-generated sexualized images involving children.
In February 2026, UNICEF reported that research conducted with ECPAT and INTERPOL across 11 countries found that at least 1.2 million children surveyed had disclosed having their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes during the previous year.
These numbers show why parents should treat deepfake awareness as part of everyday online safety for children, rather than as a niche technology issue.
How Can Deepfakes Harm Kids?
1. Deepfake Bullying
Imagine a student creating a fake embarrassing image of a classmate and sharing it in a group chat.
The event shown in the image never happened.
But the humiliation can still be very real.
Other students may screenshot it, repost it, make jokes about it, or send it to people outside the school.
AI therefore gives cyberbullying a powerful new tool.
2. Fake Nude Images
One of the most serious forms of deepfake abuse involves using AI to create fake nude or sexualized images of a real person.
Sometimes called AI “nudification,” these tools can manipulate an ordinary photograph so that the person appears nude or sexually depicted.
When the person shown is a child, the situation becomes especially serious.
UNICEF has emphasized that fabricated sexual images can still cause genuine harm even though the depicted event never occurred.
Parents should make one message extremely clear:
A fake image does not mean the harm is fake.
3. Sextortion
Deepfakes can also become part of sextortion.
Someone may create or claim to possess an embarrassing or sexualized image and threaten to send it to friends, relatives, classmates, or followers unless the child pays money or provides additional images.
The FBI warns that offenders can sometimes create fabricated explicit images even when a child has never sent them sexual content.
This changes an old piece of internet-safety advice.
Teaching children “never send nude photos” remains important.
But today, parents must also explain that someone may fabricate an image even when the child never created the original content.
4. Fake Voice Messages
Deepfakes are not limited to pictures.
AI can also imitate voices.
A child could eventually receive audio that appears to come from a friend, teacher, parent, influencer, or another familiar person.
That means children need to learn a new rule:
Recognizing someone’s face or voice online is no longer enough to prove that the content is genuine.
5. Reputation Damage
A fake video can spread much faster than the explanation that it is fake.
For children and teenagers, that could affect friendships, school relationships, sports teams, social groups, or their reputation online.
Even when everyone later discovers that an image was AI-generated, the emotional impact may remain.
“But My Child Doesn’t Post Inappropriate Photos”
That is good—but it does not completely eliminate the risk.
A person creating a deepfake may only need ordinary content.
For example:
- Profile pictures
- Public selfies
- School photos
- Sports pictures
- TikTok or Instagram videos
- YouTube videos
- Public voice recordings
The FBI specifically warns families that photos, videos, and audio posted online can potentially be used by other people to create AI-generated content.
This does not mean parents need to remove every picture of their children from the internet.
It means families should think carefully about how much identifiable content they make publicly available and who can access it.
Can Parents Easily Spot a Deepfake?
Sometimes.
But parents should not rely entirely on visual clues.
Older deepfakes often contained obvious mistakes such as strange hands, unnatural blinking, distorted backgrounds, mismatched lighting, or unusual lip movements.
Modern AI content can be much more convincing.
Instead of asking only:
“Does this look fake?”
Teach children to ask:
“Where did this come from?”
Check the original account.
Look for another reliable source.
Search for the original image or video.
Ask the person supposedly shown in the content.
Be suspicious when an account demands money, secrecy, personal information, or an immediate response.
The FBI similarly recommends verifying suspicious or out-of-character AI-generated content rather than automatically trusting what appears on screen.
7 Things Parents Can Do Right Now
1. Talk About Deepfakes Before Something Happens
Do not wait until your child becomes a target.
Show them age-appropriate examples of AI-generated content and explain how artificial intelligence can manipulate media.
The goal is not to make children afraid of technology.
It is to make them skeptical enough to stop and check.
2. Review Privacy Settings
Check who can see your child’s:
- Photos
- Videos
- Stories
- Friend list
- School information
- Location
- Profile details
Private accounts cannot eliminate deepfake risks, but reducing unnecessary public information can reduce exposure.
3. Teach “Pause Before You Share”
A shocking video arrives in a group chat.
Instead of immediately forwarding it, children should learn to pause.
Ask:
Who posted this?
Is there another reliable source?
Could AI have created or changed it?
This habit is becoming just as important as traditional internet safety.
4. Be Careful With AI Apps
Kids increasingly interact with AI through chatbots, image generators, homework tools, games, and entertainment apps.
Parents should understand what information children are uploading to these systems.
Our guide to AI companions for kids and Gen Alpha explains why children should avoid casually sharing private information, personal images, passwords, addresses, or other sensitive details with AI systems.
Parents of older children may also want to read our guide to ChatGPT for teens to better understand how teenagers are beginning to interact with generative AI.
5. Create a “Tell Me First” Rule
Children sometimes hide online problems because they are afraid their parents will confiscate their phone or blame them.
Try establishing one family rule:
If someone threatens, blackmails, impersonates, or creates fake content about you online, tell me before responding.
Your first priority should be stopping the harm.
Consequences for unrelated rule-breaking can wait.
6. Don’t Trust Urgent Requests Automatically
Suppose you receive a message that sounds like your child saying:
“Mom, I’m in trouble. Send money now.”
Do not rely only on the voice.
Contact your child using a known phone number or another trusted method.
Families can even establish a private verification word for unusual emergency situations.
7. Limit Unnecessary Public Information
Parents should think about their own posting habits too.
A child’s full name, school, sports team, birthday, location, photos, and videos can collectively create a detailed digital identity.
You do not need to disappear from social media.
Just consider whether every piece of information needs to be public.
What Should You Do If Someone Creates a Deepfake of Your Child?
Your reaction matters.
If your child tells you that someone created a fake image or video of them, focus first on helping them.
Do not immediately blame them for posting the original photograph.
Then:
- Preserve evidence. Save usernames, messages, URLs, dates, screenshots, and other relevant information.
- Report the content to the platform. Major platforms provide reporting systems for harassment, impersonation, sexual content, or non-consensual imagery.
- Contact the school when appropriate. If students are involved, school administrators may need to address bullying or distribution.
- Consider law enforcement or child-protection reporting. This is especially important when sexual imagery, threats, blackmail, grooming, or exploitation is involved.
- Support your child’s emotional wellbeing. Fake content can still cause embarrassment, fear, anger, or humiliation.
Parents in the United States can learn more through the FBI’s online safety resources for children and families.
For sexual images involving minors, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) provides reporting and support resources.
NCMEC’s Take It Down service can also help eligible users address the online spread of explicit images, including certain AI-generated content.
Outside the United States, parents should use the appropriate child-protection, online-safety, platform-reporting, or law-enforcement services available in their country.
Teach Kids One Important New Rule
For years, parents taught children:
Don’t believe everything you read online.
Gen Alpha needs an updated version:
Don’t believe everything you see or hear online either.
A photograph is no longer automatic proof.
A video is no longer automatic proof.
Even a familiar voice is no longer automatic proof.
That sounds frightening, but the solution is not to teach children to distrust everything.
The goal is to teach them to verify before believing or sharing.
That skill will become increasingly important as AI-generated media becomes a normal part of the internet.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a deepfake?
A deepfake is AI-generated or AI-manipulated media designed to realistically imitate a person in an image, video, or audio recording. It can make someone appear to say or do something that never actually happened.
Can someone make a deepfake from a normal photo?
Yes. Ordinary publicly available photographs, videos, and audio can potentially be manipulated using AI. This is why families should think carefully about privacy settings and how much personal media they make publicly accessible.
Are deepfake nudes harmful if they are fake?
Yes. A fabricated image can still be used to humiliate, bully, sexualize, threaten, or blackmail a child. UNICEF has explicitly warned that deepfake abuse involving children causes real harm.
What should a child do if someone threatens them with a deepfake?
They should stop engaging with the person, tell a trusted adult, preserve relevant evidence, and report the account or content. Sexual exploitation, threats, or extortion may also need to be reported to law enforcement or an appropriate child-protection organization.
How can parents protect children from AI deepfakes?
Parents can reduce risk by improving account privacy, limiting unnecessary public personal information, teaching children how AI manipulation works, encouraging verification of suspicious content, and creating an environment where children feel comfortable asking for help.
Can deepfake technology imitate someone’s voice?
Yes. Generative AI can create synthetic or cloned audio that resembles a real person’s voice. Families should independently verify unexpected requests for money, passwords, personal information, or urgent assistance.
Final Thoughts: AI Deepfakes and Kids
AI deepfakes change one of the basic assumptions previous generations had about the internet.
Seeing is no longer necessarily believing.
For Gen Alpha, understanding manipulated media will become part of basic digital literacy.
Parents do not need to become AI experts.
They need to help children develop a few strong habits: protect personal information, question unusual content, verify before sharing, and ask a trusted adult for help when something feels wrong.
Technology will continue changing.
Those habits will remain useful no matter what comes next.