Kids Are Being Targeted With Fake Nude Images — and It’s Happening in Schools

A new generation of artificial intelligence tools is creating a serious online safety threat for children. AI image generators can now create fake nude or sexualized images of real kids and teenagers in seconds, often without their knowledge and sometimes by other students. What once required advanced photo-editing skills can now be done with a short text prompt, making it easier than ever to create manipulated images that appear real and share them online.

One tool drawing national attention is Grok, the AI chatbot used on the social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk. The tool has generated millions of sexualized or nude images of real people, including minors. In one estimate, Grok produced roughly one nonconsensual sexual image every minute over a 24-hour period. Prompts such as “put her in a transparent bikini” produced altered images that were then circulated publicly online, with some gaining thousands of likes. The targets in many cases are real women and underage girls whose images were manipulated and shared without their knowledge or permission.

Schools and parents are already seeing the impact of these technologies. Across the country, boys as young as 10 and 11 have reportedly created and shared AI-generated nude images of girls in their schools. Because the images are produced by AI, the victims may never have taken or shared an explicit photo themselves. Yet once the images begin circulating through group chats or social media, they can spread quickly among classmates and cause serious harm.

In one recent case, a 13-year-old girl was expelled after she physically confronted a boy who had generated and distributed explicit AI images of her. She had previously sought help from a guidance counselor and even law enforcement before the confrontation. No meaningful intervention came, and when the situation escalated, she was the one removed from school.

Experts say these incidents show how quickly AI technology is changing the risks kids face online. When fake explicit images of a student circulate, they can lead to humiliation, bullying, and long-term emotional harm. Even after an image is proven to be fake, the damage to a child’s reputation and sense of safety can remain.

The technology is also changing how children experience issues of privacy and consent. In the past, concerns about online safety often focused on students sharing explicit photos of themselves. AI tools have created a new reality where someone can generate a convincing explicit image of another person without that person ever participating or even knowing about it.

Many AI image platforms still lack strong safeguards that prevent users from creating manipulated images of real people. As these tools become more accessible, the risk that children will be targeted by AI-generated explicit images continues to grow.

For parents, the key takeaway is that the digital threats facing kids are evolving quickly. AI tools now make it possible for images of children to be created, altered, and spread without their consent. As these technologies become more common, families, schools, and technology companies are facing increasing pre