Children are turning to the NSPCC for support after they’ve been targeted by strangers or peers who have made deepfakes of them using AI-generated content. Girls in particular are often the focus of these threats – a staggering 99% of nude deepfakes feature women and girls. One 15-year-old girl revealed a stranger had made fake nude images of her and she was worried about them being sent to her parents. “It looks so real, it’s my face and my room in the background. They must have taken the pictures from my Instagram and edited them,” she told the charity. “I’m so scared they will send them to my parents, the pictures are really convincing, and I don’t think they’d believe me that they’re fake.” Another 14-year-old girl revealed boys at her school made fake porn of her and some of the other girls in her year group, and sent them around multiple group chats. “I’m still so anxious about what happened at school last year,” she said. “They were excluded for a bit, and we had a big assembly about why it was wrong, but after that [the] school told us to forget what happened. “I can’t forget though, people think that they saw me naked, and I have to see these boys every day.” It’s not just girls who are impacted. One boy, aged 14, said some of the other boys at his school were using AI to bully him. “A group of boys at school used deepfake to make a video of me saying  I’m gay,” the teenager said. “They’ve made fake chat screenshots of me saying I want to do sexual things to them as well. “I have questioned my sexuality but haven’t come out to anyone –  that doesn’t stop the bullies though. I want to tell a teacher but it’s my word against all these other boys.” Don’t avoid these conversations with your kids While AI can sometimes be used as a force for good – helping people quickly find the information they need – for children and young people it is becoming increasingly clear there are a lot of concerning risks, too. X’s AI tool Grok is currently facing a huge backlash for allowing users to create digital images of women and girls in which their clothes have been removed. The Internet Watch Foundation found that some of this imagery included girls between the ages of 11-13 . In response, X announced that Grok’s “nudification” tool will only be available to those who pay to subscribe to the app. Earlier this week, the prime minister Keir Starmer condemned the “disgusting and shameful” AI tool and said the government was ready to act “fast” to tackle the problem. On Wednesday, he said social media platform X “is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law” . Being targeted in this way is not the only risk children face. AI platforms can also sometimes promote unhealthy behaviours and show children inappropriate content. A recent report from Internet Matters revealed children and teens in the UK are also increasingly turning to AI chatbots as a stand-in for human friends. Tips for parents on talking to children about AI As parents, we can’t just pretend like AI doesn’t exist – even though many of us might not understand it. Here, the NSPCC has shared some helpful advice on how parents can talk to their kids about AI and staying safe online. Talk about where AI is being used: a good place to start is by having open conversations with your child about where they are seeing AI tools and content online. This is an opportunity to talk about the risks and benefits they are experiencing. Remind young people not everything is real: it’s important to remind young people that not everything online is real and much of what we see may have been edited. AI is continually evolving but there can be common indicators to show something is AI generated but remember it is not always obvious. Some of these indicators can be an overall ‘perfect’ appearance, body parts or movements appearing differently or not looking ‘true to life’. Discuss misuse of generative AI: it’s important to address the misuse of generative AI to create harmful content in an age-appropriate way. Make sure that your child knows it’s not ok for anyone to create content to harm other people. If they ever experience this or are worried about someone doing it, then they can report that. Highlight ‘Report Remove’: this is a confidential online service by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), designed for young people under 18 in the UK to report and request the removal of nude or sexual images or videos of themselves shared online. This includes any images that have been created using AI. Report Remove can be found at childline.org.uk/report-remove . If you are concerned about how someone is behaving towards a child online this can be reported to ceop.police.uk . Remind them to check sources: AI summaries and chatbots can be helpful tools to get quick answers to a question but it’s important to know it’s coming from a reliable source. Sources should be listed and will often have links so they can be checked. If the source is not listed or is not a reliable source, it’s good to encourage them to check a trusted site for themselves. Signpost to safe sources: we know young people will use the internet to get advice and answers to questions which could mean they come across advice from an AI bot or summary. It’s important they access safe information from reliable sources, so it can be helpful to make sure they know of child friendly safe sites. Make sure your child knows they can talk to you or another safe adult like a teacher if anything worries them online or offline. They can also contact Childline 24/7 on 0800 11 11 or by visiting childline.org.uk . Related... Nudifying Apps Are A Parent's Worst Nightmare. Experts Want Them Banned Immediately 'Politicians Must Try Harder To Stamp Out Abhorrent Deepfake Trend – Before It Gets Too Big' If Your Teen's Anxious Or Upset, This Psychologist-Backed Tip 'Deeply Works'