By Janice Robinson-Celeste

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of childhood faster than many families can keep up. Children are using AI for homework, searches, entertainment, image creation, conversations, and even personal advice. Unfortunately, the same technology can also be used to create fake nude images, impersonate family members, facilitate sextortion, expose children to inappropriate material, and encourage young people to confide deeply personal information in chatbots.

These are no longer hypothetical risks. New research from Common Sense Media found that 44% of teens surveyed had seen sexual material they believed was generated by AI. Among teens who had encountered it, nearly one in four reported seeing AI-generated sexual material depicting themselves or someone they knew.

Meanwhile, research from child-safety organization Thorn found that 67% of surveyed minors had used AI chatbots or companions. Nearly one-third said they had turned to these tools when something confusing or upsetting happened to them or someone else.

Parents need more than warnings about artificial intelligence. They need to know what to do when something actually happens.

If Someone Creates an AI Nude or Deepfake of Your Child

A sexual deepfake can be created using an ordinary photograph of a child and artificial intelligence that manipulates the image to make the child appear nude or involved in sexual activity. The resulting image may be fake, but the harm to the child can be very real.

If your child becomes a target, resist the urge to immediately forward the image to yourself or other people. When dealing with sexual material involving minors, parents should avoid unnecessarily copying or distributing the material, even when they are trying to help. Instead, preserve useful information surrounding the incident, including usernames, account information, messages, URLs, dates, and other evidence that can help investigators or platforms identify what happened.

Report the content to the platform where it appeared. Families in the United States can also report suspected child sexual exploitation through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline.

Federal protections have also expanded. The TAKE IT DOWN Act addresses the nonconsensual publication of certain intimate images, including qualifying AI-generated digital forgeries. The U.S. Department of Justice has brought a case involving alleged violations of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, demonstrating how AI-generated sexual images can move beyond a school or social-media problem and into potentially serious legal territory.

Most importantly, make sure your child understands that coming to you for help will not result in punishment or blame.

If Your Child Is Being AI Sextorted

Sextortion occurs when someone threatens to distribute sexual images or material unless the victim provides money, additional images, sexual activity, or something else of value. Artificial intelligence can make these schemes even more frightening because an offender may manipulate an innocent photograph into a sexual image without the child ever having created or shared an explicit picture.

If someone is blackmailing your child, do not pay and do not send additional images. According to the FBI’s current guidance on financially motivated sextortion, cooperating with an offender or paying money does not guarantee that threats or harassment will stop.

Preserve the messages and account information before blocking the offender. The FBI also recommends that families not delete profiles or communications because the information may help investigators identify the offender.

Report the account to the platform and report suspected child sexual exploitation to law enforcement or the CyberTipline.

How parents respond emotionally matters, too. Fear, embarrassment, and shame can prevent children from asking for help. Make your first message unmistakable: We are going to deal with this together.

If Your Child Is Confiding in an AI Chatbot

Parents may think children primarily use AI for homework. Research suggests the relationship is becoming much more personal.

Thorn’s research on youth and online safety found that 29% of surveyed minors used AI chatbots for private or personal reasons, including advice about romantic feelings and information about puberty or sexual health. After an online sexual interaction, 15% reported seeking advice from an AI tool.

If you discover that your child has been discussing sensitive issues with a chatbot, avoid beginning the conversation with punishment. Ask what they use the chatbot for, what personal information they have shared, and whether it has ever given them advice that made them uncomfortable.

Pay particular attention to conversations involving sexual behavior, abuse, violence, self-harm, secrecy, dangerous challenges, or instructions to conceal something from trusted adults.

Children should also understand a fundamental limitation of AI: a chatbot can sound confident, caring, and human while providing information that is inaccurate or inappropriate. Families can establish a rule that serious questions involving health, safety, relationships, sexual behavior, or emotional crises should also involve a trusted human adult.

If You Receive an AI Voice-Cloning Emergency Call

Imagine answering the phone and hearing what sounds exactly like your child crying and begging for help. The caller says there has been an accident, arrest, or kidnapping and demands money immediately.

The voice may not belong to your child at all.

The Federal Trade Commission warns about scammers using AI voice cloning in family-emergency schemes. Criminals may be able to reproduce a convincing version of someone’s voice from audio samples and use that voice to make an emergency story seem legitimate.

Do not trust the voice alone. Contact your child directly using a phone number you already know. If you cannot reach them, contact another trusted person who can independently verify where they are and whether an emergency has actually occurred.

Do not send money, cryptocurrency, gift cards, passwords, or verification codes simply because a caller creates a sense of urgency.

Families can also establish a private family verification word or question. If someone claiming to be a relative calls during an emergency, asking for the family verification word can provide another layer of protection.

If AI Shows Your Child Inappropriate Content

Children can encounter disturbing AI-generated material even when they are not deliberately searching for it. That makes conversations about unexpected content an important part of modern digital safety.

Ask your child what appeared, where it appeared, and whether they searched for it or whether an algorithm or AI system recommended it. Avoid shaming a child who accidentally encounters sexual, violent, or otherwise disturbing content.

Report inappropriate content through the platform, review available parental controls and privacy settings, and examine the child’s recommendation and viewing history when appropriate.

This issue extends beyond dedicated AI chatbots. A Common Sense Media assessment of Google’s AI-powered search features raised concerns about inaccurate and potentially inappropriate AI-generated responses for children. Parents therefore should not assume that familiar search engines automatically make AI-generated information safe or accurate for young users.

The Most Important AI Safety Tool May Be Your Relationship

Parents cannot realistically monitor every prompt, app, image, message, game, search, and chatbot their children encounter. Technology changes too quickly.

What parents can build is a relationship in which a child knows what happens when they say, “Something happened online.”

Research from Thorn found that fear of shame and judgment can discourage young people from seeking in-person support after harmful online sexual experiences. That makes a parent’s first reaction critically important.

Before an emergency happens, tell your child clearly that bringing you an online problem will result in help first, not humiliation or blame. Children need to know they can ask for help even if they broke a family rule, clicked something they should not have clicked, sent something they regret, or trusted someone they should not have trusted.

AI safety is no longer simply about controlling screen time. It is about preparing families for situations that previous generations of parents never had to navigate.

The technology may be new, but one of the strongest protections remains remarkably familiar: a child who knows exactly which trusted adult they can turn to when something goes wrong.

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