A leading cybersecurity expert is urging parents to carefully review their children's school photo consent forms amid warnings that student images are being harvested and manipulated to create AI-generated child abuse material. The warning comes as reports of AI-generated child abuse content have surged by 1,300 percent, prompting concerns about how schools collect, store, and share photos of students online.
Outdated Consent Processes
Cybersecurity expert Susan McLean said many schools rely on outdated consent processes that fail to give parents meaningful control over how their children's images are used. "Many schools take what I call the easy route or the lazy route and they simply do a yes or no form," McLean told Sunrise on Thursday. "So basically you either consent to photography or you don't, which means your child doesn't get school photos, they're not photographed at assembly, nothing like that."
McLean said parents should be asking schools for more detailed consent options that allow them to choose where and how images are published. "That means you aren't giving the parent the option to say, 'Yes, you know what, I'm happy for my child to be in the newsletter but I do not want their photo on social media'," McLean explained.
Risk of Social Media Posts
She warned even images shared on private school social media pages are not immune from misuse. "Who's accessing that account? Even if it's school community members, the minute you post the picture you've lost control over it," she said.
While creating sexually explicit AI deepfakes of someone without their consent is illegal, the apps capable of generating the content remain legal and widely available through app stores. McLean questioned why those applications have not been banned, arguing tougher restrictions would make it more difficult for offenders to access the technology. "That doesn't mean this is going to stop but it's certainly going to make it harder for people to find the apps and use them," she said.
Managing Risks Without Abandoning Social Media
Despite the alarming rise in AI-related abuse material, McLean stressed parents do not need to abandon social media entirely. "There are ways that you can manage this. This does not have to be: don't use social media, don't do this, don't do that," she said. "We need a better level of understanding of the ways that schools can manage this that doesn't put their students at risk. And it's possible."
