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How to keep your kids safe in this AI-powered world

Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Description:
AI is suddenly everywhere in childrens lives. In their games, homework and
chats. Heres how parents can move past fear and feel confident about keeping
them safe.

FULL STORY

Many people think of AI as asking ChatGPT for dinner ideas or watching a 
viral video of talking animals. But in a very short time, the technology has
accelerated. Its now embedded in many parts of daily life, and its already
presenting serious problems for children and young people  in some cases with
tragic consequences. 

AI is in your phone, your childs apps, their games, their search tools, and
increasingly in the places they turn to for help or connection. And while 
some uses are harmless, others are risky, manipulative, or simply too 
powerful for a young person to navigate alone. 

From nudifying apps and sextortion scams to emotionally convincing chatbots
and endlessly sticky social feeds, the landscape is shifting quickly. Many
parents already feel they should have taken social media harms more 
seriously. With AI, some of the damage is appearing much earlier. 

There have been cases of children allegedly taking their own lives after
chatbot interactions, growing dependence on AI friends, and a surge in
deepfake-style abuse. If the best time to learn about this was a year ago, 
the second-best time is right now. 

Think of this guide as a starting point. Well cover a few of the biggest
concerns, what experts say needs to change, and the practical steps parents
can take today.

What are the biggest concerns? 

Before anything else, experts say the core issue is simple: most parents dont
realize how deeply AI is already woven into everyday life. 

Parents do not fully understand the technologies that are being developed,
Genevieve Bartuski , a psychologist and consultant specializing in ethical AI
and the psychology behind digital systems, tells me. Many of them are worried
about social media and content on the internet, but dont understand how
pervasive AI has become. 

The best starting point is accepting that even the most tech-confident adults
didnt grow up with anything like this. The pace of change has been fast, 
which means risks might not be easy to spot, and the harms involved here can
be really different from the social media challenges we already know. 

Its difficult to single out just one concern, Tara Steele , Director at the
Safe AI for Children Alliance , says. 

The scale of the issue is echoed by Andrew Briercliffe , a consultant
specializing in online harms, trust, and safety. We have to remember AI is a
HUGE space, and can cover everything from misinformation, to CSAM (Child
Sexual Abuse Material) and everything in-between, he says. 

But even so, there are a few clear areas that the experts are most concerned
about.

Chatbots 

Chatbots are always available, rarely moderated to a standard thats
appropriate for children and young people, and theyre engineered to sound
confident and caring. Its this combination that experts believe is creating a
major risk. 

Kids are turning to them for all sorts of reasons, just like we know adults
do. This includes emotional support, advice, and, increasingly, mental health
help. Young people are resorting to them instead of seeking professional
health and guidance, Briercliffe says. 

Because there are no real guardrails in place, and because we know these
systems can confidently present inaccurate information, parents often have no
idea what is being said to their child in these conversations. What is a
chatbot? A chatbot is an AI tool that you can talk to in everyday language.
You type something in, and it responds as if youre messaging a person. Tools
like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are designed to sound friendly, natural, and
helpful. 

Several studies have shown that it is very common for chatbots to give
children dangerous advice, Steele adds. This can include encouragement of
extreme dieting or urging secrecy when a child says they want to confide in a
teacher or partner. 

The consequences of these kinds of conversations can be devastating. We now
have many documented cases where children using these tools were encouraged 
to harm themselves, and there are ongoing legal cases in the US with strong
evidence suggesting that chatbot interactions allegedly played a role in
childrens tragic deaths by suicide, Steele explains. This shows a 
catastrophic failure of current safety standards and regulatory oversight. 

One of the core problems lies in how these chatbots are designed. Theyre
designed to feel emotionally real, Steele says. Children can experience a 
deep sense of trust that makes them more likely to act on what the chatbot
tells them. 

Bartuski explains that Rogerian psychology, which serves up unconditional
positive regard, is also built into many of these platforms. It creates a
synthetic relationship where you are not challenged or have to learn to
mitigate conflict, she says. 

So what feels comforting at first can become dependence with no pushback and
constant praise. This can also distort a young persons ability to handle
real-world relationships. 

The AI interactions become better than real-life experiences, Bartuski tells
me. Real relationships are messy. There are arguments, disagreements, and
moods. There are also natural boundaries. You cant always call your friend at
3 am because she or he might be sleeping. AI is always there. 

Experts warn that the most serious risks with using chatbots arent just these
immediate harms. But the long-term developmental effects we still dont fully
understand. 

Theres concern about over-reliance on chatbots, difficulty forming
relationships, and the way constant AI assistance may shape how a child
thinks. 

There are studies that AI is having an impact on critical thinking skills,
Bartuski explains. Large language models can synthesize a ton of information
very quickly. Its like outsourcing your thinking.

Nudifying apps and deepfakes

Manipulating images isnt new, but AI has made it fast, realistic, and
accessible, including to young people. These tools can now create convincing
sexualized images really quickly, often from nothing more than a school photo
or a social media post. 

Nudifying apps are being used, mainly by male teens, targeting fellow 
students and then sharing content, which can be very distressing for the
victims, Briercliffe says. Those doing that arent aware of how illegal it is. 

Beyond peer misuse, these tools have quickly become a weapon for extortion,
too. Children are being blackmailed using these kinds of manipulated images,
Steele adds. 

This is one of the most troubling shifts in online harm. Children are being
manipulated, threatened, or coerced through images that can be created
instantly, without their knowledge, and without any physical contact. What is
a nudifying app? A nudifying app is software that uses AI to turn an ordinary
picture into a fake sexualised image. It only takes seconds and can be done
without the persons consent. When the images involve children, it is treated
as child sexual abuse material in many countries and is a criminal offence. 

I have seen scammers use AI to nudge photos of teenagers and then extort them
for money, Bartuski tells me. There was a case in Kentucky where a scammer 
did this to a teenager and threatened to release the photos. The teenager
completed suicide over the stress of this. 

Sadly, this isnt an isolated incident. Back in 2024, research from Internet
Matters suggested that more than 13% of kids in the UK have sent or received 
a nude deepfake. 

I know how frightening and shame-inducing these scams can be because I was 
the victim of a sextortion attempt back in 2024, involving images believed to
have been created with a similar kind of nudifying app. 

I was an adult at the time, with support networks and a public platform, and
it still made me feel scared, paranoid, and deeply ashamed. I spoke openly
about what happened to help others feel less alone, but I cant imagine how
overwhelming it would have been if I were younger or more vulnerable.

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