Kids Helpline calls reveal Australian students targeted by deepfakes and sextortion
Evidence is emerging of more Australian teens using AI to bully and blackmail each other with fake porn images.
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Teenagers being blackmailed with AI-generated pornography are among desperate callers to the national kids counselling hotline.
The Advertiser can reveal cases of young Australians telling Kids Helpline this year that they, or their friends, are the victim of bullying or blackmail using “deepfake” images.
The pictures are created using artificial intelligence, including apps which can “nudify”, or strip the clothing from people in real photos.
A spokeswoman told The Advertiser that Kids Helpline has “had several contacts this year from children and young people, suggesting that this is an emerging and increasing issue”.
It follows a spate of cases in Adelaide and interstate in which teens have been suspended and investigated by police for allegedly creating deepfakes of classmates or teachers.
Adelaide research has also found boys as young as 11 are making moaning noises in class and telling teachers they look like “a porn star”.
One girl who called Kids Helpline had discovered multiple fake social media accounts which were sharing explicit AI-generated images featuring her face.
Other calls involved young people who were:
THE victim of a deepfake nude video created by peers at school.
CONCERNED for a friend who was being extorted with AI-generated pornographic images and threatened with their release if they did not pay.
CYBERBULLIED by friends who created an AI-generated image.
DEPICTED in a sexually explicit, fake image with another person who appeared to be underage.
In some cases young people had first shared explicit photos which were later used, without consent, to create the fake images.
In a bid to curb the trend, the SA government has banned mobile phones in public school classrooms and updated lesson plans to address the risks of AI.
Education Minister Blair Boyer said the updated curriculum would “play an important role alongside national law reform to stamp out this insidious behaviour”.
“It’s not just about learning to use artificial intelligence in the productive sense, but about understanding the things you legally can’t do with AI and the effect that might have on the people around you,” he has said. “This includes deepfakes.”
Federal laws passed last year made creating and distributing sexualised AI-generated images an offence.
South Australian laws have been updated to ensure the distribution of humiliating, invasive or indecent images created wholly using AI is covered by penalties of up to four years in jail or a $20,000 fine.
Latest eSafety Commissioner figures reveal hundreds of children aged 12 or younger have reported being the victim of image-based abuse, involving real or fake pictures, in recent years.
Thousands more aged between 13 and 17 have been victimised by sextortion, scams, threats and AI manipulation.
For support visit esafety.gov.au or phone 1800 RESPECT.
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Originally published as Kids Helpline calls reveal Australian students targeted by deepfakes and sextortion
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