Deep-fake porn targeted at teachers the latest AI threat in schools

Stressed-out teachers face blackmail threats as students find a sinister new use for AI in cyber-bullying.

Education minister will draw up new rules for the use of AI in schools.

Teachers are a target for deep-fake pornography blackmail as students turn to artificial intelligence for cyber-bullying, the online safety regulator has warned as education ministers prepare the first rules for AI in schools.

Regulatory guardrails for the use of generative AI in classrooms – including a ban on the commercialisation of children’s personal data – will be finalised by the nation’s federal, state and territory education ministers during a marathon meeting in Hobart on Thursday.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said schools needed help to deal with the rise of generative AI – which can write essays, pass exams and create deep-fake images – to stop cheating and safeguard children’s privacy.

“This is not going away,’’ he told The Australian.

“We’ve got to put in place the right framework to help schools deal with this technology.

“This means protecting students’ privacy and making sure students aren’t using it to get the marks they don’t deserve.

“I’m particularly concerned about AI technology being used to harvest student data and then sold to third parties.’’

The first framework for the use of AI in schools is likely to result in a lifting of the year-long ban on students’ use of generative AI, which can mimic human conversation based on information harvested from the internet.

The ministers’ intervention comes as the federal government’s Office of the eSafety Commissioner warned of threats to teachers and students from deep-fake porn generated by AI.

The commission’s executive manager, Paul Clark, told a federal parliamentary inquiry into the use of AI in education on Wednesday that it could be misused to “target” teachers.

“We have now received our first complaint around AI-generated sexually explicit content produced by students to bully other students,’’ he said.

“This is an open matter and we can’t discuss the detail and investigation. The issue of AI really accelerates the ability to manipulate voices and images, which we see as a potential risk to increase cyber bullying against students, but also the targeting of teachers.’’

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay warned the inquiry that safeguards must be built into AI technologies used by children.

“Generative AI has the potential to transform learning and improve educational outcomes in numerous and profound ways,’’ she said. “There are also significant risks and challenges … to privacy and security, the commercialisation of student data, risks of algorithmic bias and discrimination, the potential for misuse particularly through misinformation and disinformation, and the risk of undermining educational integrity.’’

Education ministers will also move to tighten working-with-children checks for childcare workers, after a 45-year-old Gold Coast man was charged with 1623 offences relating to the abuse of 91 little girls over a 15-year period at 10 daycare centres in Brisbane, one in Sydney and a school in Italy.

The two-day meeting of ministers will also discuss crippling teacher shortages, with an update on the rollout of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan to recruit more teachers.

Ministers will be briefed on a review of the next long-term school reform agreement – which sets spending and educational priorities for public schools.