Australian schools are being warned to think twice before posting photographs of students and staff online.
The eSafety Commissioner said there had been a surge in images taken from school websites and social media pages before being manipulated using AI and then shared elsewhere on the web.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Schools warned over AI manipulation of student photos
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In the worst examples, clothes have been removed to create child exploitation material.
Teachers have also become victims.
“Between January and March this year, we received more than 100 reports about anonymous accounts targeting schools and school staff, including AI-generated dance videos, face swaps, memes and fabricated stories about principals and teachers,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant said.
“Almost all involved imagery harvested from school social media accounts or websites.”
An urgent warning has been issued to Australian schools over AI image abuse. Credit: 7NEWS
Cyber safety educator Paul Litherland says schools need to reconsider their approach.
“I think schools need to focus on exactly how much content they are posting now, how identifiable students are,” he told 7NEWS.
Singer Kate Ceberano “nearly threw up” after recently coming across a deepfake image of herself mourning the death of late actor Sam Neill.
A new advisory released on Tuesday encouraged stronger parental consent rules before pictures are shared, and a review of what is already online.
The eSafety Commissioner also reminded AI and social media companies they can face a $54 million fine if illegal content on their platforms is not properly prevented or dealt with.
Some schools are already opting not to show faces in photographs, and others are using AI themselves to show fictional pupils in advertisements.
School newsletters are increasingly being password protected or printed out and sent home with students.
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