Threats
AI-generated fakes, companion bots, and cloned voices
AI has made it cheap and fast to fake a photo, a voice, or a relationship. Three specific risks are worth knowing about.
Nudify apps & deepfakes
Apps that digitally remove clothing from an ordinary photo, or paste a child's face onto explicit content. A normal school or social media photo is all that's needed; no original explicit image is required.
AI companion chatbots
Apps designed to keep kids emotionally engaged for hours, sometimes drifting into romantic, sexual, or self-harm-adjacent conversation the AI isn't equipped to handle safely.
Voice cloning
A few seconds of audio, often lifted from a social media video, is enough to clone a voice convincingly for a "family emergency" scam call.
AI companion chatbots aren't a fringe risk: a national Common Sense Media survey found nearly 3 in 4 teens have used one. Several families have sued Character.AI and Google over a teen's death linked to a companion-chatbot relationship, with a settlement reported in January 2026, and the cases have drawn Senate Judiciary Committee scrutiny over how little these apps do to detect and respond to self-harm risk in real time.
What are the warning signs of AI-generated fakes and companion bots?
- A classmate mentions a fake or edited image circulating of them or a friend
- Your child spends hours in conversation with an AI character or companion app
- They seem emotionally attached to, or upset about, an AI chatbot "relationship"
- A chatbot conversation drifts into romantic, sexual, or self-harm topics
- A phone call from a "relative" sounds right but the situation feels off or rushed
What can you do to protect your kids?
- Set a family safe word for real emergencies, a random phrase nobody would guess, and never share it online
- If a call demands money or secrecy, hang up and call the person back on their known number
- Talk to kids about AI companion apps the way you'd talk about a stranger online: it isn't a real friend, and it can't keep them safe
- Check age ratings and settings on AI chatbot apps; several now restrict romantic or open-ended chat for under-18 accounts
- If a fake or altered image of your child exists, don't confront the creator yourself. Save evidence and report it
- Talk about it before it happens. Kids are far more likely to mention a fake image or a strange chatbot conversation if they know they won't be blamed
Report and remove non-consensual or AI-generated intimate images
File a report at takeitdown.ncmec.org. The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act now requires platforms to remove valid reports within 48 hours.