Majority of young people worry AI will be used to make inappropriate images of them

Three in five young people say they are concerned about artificial intelligence (AI) being used to take inappropriate photos of themselves; More and more young people report using AI.

More than one in 10 young people aged 13 to 17 (12 per cent) said they had seen people their age using AI to create sexual images and videos of other people, according to a survey by the UK Safer Internet Center and Nominet to mark Safer Internet Day.

This comes after the UK’s data regulator launched a formal investigation into X and xAI for their compliance with UK law after chatbot Grok was used to create deepfake sexual images without consent.

Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of 2,000 parents said they were worried about AI being used to take inappropriate photos of their children, while 60 per cent of eight to 17-year-olds said they were worried about someone using AI to take inappropriate photos of themselves.

Despite concerns, almost all (97 percent) of the 2,000 young people aged 8 to 17 surveyed said they had used AI, and more than half (58 percent) believed it had made their lives better.

More than two in five teens (41 percent) said AI could provide emotional support, while more than a third (34 percent) explicitly said it could help with mental health and emotions.

A third of parents (33 percent) are concerned about the impact of AI on their children’s cognitive and learning development, while a similar share of teens (35 percent) say AI has made them personally less creative.

Parents underestimated how often kids say they use AI to help with homework (31 percent vs. 54 percent), and half of teens (50 percent) said they’ve seen others their age use AI to do homework or schoolwork for them.

Daniel Kebede, secretary general of the National Education Union (NEU), said the findings showed the extraordinary extent of the use of artificial intelligence among young people.

While the curriculum review acknowledged the need for artificial intelligence to feature more in the curriculum, it added that teachers, students and parents could not afford to wait 18 months for changes.

Mr Kebede said: “Young people are already using AI at an unprecedented rate, including in their homework and studies.

“Yet the evidence is clear that the risks of using AI in education, particularly for young people’s learning and development, outweigh its benefits.

“Equally concerning is the number of young people relying on AI for emotional support and the number of young people concerned about AI being used to create inappropriate images of themselves.

“These findings should serve as an urgent call to action for the Government to ensure children have the information, support and resources they need to make informed, safe and ethical decisions about AI.”

The Government has defended the benefits of AI learning tools for schools as the movement against social media for children and phones in schools gains momentum.

The Ministry of Education announced that more than 1,000 schools and colleges will be recruited to trial new technologies to aid learning, and that artificial intelligence courses will be offered to disadvantaged students in all schools by the end of 2027.

Mr Kebede told MPs last year he had “real concerns” about the potential long-term impact of AI and cognitive decline in children.

But schools watchdog Ofsted found teachers were largely positive about AI’s potential to reduce workload and support teaching.

Ofcom launched an investigation into X and its chatbot a few weeks ago, and X said it has since taken measures to resolve the issues raised.

Technology secretary Liz Kendall said: “This research shows young people are embracing AI in remarkable ways, using it to learn and save time. That’s exactly how we want technology to support people of all ages. But until AI is both safe and accessible to everyone, its real benefits won’t be realized.”

“We are investing in safe AI trainers for disadvantaged children and bringing skills to millions of people across the country, while starting a national conversation about how we build a safer, fairer and stronger digital future for every child.

“We are also clear that no one should be a victim of AI being weaponized to create disgusting content without their consent, which is why we have introduced a new criminal offense to ban this.”