The proud photo problem

Back-to-school grins, sports day wins, Book Week costumes. Experts now say think twice before posting them, whether to social media or the class WhatsApp group.

Half of schools have seen it

The In Plain Sight report, published 8 September 2026 by AI safeguarding platform Aidos, found 49% of UK headteachers say pupil images at their school were misused, manipulated or used in blackmail attempts.

Heads already know

93% of headteachers say they are aware criminals use AI tools to generate deepfake imagery scraped from school websites and social media pages.

“Headteachers and school governors are having to come to terms with a new threat.”

Nobody has done this before

Simon Bailey, former Chief Constable of Norfolk and the UK's former National Policing Lead for Child Protection, says school leaders are facing something with no playbook.

“This is complicated as they have never had to deal with something like this before.”

What a deepfake actually is

AI ethics researcher Sabeehah Mahomed explains the word joins deep learning with fake: AI that makes a person appear to say or do something they never did.

“Deepfakes use AI to create or manipulate images, videos or voices so that a person appears to say or do something they did not actually say or do.”

One photo can be enough

Models usually need some data on how a person looks or sounds. But a single image can do it: a "nudify" tool takes one ordinary photo and returns a fake nude.

Which means the school website

Mahomed's point lands hard. A photo published on a school website or social page can be copied and manipulated into a deepfake like any other.

“An ordinary photograph of a child... could potentially be copied and manipulated using AI to create a deepfake.”

Volume raises the odds

Risk is not equal for everyone. The more images and video of your child exist online, the more raw material a stranger has to work with.

“It is becoming easier for anyone to create deepfakes, so it is sensible not to think 'this could never happen to me or my family'.”

An anonymous threat

Bailey says online sexual abuse of children is reaching pandemic levels, and the damage spreads past the child to parents, teachers and school staff.

“The threat is external, it is anonymous and it has the potential to cause severe trauma.”

Real but not likely

Helen Stanton-Tonner of the Independent Schools Association keeps it in proportion: for most families this stays low likelihood next to more common online risks. The message is awareness, not fear.

“The threat is real, but for most families it remains a relatively low likelihood.”

Schools are worried too

Of the 500 headteachers surveyed, 54% personally worry their school's published images could be misused by AI tools, and 45% have already fielded a parent complaint about it.

Fake images, real damage

Paul Whiteman of the NAHT says leaders are deeply concerned about sexually explicit and bullying deepfakes, and the effect on a victim's wellbeing and confidence can be lasting.

“These images may not be real, but the harm they cause is.”

Staff get targeted as well

NAHT members have been victims themselves. The union passed a conference motion calling for creating and distributing non-consensual deepfake content to be made a crime.

What good policy looks like

Most schools already handle consent, safeguarding and data protection: limiting identifying details, favouring group or activity shots, reviewing what stays published. Parents can opt their child out entirely.

The literacy gap

Practice across the UK is still patchy. Mahomed wants better AI literacy for teachers, parents and pupils, plus training so staff respond to an incident without making it worse.

“More needs to be done to improve AI literacy among teachers, parents and students.”

Swapping the face out

Aidos removes every child's real face and replaces it with an artificial identity built from scratch, not lifted from a real person. Close to 250 UK schools use it, with nurseries now asking too.

What to do tonight

Review your privacy settings, cut personal details from captions, talk to your kids about digital footprints, and ask the school who sees its photos and what the plan is if one is misused.

If it happens, stay calm

Do not ask your child to send you the image and do not delete evidence. Note where and who posted it, report to the platform and school, then IWF Report Remove, police, NSPCC or Childline on 0800 1111.