How A.I. Is Changing the Risks of Sharing Your Kids’ Photos Online

Why AI Is Making Parents Rethink Sharing Kids’ Photos Online

Artificial intelligence has brought a new layer of risk to what used to be a routine part of parenting in the digital age: posting pictures of children on social media. While parents have debated the pros and cons of “sharenting” for years, the rise of AI-powered apps that can create fake nude images — often called “nudifiers” — has shifted the conversation. These tools, which require nothing more than an uploaded image and a few clicks, have made it frighteningly easy for bad actors to target anyone, including minors.

The Growing Threat of AI Deepfakes

Deepfake images aren’t new, but older photo manipulation tools required skill and time, meaning victims were often celebrities. Now, AI nudifier apps can produce convincing fakes in seconds, for just a few cents per image. Investigations have found dozens of these sites earning millions annually, and even though new federal laws make sharing nonconsensual deepfake nudes a crime, the apps themselves remain widely available — often run by overseas operators who are hard to regulate.

Why Posting Pictures Increases Risk

Once a child’s image is on the internet, anyone can save it and use it in harmful ways. That could mean uploading it to a nudifier site or simply holding onto it for malicious purposes. Even parents who restrict their accounts to friends and family aren’t completely safe; perpetrators are often people the victim knows. Past incidents show that “private” photos have ended up on explicit websites.

Beyond AI: Old-School Risks Still Apply

Even without deepfakes, sharing details about children online can open doors to identity theft. Something as innocent as a birthday party photo can reveal a child’s full birth date, which, combined with other stolen data, can be used to open fraudulent accounts. Child identity theft has been on the rise, with over a million cases annually in the U.S.

Balancing Connection and Caution

Parents often post pictures to share joy with loved ones and stay connected. Social media makes that easy — but it also benefits the platforms, which collect and store data that can later be used for targeted engagement. This is part of a larger concern about how early data collection can shape children’s online lives, potentially contributing to mental health challenges like anxiety and depression.

Lower-Risk Ways to Share

There are safer alternatives for sharing family photos, such as encrypted text messages or private online albums through services like iCloud or Google Photos. These limit exposure while still allowing connection with close friends and family. Still, complete control is impossible — schools and organizations often post children’s images publicly, and as kids grow older, they will decide for themselves how much to share.

For now, some parents are choosing to keep their children’s images entirely offline. It’s not a guarantee of safety, but it’s one way to reduce risk in an era when AI has made privacy harder than ever to protect.