There is no question that artificial intelligence (AI) is helping improve many areas of our lives. Researchers use it to analyze medical data, businesses rely on it to streamline logistics and operations and educators are even beginning to explore how it might support learning in the classroom.

However, as with any powerful technology, there are also risks, particularly when children are involved.

Over the past several years, it has become clear that the digital world our children are growing up in is changing faster than many families can keep up.

When social media first became widespread, many parents worried about screen time, online bullying, predators and whether their child’s posts might affect future college or job prospects. Those dangers still exist today, but technology has continued to evolve, introducing entirely new threats.

One of the newest developments involves AI, which can generate images, videos and conversations almost instantly, often with no direct human involvement or controls in place.

Recently, there has been a lot of attention in the news involving an AI tool called Grok, a part of the social media platform X. Users can interact with Grok directly on X or through the standalone app, making it accessible for even young children.

Unfortunately, while the intentions behind the technology may have been well-meaning, reporting has shown that this technology is being used to create sexually explicit images of individuals without their consent, including child pornography.

This intersects with a troubling trend that child safety advocates have been raising alarms about across the country – the rise of AI-generated deepfake pornography involving children and teenagers.

A report from THORN in mid-2024 found that 1 in 10 minors have friends or classmates who have created deep-fake images of other children using generative AI tools. Nearly two years later, as AI tools have only expanded and become more accessible, that number has likely grown.

In many cases, these deep-fake images can be created using ordinary photos pulled from social media accounts. A picture shared online can be manipulated by another user into something degrading in a matter of seconds.

For families, this means that a child’s reputation can be damaged quickly if manipulated images begin circulating among classmates or online communities. Victims may face embarrassment, harassment, or even coercion from individuals who threaten to distribute the images further.

Meanwhile, parents often find themselves in an impossible position, trying to track down and remove images that may already have spread across multiple platforms.

Law enforcement agencies are also grappling with how to address this rapidly evolving technology. Many of our existing laws governing exploitation and harassment were written before artificial intelligence tools made it possible to generate this type of material at scale.

That is why policymakers across the country, including here in Oklahoma, are beginning to consider how these technologies should be addressed. Laws have been passed to punish the action of creating AI pornography involving children, but little has been done to get to the root of the problem of preventing platforms from allowing the images of children to be used.

While lawmakers may debate the best approach, the underlying concern is widely shared: our children should not be exposed to technologies that can easily be used to exploit or harm them.

The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) has long worked with policymakers to ensure that laws keep pace with the realities facing children and families in our state, including on recent Internet safety legislation. As technology continues to evolve, those conversations must continue and adapt with the times.

While artificial intelligence will undoubtedly play a major role in shaping the future, the challenge before us is ensuring that innovation and in turn legislation, move forward in a way that keeps children safe. While the digital world may look different than it once did, our responsibility to protect Oklahoma’s children remains the same. Parents, educators, lawmakers and community leaders all have a role to play in this effort.

The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy was established in 1983 by a group of citizens seeking to create a strong advocacy network that would provide a voice for the needs of children and youth in Oklahoma, particularly those in the state’s care and those growing up amid poverty, violence, abuse and neglect, disparities or other situations that put their lives and future at risk. The OICA’s mission statement is: “Creating awareness, taking action and changing policy to improve the health, safety and well-being of Oklahoma’s children.”