This post is part of Back-to-School Week at the Center for Economic Opportunity. Each day, we feature commentary and analysis on affordability and other issues for families preparing for the new school year.

As children start the school year, today’s parents face technological changes not experienced by previous generations. Schools have embraced technology in the classroom, as 96% of public schools report providing digital devices to students. Children are becoming more familiar with technology at younger ages. As technology becomes more integrated into both home and school life, children must be taught the importance of maintaining privacy in the online world. 

Protecting privacy online today looks different than in past decades. With generative artificial intelligence, simply limiting pictures posted on social media is no longer enough to protect future privacy. Now, parents must be aware of rising trends in AI use that could compromise their child’s data security. 

AI has many fun uses, such as animating a child’s photo into a custom digital storybook or turning your child into a character in a comic that can then be printed as an illustrated book. Other apps use a child’s current photo to predict how they look in the future. 

Families can have innocent fun turning cute pictures into silly animations, but uploading any photo online, even outside of social media, gives it the potential to be used in AI databases. Photos or videos uploaded to AI tools can easily be used later for good uses such as in AI training and by bad actors to create deepfake content and manipulation, or even cloning scams where bad actors impersonate family members in order to demand money. 

Some progress has been made to remove images from social media platforms if they are posted without consent through the TAKE IT DOWN Act. This act criminalizes the nonconsensual publication of authentic or computer generated images of individuals and requires social media platforms to take down such images within 48 hours of a removal request. 

However, once an image is posted online, there is no way of truly deleting it, as online content can be easily copied, saved, or reshared.

Here are a few practical tips for parents to protect their child’s online privacy:

#1. Think carefully before uploading children’s photos to AI tools and social media. Commercial AI is able to scrape the internet for photos, information, and data in order to train AI tools. If you choose to post your child’s photo online, avoid posting any identifying information along with it. 

#2. Double-check privacy settings on social media and personal devices to ensure data is not being shared without your consent. Children may not realize what they agree to when spending time online and signing up for various apps, so it’s a good idea to regularly check the privacy settings on their devices and frequently used apps. 

#3. Use parental controls and monitor apps to ensure children are not engaging with strangers. Some online games allow users to message other players, and this can lead to unintentional interactions with adults, although children think they are messaging friends playing the same game. Parents can limit communications within these games, but must be aware of which apps allow interactions with other users. 

#4. Use offline methods to share personal photos with small close groups. Rather than using public photo-sharing apps to share family memories with close friends, consider using encrypted private message apps to share photos directly with family and friends. Photos shared online can easily be shared beyond your intended audience. 

Bottom Line

Technology and AI advance quickly, and it’s not always clear what dangers are lurking behind each new tool. Parents should take common-sense precautions with their children in order to protect their children’s future privacy in a quickly changing world.