Students use AI to make pornographic images of teachers

Some teachers are traumatised and unable to work after students used AI or deepfake videos to make pornographic images of them.

RNZ understands multiple teachers have been the subject of these posts, featuring teachers bad-mouthing students to naked images.

The government is reaching the final stages of considering its social media ban for under 16s.

Auckland's Sacred Heart College headmaster Patrick Walsh says he has had two principals report pornographic, AI/deepfake videos of teachers made by students.

Anna Voyce - principal of Ōtaua School in Waikato - was also the victim of one of these videos, but knows it could have been worse.

"They had found my photo and had then proceeded to make a couple of TikTok videos using my photo so that it looked like I was talking, my mouth was moving, facial expressions... so it was believable."

In the video, she was made to look like she was speaking poorly about certain students and talking disparagingly about the school.

"It certainly brings a level of stress as because of how real it looked and how believable the video was... Anxiety and worry, not only for myself and being portrayed in that light, but also the detrimental impact that it has on our school.

"Our school is a warm, caring place. And the last thing I wanted to portray to our community and the wider world, given that it's on TikTok, were the incorrect statements that were being made that looked like they were coming from my mouth."

Voyce said on some level she was relieved, knowing the content could have escalated a lot further.

Walsh said the examples he had reported to him were hugely distressing.

"It's essentially the teachers without any clothes on in sexualised poses.

"Some of them are quite clearly fake, but others it takes a little bit more time for technicians to detect it."

Walsh said students often did not appreciate or understand the devastating impacts on the teachers.

"It leads to a loss of trust and confidence in the student. It's damaging to their reputation, and it leaves them very angry and frustrated."

Netsafe chief safety officer Sean Lyons said it had been an issue for years, but the sophistication and complexity of the technology has raised the stakes.

"They've gone from being a cartoonish creation to something that somebody would look at and for all intents and purposes would seem very real."

He said this kind of harm was hard to quantify, but could cause significant emotional and mental distress.

"It can even get to the point that somebody doesn't want to attend their place of work or attend social functions for fear of the impact or the commentary that others might have who have seen it."

There was also the perceived fear among teachers of what might be out there, or that they could be targeted, said Lyons.

AI videos and deepfakes are illegal under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. Host sites can be ordered to remove the content.

This is civil legislation, rather than criminal.

But the police step in for the most serious criminal offences, such as threats to safety or sharing intimate visual recordings without permission.

Voyce said she reported the video to Tiktok, before going to Netsafe for support.

She said it had been online for about 12 hours when she saw it, and took about 48 hours for it to be removed.

For Voyce, being the subject of one of these videos was surprising given Otaua School students are in years 1-8.

"I think this is the danger of children accessing social media at a young age as well.

"They don't generally have the maturity at that time to make constant good choices all day, every day.

"And it can only take one or two lapses of judgment over a small period of time to create a significant detrimental effect."

As a result of this incident, Voyce has removed all pictures of staff from the school's new website, fearful it could happen again.

"We've also stopped using children's images on our Facebook page, which we used to love to do... because I'm also worried about potentially our children being put into AI videos that they do not consent to."

Walsh said while he had heard about videos of teachers made by students, it was much more common to hear about deepfake videos made by students about other students.

"That's an area that's certainly a growing problem. It's often boys creating these images.

"And for teenage girls, that's just absolutely devastating to their self-esteem and image.

Walsh said it was hard to quantify how many of these types of videos were happening.

"But I've had conversations with at least five or six principals in the last six months where they've discussed this topic."

He said this was a prime example of why there should be a social media ban for under 16s.

"The public and parents don't see the highly destructive nature of the underbelly of social media on the mental and emotional well being of teenagers.

"The ban is not a silver bullet but will an important tool in combating it."

The UK government announced it would mirror Australia's ban, with the move to take effect from early next year.