Overview
- The Office of the eSafety Commissioner released an advisory on Tuesday after it recorded a sharp rise in reports, saying it received more than 100 complaints between January and March about anonymous accounts posting AI‑manipulated school images.
- In the worst cases images taken from school websites and social pages were altered to remove clothing or place children in sexualised material, and teachers and principals have also been targeted with fabricated videos and memes.
- The regulator warned social media and AI platforms they could face fines up to $54 million if they fail to prevent or remove illegal AI‑generated content from their services.
- Some education providers have already changed practice by omitting faces from photos, password‑protecting newsletters, using AI to create fictional pupils for adverts, and at least one large childcare chain has banned class photos; the federal government has signalled plans to legislate a duty of care for tech companies.
- Parents and school staff are being urged to review what images are publicly available online because tighter publishing rules and stronger platform enforcement are likely to shape how schools communicate and share photos going forward.