{"id":239652,"date":"2025-12-18T18:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/239652\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:20:11","slug":"teenagers-using-ai-to-create-deep-fakes-of-classmates-committee-hears-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/239652\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenagers using AI to create deep fakes of classmates, committee hears \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young people are using artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) to create deep fakes of their classmates, resulting in \u201cconstant\u201d bullying in some cases, the Oireachtas<\/a> Children\u2019s Committee<\/a> has heard.<\/p>\n

Dr Tara Logan Buckley, director of clinical support at Spunout, said AI is compounding the pressure<\/a> many teenagers face. <\/p>\n

In the last year, Spunout, a charity which supports young people, has seen an increase in the number of teenagers being impacted by deep fakes<\/a> \u2013 content which has been created by AI but looks real.<\/p>\n

For example, a person\u2019s face may be superimposed on to someone else\u2019s body, sometimes in a sexual context.<\/p>\n

Dr Logan Buckley, a clinical psychologist, said the charity is aware of \u201csome really difficult cases\u201d in this regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s predominantly more targeted towards females, that, for example, someone else in their class maybe took a photo of them or something, and then they have created that, that image of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said while \u201ctraditional\u201d bullying \u201chappened in the schoolyard\u201d, online bullying is \u201cconstant\u201d. <\/p>\n

As these images are often widely shared, many young people fear the content is \u201csearchable\u201d and \u201cwill never go away\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is presenting itself the exact same way as sexual trauma is presenting itself within young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Logan Buckley said many teenagers often become \u201caddicted\u201d to checking social media<\/a>, \u201ceven though they don\u2019t want to\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re hearing is, \u2018I\u2019m really overwhelmed. Even though I want to put it down, I can\u2019t put it down\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teenagers also raise the issue of \u201csocial comparison\u201d, she said, adding \u201cthat\u2019s where the shame comes in\u201d.<\/p>\n

Noting that the algorithm on people\u2019s phones will often promote \u201cthe perfect lifestyle\u201d and \u201cthe perfect body\u201d, she said many young people feel they are \u201cnot good enough\u201d or \u201cnot attractive enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

While there are dangers, Dr Logan Buckley said the online world also offers important support to young people. She said many teenagers find a community online, including a lot of people who have neurodiversity.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018The power is with us\u2019: Smartphone-free parenting movement takes off in IrelandOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The committee also heard many parents feel pressured to give their children smartphones at a young age due to fears they will be \u201csocially excluded\u201d otherwise.<\/p>\n

Alex Cooney, chief executive of CyberSafeKids<\/a> \u2013 a charity which aims to keep children safe online \u2013 said many parents are afraid their children will be left out by their friends. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids are coming home saying, \u2018Well, everybody else has the phone\u2019, or \u2018Everybody else has Snapchat, and I\u2019m the only one that doesn\u2019t\u2019, and that\u2019s had huge influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the kind of fear that their child is going to be socially excluded outweighs any concern about the risk they might they might face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Cooney said many parents and schools around the country have come together and agreed collectively that their children will not get a smartphone until a certain age. She said this approach \u201ccan be really effective\u201d.<\/p>\n

The number of children under 13 who have smartphones has dropped in recent years, according to data collected by CyberSafeKids.<\/p>\n

However, Ms Cooney said most children in this age group still have access to social media.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0We need to end the great social experiment on our childrenOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She said there has been a \u201cvery singular focus on smartphones\u201d, but parents also need to be aware of content children can access via consoles and tablets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny smart device, for example, in a bedroom overnight, is risky.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government has stopped short of an outright ban on social media for under 16s \u2013 like the one introduced in Australia<\/a> earlier this month \u2013 but will soon roll out a \u2018digital wallet\u2019 which will be used to verify users\u2019 ages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General is advising the Government on how to make the system compatible with EU law<\/a> designed to prevent access to social media for people under 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young people are using artificial intelligence (AI) to create deep fakes of their classmates, resulting in \u201cconstant\u201d bullying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,289,290,126475,126476,77218,18,19,17,167,4766,1114,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-239652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-child-anxiety","12":"tag-committee-on-children","13":"tag-cybersafekids","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-mental-health","18":"tag-oireachtas","19":"tag-social-media","20":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115741958015059142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}