TYLER, Texas — Artificial intelligence is creeping into children’s phones in a very alarming way.
Perpetrators are now using AI to create fake sexually explicit images of teens to embarrass and tarnish reputations. Smith County Sheriff’s Office Detective Tim McDonald said the top 10 most popular apps for teens are all social media platforms.
Social media has given us access to the world at our fingertips.
“It was not something that my husband and I dealt with growing up in our generation… we don't even know what the app face looks like on a phone,” parent Jenae Hull said.
From TikTok dances to wild story times and restaurant reviews, it all seems pretty harmless.
“But anything that we have that is good, we've got people that are evil,” McDonald said.
McDonald said child online safety is a rising concern for parents.
“Social media changes faster than we can change anything else in our own lives. So if we are not taking a proactive approach as a parent to protect our kids online, then we've lost the battle already,” McDonald said.
Hull and her husband have two daughters, who are 10 and 6 years old.
Although younger than the age of consent for social media, Hull said her family is already having those hard conversations.
“They can be uncomfortable and awkward, but it's just so important that our role as parents is to really advocate for our kids and teach them in ways that they're not able to right now,” Hull said.
Because social media is evolving into a digital dystopia, gone are the days of using silly filters to edit photos and videos. Now, users are using AI to create fake images of celebrities and teens.
“It’s dangerous because it can depict someone doing something that they’re not– a lot of times it’s being used for child pornography,” McDonald said.
Although the images and videos are fake, the emotional damage for victims is real.
“The damaging effects are beyond the scope of their understanding,” McDonald said. “I have seen them firsthand – families that are just destroyed because of one image that got sent out.”
Thanks to a recent change in Texas law, law enforcement can now prosecute people who modify images to create pornography.
“When evil pops its head even in a new way, it’s comforting to know we have legislators that will say ‘we're not going to tolerate it,’” McDonald said.
As a father of three himself, McDonald said it’s important to tell your child “no.”
“It is not easy to tell your child you can't have that app. ‘Well, my friends,’ that's great, but the answer is still no,” McDonald said.
He and other community leaders host workshops for other parents to become more technologically aware.
“So we teach parents to monitor, limit and control what their kids have access to, the functionality of their device, who they can talk to,” McDonald said.
Hull said the group has provided incredible resources, tools, tips, tricks as well as ways to talk with children and other people who are influences in the child's life.
McDonald encourages parental control settings on devices.
“All three of our children have a tablet that they use for their school, and they can't download anything to it,” McDonald said. “They have to ask us permission to download any app, and we can then look at it, let me do some research. And then go back and say, you know what? I dug through it, and I don't see anything wrong with it, and be willing to say, absolutely not. We're not doing that.”
And even if you trust your child, their “friend” behind the username may not be who they say they are.
“Our brains don't fully developed until our 20s, yet we want to let our child have wide open unfettered access to billions of people – serial killers, rapists, terrorism,” McDonald said.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is also working on passing the Take It Down Act, which would also require sites to remove the modified media within 48 hours to prevent it from floating around the world wide web forever and leaving long term impacts within higher education and job hunting.
DID YOU KNOW?
CBS19 is available live and on-demand on your favorite TV streaming device, anytime from anywhere in the U.S.
The free CBS19+ app for Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and smart TV devices features a 24/7 stream with the latest from CBS19.
In addition to the live stream, watch the latest from CBS19 on-demand, along with additional programming from our partners at TEGNA (like Verify, "Murder at My Door" and "In the News") and Locked On Sports, plus special collections from CBS19 like Under the Lights, Hooked on East Texas and CBS19 Originals.
DOWNLOAD ON ROKU
Add the free CBS19 channel by searching for CBS19 East Texas News in the Roku Channel Store on your device, or add the CBS19+ Roku channel using this link.
DOWNLOAD ON FIRE TV
Search for the free CBS19+ app in the Amazon App Store directly on your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick, or add the CBS19+ Fire TV app using this link.
DOWNLOAD ON APPLE TV
Learn more about the free CBS19+ app in the Apple TV App Store and download directly from your Apple TV device.
DOWNLOAD ON YOUR SMART TV
The CBS19+ app is also now available directly on "smart" or "connected" televisions made by Samsung, LG and Philips, as well as televisions with Android TV. Search for CBS19 East Texas News in your television's app store to add CBS19+.
OTHER FREE WAYS TO WATCH
The CBS19+ 24/7 stream can be viewed on any desktop or mobile web browser anytime on the Watch page here on cbs19.tv.