They Dedicated Their Lives to Teaching. Then the Deepfakes Started

Teachers are becoming targets of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos created by students using AI technology. When these deepfakes are shared on social media platforms and among student groups, teachers face difficulty getting the content removed and struggle to find accountability from schools or the platforms themselves. Under federal law, creating and sharing sexual images of nonconsenting adults can constitute cyberstalking, and employment lawyers say schools have an obligation to create a workplace free of sexual harassment, though there is currently no clear blueprint for how schools should respond to these incidents. Teachers affected by this harassment report feeling unsafe and questioning their relationships with students.