The Hidden Threat of AI: How Parents Can Protect Their Children
Jace’s parents could never have imagined their kind, loving 16 year old son becoming violent,
threatening, and even attempting to take his own life, but over a period of 4 months he had been
sexually and emotionally abused daily in his home without his parents’ knowledge by an abuser
who cannot face criminal charges. His abuser? Artificial Intelligence (AI). And his story, sadly,
is not unique to him.
In our role as abstinence educators, we seek to equip students and parents to make safe, informed
decisions and have many conversations about technology with our students given the digital world
we live in. With the vast majority of students owning and using smartphones, the risk of internet-
based sexual exploitation is real and growing with advancements in technology, specifically AI.
In addition to exploitation by chatbots, AI is also being used to expand the fastest growing
cybercrime, sextortion—which has also been linked to numerous suicides—and is being used by
4 million users per month to “unclothe” images of people and generate porn. With all these
threats in the palm of our children’s hands, how can we keep Jace’s story from repeating? While
we can bring awareness to the risks of technology-based sexual activity in the classroom,
conversations between parents and children are the most effective defense against this
exploitation.
Preventative Steps
Simply discussing online exploitation “before it happens, in case it happens” can provide a solid
foundation to support teens so they do not fall prey to these exploitation schemes. There are three
main ideas to equip teens to face these real-world challenges.
First, parents can communicate what exploitation may look like. Without being graphic or giving
full details, parents can make teens aware of the dangers that exist in the world. It could be as
simple as telling teens that there might be people who try to send them messages that seem
strange or make them uncomfortable, and if they do receive such messages, they should tell their
parents immediately. Letting them know—in an age-appropriate way—that there is a potential
risk could make all the difference in preventing them from falling prey to exploitation.
Parents can also protect teens by communicating to them that they are a safe place for their teens
to come to if they ever encounter anything strange or suspicious. It is important to reassure teens
that they will not be blamed or get in trouble for sharing, but will be protected, even if they feel
like they’ve done something wrong. Oftentimes, predators will use shame to gain leverage over
their targets and make teens feel like they can’t tell anybody. (Teenage boys are especially
vulnerable to this.) Communicating love and safety up front will prevent teens from feeling
trapped if they do encounter one of these threats.
Another way parents can protect their teens is by offering supervision. By setting boundaries for
phone use, parents can better ensure that their teens aren’t bearing the full weight of the potential
threats of electronic devices. Brian Montgomery, the father of a teen who committed suicide in
the middle of the night because of a sextortion scam, expressed that if he could go back and
change things, he would have had a rule in place that devices not be allowed in the room with his
kids at night. This is a simple boundary that could have prevented such a tragedy.
What to do after an attack?
If your child does experience an attack, there are still practical steps you can take to protect your
child and alert authorities to prevent others from being victimized as well.
The first step is to report the predator’s account. You can report it through the report feature on
the social media platform. However, do not delete the messages or your child’s account. It is
important to keep a record of all messages as well as the timeline. Take screenshots of messages
and timestamps so you can provide them to the appropriate authorities.
Also report to the NCMEC cyber tipline or FBI, and utilize the NCMEC’s Take it Down service
to get any explicit images removed from the internet.
It is also important to blame the predator, not your child, keeping in mind that they are the victim
and any blame or shame could only exacerbate the harm that’s already been done.
Finally, seeking mental health services from a trusted counselor or therapist will help both you
and your child to process such a traumatic event.
For more information on the cases mentioned in this article as well as more in-depth advice for
navigating these situations as parents, please see the sources cited below.
https://fightthenewdrug.org/financial-sextortion-teen-crisis/
https://fightthenewdrug.org/ai-generated-porn-exploiting-victims/
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/16/tech/character-ai-developer-lawsuit-teens-suicide-and-
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/02/25/sextortion-can-happen-to-
anyone-what-to-do-if-youre-a-victim/79454630007/
https://www.scrolling2death.com/post/chatbots-told-my-son-to-kill-me
After son’s suicide, father raises awareness of sextortion, social media dangers - The Dispatch