Deepfake nudes in schools: WIRED investigation reveals 90 institutions and 600 victims

A WIRED and analytics platform Indicator investigation has documented nearly 90 schools across different countries worldwide where students encountered the spread of artificially generated intimate images. The cumulative number of victims exceeded 600 people — and judging by the dynamics, the problem is not declining but accelerating. The authors examined open sources, court documents, and interviewed school administrators, parents, and victims themselves from dozens of countries.

Their conclusion is unambiguous: tools for creating so-called nudes from a photograph of a real person have become so accessible that any teenager with a smartphone can use them. Most such services operate in a gray zone, do not require age verification, and bear no responsibility for generated content. The scale of the phenomenon turned out to be unexpected even for the researchers.

Among documented cases are schools in the USA, United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, and Canada. In most situations, classmates of the victims initiated the incidents, using photographs from public social media accounts. Images were distributed through messengers, closed chats, and anonymous platforms.

Some cases resulted in criminal proceedings, but law enforcement remains inconsistent: legislation in many jurisdictions has simply not kept pace with technology. Victims describe serious psychological consequences: depression, anxiety disorders, reluctance to attend school. Some were forced to change educational institutions.

School administrations, according to parents, often do not know how to respond — there are neither protocols nor resources. Law enforcement frequently advises to "ignore" what happened or reminds them that the images are technically not real photographs — which sounds like mockery to victims. The technological side exacerbates the situation.

Nudify applications are actively advertised in search engines and social networks despite platform rules formally prohibiting such content. Image generation models become more accurate each month, the barrier to entry is lower. Some services offer several free "processes," monetizing further access through subscription.

Removing generated content from the internet is a lengthy, expensive, and often fruitless process. At the legislative level, the situation is beginning to change, but slowly. In a number of US states, the creation and distribution of deepfake intimate images without consent has been criminalized.

In the United Kingdom, corresponding amendments came into force in 2024. The European Union is discussing additional measures within the AI Act. However, there is no global consensus, and the transnational nature of the internet makes any national laws only a partial solution.

The investigation is another signal: the generative AI industry has yet to develop either technical standards or industry norms capable of preventing the use of technology against vulnerable people. While companies compete for market share and regulators catch up with progress, the real costs are borne by students and their families.