The FBI's Omaha field office reported a sharp increase in AI-related crimes targeting children, as artificial intelligence tools make it easier to create explicit content and deceive minors. Reports of artificially generated child sexual abuse material jumped from about 5,000 nationwide in 2023 to 182,000 last year, according to Gene Kowel, the special agent in charge of the office.
Kowel said AI lets offenders create explicit images from ordinary photos. Perpetrators no longer need to convince a child to send sexual images of themselves.
"They can say, 'Just send me a picture of you at the library,' and they can take that face and make it into a sexually exploitative image," Kowel said. "Because of that, we're seeing a big explosion in a number of these cases."
AI-generated images are illegal even when they don't depict a real child. Last month, a former Millard teacher pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child sexual abuse material he created with artificial intelligence.
Schools face disruption from AI-generated threats
While the FBI focuses on the most serious AI crimes, educators face a broader range of incidents - from deepfaked photos to fake school threats. Jay Martin, school safety and security director for the Nebraska Department of Education, said AI has been used on social media to threaten schools or initiate swatting calls that send armed responders to campus.
"The next thing you know, the school's going in lockdown and the first responders are showing up with guns and things of that nature," Martin said. "That's very concerning."
The report comes amid a recent wave of swatting calls at the state's schools. Those incidents directly affect student safety feelings and learning, Martin said. If you don't feel safe, you can't learn, he added.
Teachers also said they worry about students creating fake images of them and distributing the content at school.
Chatbots can affirm dangerous thinking
A Pew Research Center survey found that about 16 percent of teenagers use AI chatbots for casual conversation and 12 percent use them to get emotional support or advice. In contrast, more than half of parents are against them using chatbots for emotional support.
Most parents are uncomfortable with those uses - 45 percent are against casual chatbot conversation and 58 percent are against using them for emotional support or advice. Martin said chatbots are designed to keep users engaged, which means they may agree with a user.
"That's one of the issues that we talk about with kids is instead of talking to their parents today, they're talking to a companion that's AI-driven," Martin said.
Martin says that's why it's important for students to have at least one trusted adult at school. He is working on a campaign designed to have kids at its center, helping students convey a message about internet safety - because, as Martin put it, "Kids are very savvy. Kids are very aware of a lot of this stuff, even more so, a lot of times when it comes to digital stuff, than the adults that they are around."
Why this matters for educators
Teachers should treat AI threats as a present reality rather than as a future hypothesis. A photo of a student taken in class is now enough material for someone to create generated explicit content, and fake images can attract legal consequences even if they began as a joke.
The stakes for schools extend beyond student safety. Between fake threats that put schools under lockdown and deepfakes that damage a reputation, AI has essentially made it necessary for school districts to incorporate these risks into their crisis planning.
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