AI Deepfakes and Cyberbullying

Oct 5

3 min read

When a Fake Image Creates Real Consequences

Imagine opening your phone and seeing a picture of yourself online that looks completely real—but you never took the picture and never agreed to be in it.

Artificial intelligence has made it easier to create realistic images, videos, and audio that can make people appear to say or do things that never happened. When these deepfakes involve students, they can raise important questions about bullying, privacy, consent, and the law.

What Is a Deepfake?

A deepfake is media that has been digitally created or altered, often using artificial intelligence, to make a person appear differently from reality. A student could potentially be made to appear in a situation they were never actually in or shown saying something they never said.

The problem becomes especially serious when this content is created to embarrass, threaten, harass, or humiliate another student.

Can Schools Discipline Students?

Potentially, yes.

Schools can address AI-generated content when it qualifies as bullying or cyberbullying under applicable laws and school policies. In Texas, cyberbullying includes bullying conducted through electronic communication, including social media, websites, text messages, and other internet-based communication. Texas law defines bullying in part by whether conduct creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment, substantially disrupts the educational process, or interferes with a student's rights at school.

That means a student does not necessarily escape school consequences simply because an AI-generated image was created on a phone or computer rather than at school.

What About Sexual Deepfakes?

This is an especially serious area of the law.

Texas Senate Bill 441, effective September 1, 2025, expanded criminal law concerning sexually explicit deepfakes. The law covers certain visual depictions or media created or altered using computer-generated technology, including artificial intelligence. It also addresses intentionally threatening to create or distribute certain deepfake material in order to coerce, extort, harass, or intimidate another person.

Texas legislation has also specifically directed schools to address bullying involving AI-created images that appear to depict a student engaging in sexual conduct.

So creating or sharing certain AI-generated images involving minors is not simply a school disciplinary issue—it can potentially have serious legal consequences.

The Ethical Side of AI

Not every harmful AI-generated image necessarily fits neatly into a criminal law. But that doesn't mean creating or sharing it is harmless.

Think about consent.

If someone did not agree to have their face or identity used, turning them into the subject of a humiliating or misleading image can violate their trust and cause lasting damage to their reputation and relationships.

AI can make fake content in seconds, but removing it from the internet can be much harder.

Before creating or sharing AI-generated content involving another student, consider:

Did the person give permission?
Could this embarrass, threaten, or humiliate them?
Could it violate my school's bullying or technology policies?
Could the content violate state or federal law?
Would I want someone to do the same thing to me?

Know Your Rights—and Your Responsibilities

Students have rights when it comes to technology and expression, but those rights exist alongside responsibilities toward other people.

AI does not change the basic fact that there is a real person behind the image. A deepfake may be artificial, but its effects can be very real.

Think before you create. Think before you share. And remember: consent matters, even when AI is involved.