“Put her into a very transparent mini-bikini.”
“Much tinier” and “clearer & more transparent.”
These are just a few of the almost 200,000 individual prompts that Grok, X’s (formerly Twitter) AI chatbot, was given to create deep fakes as we entered 2026.
Grok is one of thousands of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools available to anyone with a phone or computer that has internet access. Generative AI creates content, such as text, images, videos, and more, by pulling information from all over the internet. Some of the most popular AI platforms and tools are ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Sora, and Claude. As generative AI becomes part of teens’ regular lives, with roughly 64% of teens reporting that they use chatbots, education on generative AI needs to include topics on consent and relationships.
In addition to undressing people and changing their bodies, generative AI is also being used to “enhance” the dating world. A decade ago, creating an altered online persona was known as catfishing. Now, people can have generative AI build their profiles, start conversations, and even maintain them on dating apps, in DMs, and over messages. This may seem harmless. It may even seem like a nervous, young teen is getting support for intimate conversations, but what does it mean when the other party doesn’t know they are talking to a chatbot instead of the person they swiped on?
It’s Just a Tool
People are quick to write off concerns and explain why generative AI is necessary for interpersonal relationships. Generative AI is just a tool that creates a well-rounded profile, creative pick-up lines, pushes a conversation forward, or makes a message sound nice or flirty. It’s just a tool that helps build the connection.
It’s Just for Fun
People are also quick to explain why using generative AI for deepfakes is just a fun use of a tech tool. It can boost someone’s confidence to create a deepfake video of their crush saying “I like you” or even be used to request something more explicit, like nudes. Some people may argue that it doesn’t matter because they aren’t real. No one ever got upset with artists for painting or drawing people without clothes before gen AI. This is just a tool to let people be creative and have some fun.
In all of the explanations, consent is left out.
Consent is typically discussed as a simple yes-or-no conversation. But it actually goes beyond that. Consent requires enthusiasm, informed decision-making, revocability, and agreement from all parties involved. When somebody doesn’t know they are talking to a chatbot, they don’t have the power or ability to agree to participate. This can lead to long-term consequences of distrust in relationships, financial loss, and mental health struggles.
When fake images are created by one person, but the subject is unaware or may have even expressed opposition, there is no enthusiasm, informed choice, revocability, or agreement. AI-generated explicit images of young people can lead to long-term negative health outcomes for the subject, like self-harm, suicide, substance dependency, depression, or challenges in building trusting relationships. It can also lead to long-term negative health outcomes for the viewer, like addiction and dependency, harm to self-image, unhealthy sexual expectations, or continual exploitation of marginalized groups such as young girls or people of color. These experiences shape people, including teens, in their understanding of relationships, consent, and sex.
What Adults Can Do
Technology is a normal part of growing up. Talking to teens about consent and AI gives them the knowledge to make informed, safe decisions and to intervene when needed. There are simple steps adults can take to start this process:
- Become familiar with various generative AI platforms, their safety features, and how to use them
- Start the conversations early about what consent is and what generative AI is
- Create space for questions, curiosity, and pushback
- Discuss trust and authenticity in relationships
- Understand and talk about what deep fakes and generated explicit images are and their consequences
The world is digital. Every year, there will be new platforms, tools, and ways to engage online. Keeping conversations and education of consent, healthy relationships, and safety ever evolving will help prevent harm, violence, and exploitation in the digital world.
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