Understand
Experts urge parents to exercise caution when uploading children's photos to AI tools
Overview
Technology and data protection experts are warning parents against uploading photographs of their children to artificial intelligence tools, particularly to remove watermarks from school photos. Experts cite concerns over data privacy, training AI models with children's likenesses, metadata leaking school or location details, and the risk of images being misused or repurposed.
Key points
- Some parents are using AI tools to remove watermarks from school photographs to avoid paying for them.
- Experts warn that uploaded images can be stored, shared, sold, or used to train future AI models without parents realising.
- Photographs often contain metadata revealing information such as the location or school name, which can be exploited.
- Data protection specialists recommend checking privacy settings, removing metadata, and avoiding the upload of personally identifiable photos or school uniforms.
- Campaigners express concern that online images are virtually impossible to remove once uploaded and could be misused to create inappropriate synthetic material.