An AI portrait can begin with an ordinary family moment and a tempting idea. Perhaps your child wants to look like they were from the 80s, become a storybook explorer, or a relative offers to make a funny birthday picture. Before anyone uploads the photograph, there is a decision to consider about your child's information, as well as a decision about the finished image. The useful question is what happens to the original photograph along the way?
For parents, this is an opportunity to establish a habit the whole family can practice. Ask why a real photograph is needed, who will receive it, and whether the child is comfortable with that particular use. If those answers are unclear, choose an activity that does not require their face. You can still make something imaginative without making a child identifiable.
Understand what you are sharing
A photograph can reveal much more than a face. eSafety's privacy guidance highlights identifying details such as school uniforms and locations, and warns that images shared privately can be copied or distributed more widely. It also notes that images may be collected for unintended uses, including AI training and deepfakes. These are possible risks, rather than a prediction about what will happen to every image.
Uploading a photo for editing and publishing it afterwards are separate decisions. Even if you keep the result off social media, you still need to understand the service receiving the original image. Look for an explanation of storage, access, use, and deletion before deciding to upload. A promise that your finished picture is private leaves other questions unanswered.
The consequences can also extend beyond embarrassment. In its July 2026 school imagery advisory, eSafety explains that ordinary student photographs can be manipulated, including into sexualised material, and that school identifiers can make fabricated content appear more convincing. You do not need to show children examples of this material to explain a sensible boundary. A brief explanation that other people can change pictures in upsetting ways is enough to begin an age-appropriate conversation.
Decide whether a real photograph is necessary
Start with the thing your child wants to create, rather than the upload button. In a hypothetical birthday activity, the aim might be a picture of an astronaut riding a purple bicycle. That picture could be drawn, made from shapes, or generated from a written description without using a child's likeness. The family still gets the purple bicycle, which is doing quite enough work already.
If the face is essential to the activity, give yourself time to investigate the tool. Check whether it is intended for the proposed use and whether its current terms permit images of children. Check account age rules too, particularly if your child is asking to operate the service themselves. An adult uploading a child's photograph should still assess the information involved, rather than assuming an adult account resolves every concern.
Ask what happens after the upload
Look for answers about whether original images are retained, whether people can review them, and whether they can be used to develop or train AI systems. Ask whether processing is carried out by other providers and whether any settings change those arrangements. Check what deletion covers, including any explanation of retained copies or backups. These are suggested questions for assessing a service, not claims that every provider handles images in the same way.
If the explanations are difficult to find or understand, you can leave the activity unfinished. There is no family deadline for turning everyone into a cartoon pirate. A different creative activity may be a better choice than spending an evening interpreting vague promises. Paying for a service also deserves the same questions, because a price alone tells you little about its information practices.
For a school or club activity, ask the organisation to explain the proposed use before providing a photograph. New Zealand's Privacy Commissioner advises organisations to consider children's privacy risks before using AI to create, edit, or organise images. Its photography guidance is aimed at organisations and expressly excludes parents sharing their own children's images, so it should not be presented as a household legal checklist. It is nevertheless directly relevant when asking how a school or club has assessed a proposed AI activity.
Make permission specific and understandable
A child agreeing to a photograph being taken may understand something quite different from a parent proposing to upload it. Explain the next step in language they can follow, including what the tool will do and who may see the result. Ask about that particular use, without making a yes answer the price of joining the fun. If they decline, offer another way to take part.
You might explain a hypothetical activity by saying that an online tool would receive the photograph and produce a changed version of it. You can then explain what you know about storage and sharing, as well as anything you do not know. Avoid promising that nobody else could ever see the image unless you can support that promise. An honest explanation gives your child a better basis for a decision than reassurance you cannot verify.
The same conversation matters when other children appear in the frame. Do not assume another family agrees to AI editing because they previously agreed to a team photograph or a family group message. Ask before using an image containing their child, and choose another picture if permission is unclear. As a family practice, treat each new purpose as a reason to check again.
Extend the agreement to relatives and schools
A simple family agreement can make expectations easier to explain. You could agree to ask before uploading a child's image to an AI service, avoid identifiable images when they are unnecessary, and check before posting any result. Tell relatives about the agreement when sharing photographs, rather than expecting them to guess it. Keep the explanation friendly and specific to the image and activity being proposed.
Ask your school where AI image use fits within its photography policy. Useful questions include which tools are approved, whether original student photographs leave school-controlled systems, and what alternative is available for a child who does not participate. In its September 2026 conference reflections, Netsafe reported concerns from several principals about AI-manipulated images using publicly shared school photos. Those conversations support asking practical questions, but they are not a survey establishing how common the problem is.
Respond calmly if an image is misused
If a child shows you an upsetting image, begin by checking how they are feeling and what support they need. Avoid making them explain the situation repeatedly to different adults, and do not ask them to forward the image to a family group. Netsafe's Digital Guardian Guide emphasises maintaining a relationship in which children can seek help when something feels unsafe or confusing. A calm first response helps put that principle into practice.
For non-sexual misuse, record useful details such as the account, page address, and time, where it is safe to do so, and use the platform's reporting route. eSafety's school guidance warns never to save, share, or redistribute nude or sexual images of anyone under 18. If sexualised content is involved, seek specialist reporting advice without circulating the material. The same advisory cautions that harmful material may reappear, so a response may need follow-up rather than ending after one report.
In New Zealand, Netsafe provides advice and support about image-based abuse and recommends police reporting where someone shares or threatens to share an intimate image. Australian families can consult eSafety's reporting guidance for the harms within its remit. The appropriate route depends on the content and where you live, and removal cannot be guaranteed. Keep the child's support needs central while you seek help.
Keep family creativity possible
Children's photos help families remember achievements, celebrate friendships, and stay connected. A measured approach can preserve those benefits while giving the child a voice in decisions about their image. No setting or family agreement can guarantee that an image will never be misused, and responsibility for abuse belongs to the person causing it. Parents can make thoughtful choices without carrying blame for someone else's actions.
Choose one practical change this week, such as explaining your family boundary to relatives or asking your school about AI photo activities. For the next creative project, see whether the same idea works without an identifiable photograph. When a real photo is needed, investigate the specific use before uploading and involve your child in the decision. That gives them a useful example of privacy as something people discuss and respect in everyday life.
Public source material
eSafety Commissioner Privacy and your child | No publication date shown
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/privacy-child
eSafety Commissioner Sharing school imagery in the age of AI risks deepfakes and how to protect students and staff | 28 July 2026
https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/sharing-school-imagery-in-the-age-of-ai-risks-deepfakes-and-how-to-protect-students-and-staff
New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner Children and young people photography and filming guidance | 27 May 2025
https://www.privacy.org.nz/resources-and-learning/a-z-topics/protecting-children-and-young-peoples-privacy/children-and-young-people-photography-and-filming-guidance/
Netsafe Education Conference Insights September 2026 | September 2026 in title; no specific day shown
https://education.netsafe.org.nz/news-and-insights/conference-insights-september-2026
Netsafe Digital Guardian Guide | No publication date shown
https://netsafe.org.nz/digital-guardian-guide
Netsafe Image Based Abuse | No publication date shown
https://netsafe.org.nz/online-abuse-and-harassment/image-based-abuse
eSafety Commissioner Report online harm | No publication date shown
https://www.esafety.gov.au/report