Australian schoolgirls and female teachers are being targeted by AI-generated sexualised deepfakes, education unions have warned, calling for tougher protections as schools struggle to keep pace with rapidly developing technology.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) told a federal parliamentary inquiry in Melbourne on Thursday that reports of deepfake image abuse involving school-aged children had doubled in 18 months, with at least one school-related incident reported each week.
The union said artificial intelligence (AI) was making it easier to produce explicit manipulated images of female students and teachers, creating new safety risks for schools.
AEU federal secretary Nicole Calnan said teachers were also being targeted by the technology, with some incidents potentially driving staff out of the profession.
The union called for stronger legal protections for both students and staff, arguing that a proposed digital duty of care should extend beyond children to cover all Australians.
Independent Education Union federal secretary Brad Hayes said schools were increasingly being forced to manage the consequences of AI adoption before adequate safeguards had been established.
“We should not have to wait until girls or female teachers are harmed before protections are put in place,” Mr Hayes said.
He said AI-generated abuse had become a serious safety and wellbeing issue across public and private schools.
The unions also raised concerns about the rapid introduction of AI platforms without adequate consultation with teachers.
The AEU said education departments were making decisions about AI procurement before teachers were involved, leaving staff to adapt to systems they had little say in selecting.
Ms Calnan said teachers were struggling to keep pace with constantly changing technology.
“Teachers are feeling like they’re flailing really, because they’re playing catch up,” she said.
Despite government promises that artificial intelligence could reduce teacher workloads, the union said its members were not experiencing those benefits.
Instead, teachers were spending additional time checking and correcting AI-generated material.
Mr Hayes described contrasting experiences in non-government schools, including one employer that introduced AI through extensive trials and paid professional development.
Another employer had mandated a new AI system without prior consultation, leaving teachers to complete training on top of their existing duties, he said.
The unions also warned that students could become increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence to complete schoolwork rather than develop their own critical thinking skills.
Mr Hayes said teachers were confronting growing challenges involving plagiarism, academic integrity and students outsourcing their thinking to generative AI.
Schools were redesigning assessments to preserve authentic learning, but the changes were adding pressure to already overstretched staff, he said.
The National Tertiary Education Union raised similar concerns about universities, warning that academic staff had not been given sufficient time to redesign assessments or consider the effects of AI on student learning.
NTEU representative Gabe Gooding said the uncontrolled adoption of artificial intelligence could have long-term consequences for education and research.
The union also warned that AI-generated academic papers containing fabricated information threatened the reliability of research.
The AEU called for binding education-specific AI standards, compulsory consultation before systems were purchased and greater investment in digital infrastructure and teacher training.
It also proposed a levy on commercial data centre operators to help fund TAFE infrastructure and AI skills training.
The unions gave evidence as the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence examined the implications of the technology for Australian workers and institutions.