We must protect kids from sexually explicit AI deepfakes [column] - LancasterOnline

The disturbing situation at Lancaster Country Day School, where two male students generated more than 300 nude images of their female classmates and other teenage girls using artificial intelligence, has finally come to a conclusion. However, the underlying gap in Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting rules that allowed the incident to go unreported for months remains open.

In October 2023, two boys at Lancaster Country Day School began generating sexually explicit images of their female classmates using AI. (Deepfake pornography is the term for AI-altered images in which someone’s face is morphed onto a different nude body. Since October 2024, it has been a crime in Pennsylvania to use AI to create child sexual abuse material — the legal term for sexually explicit images of minors.)

School administrators at Country Day became aware of the images in November 2023 but, as LNP | LancasterOnline reported, a criminal investigation did not begin until after a parent notified law enforcement in May 2024.

During the intervening months, the boys exchanged hundreds of altered images of more than 50 girls — causing unimaginable pain and distress during an already challenging season of life.

Country Day administrators should have gone to the authorities immediately, but they were able to avoid doing so because of a gap in Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting law.

Under current Pennsylvania law, most school personnel are classified as “mandated reporters,” which means they are subject to rules that require them to immediately report suspected child abuse to the appropriate authorities. These rules were strengthened in direct response to the Jerry Sandusky case and his conviction in 2012. Penn State University officials had failed to report, for years, the sexual abuse perpetrated by Sandusky. That case exposed serious gaps in Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting law.

However, even under Pennsylvania’s current, more comprehensive mandatory reporting law, Country Day administrators were not technically required to report the deepfakes immediately because of a different gap in the law, one that relates to child-on-child abuse.

Instances of children sharing sexually explicit deepfakes of other children do not currently fall under the state’s definition of abuse in our mandatory reporting laws. Therefore, mandated reporters are not required to bring such cases to authorities. It’s a loophole that enabled Country Day administrators to avoid reporting, ultimately allowing the incident to go unchecked for months.

While no administrators could be held legally accountable, their inaction was appalling and ran counter to our community’s expectations for adults who are charged with protecting students. Whether AI-generated or not, all child sexual abuse material — and its distribution by other children — is cause for immediate and serious intervention by the appropriate authorities. This incident highlights the line where common sense can fail and legislative action is needed.

After hearing painful accounts from some of the victims and families in the Country Day case, I introduced legislation in October 2025 to update Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting rules. My bill would require mandated reporters to immediately report all instances of children sharing sexually explicit images of other children, including AI-generated deepfakes.

At a time when AI tools are widely available with little government oversight, it’s imperative that adults who work with children are both empowered and required to report any instance in which AI is used to generate child sexual abuse material. Omitting cases in which children are generating images of other children from our mandatory reporting requirements neglects our responsibility as adults to serve as the first line of defense in protecting kids from AI.

Thankfully, we have some bipartisan consensus around this issue. Pennsylvania Senate Republicans agreed to include my legislation as an amendment to Sen. Tracy Pennycuick’s Senate Bill 1050, which is a broader package that seeks to address the rise of child sexual abuse material being generated using AI. The bill passed the Senate with a 46-0 vote Nov. 19 and is currently awaiting consideration in the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee.

We have a lot of work to do as a state to hold AI companies accountable for the safety of children who have access to their tools. I’m actively engaged in those discussions, but there are limits to what individual states can do and how quickly they can implement new rules. In the meantime, I believe SB 1050, with its critical updates to our mandatory reporting law, will empower adults with immediate responsibility for the welfare of children to report and shut down abuses such as those that transpired at Country Day.

As lawmakers, it’s our job to find ways to build trust in public institutions and recognize where common sense alone isn’t enough to keep people safe. AI is a fast-moving technology that poses unique opportunities and dangers for our schools. Keeping kids safe is going to require adults in the room to take a new level of responsibility to ensure AI is used the right way.

State Sen. James Malone, D-East Petersburg, represents the 36th Senate District.

GET HELP

YWCA Lancaster runs a 24-hour sexual assault hotline that connects callers to free, confidential counseling and therapy services for community members impacted by sexual abuse, harassment or assault: 717-392-7273.

Report suspected child abuse to ChildLine: 1-800-932-0313.

Report school threats: safe2saypa.org; 844-SAF2SAY (844-723-2729).

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