Sarah Champion MP successful in campaign for improved RSHE in schools
Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, celebrates success in her campaign to strengthen RSHE in schools to educate around deepfakes and AI-generated illicit content of children.
This follows her campaigning work with the Internet Watch Foundation, to raise awareness of the rise in the use of deepfakes and nudifcation technology amongst children.
Champion first wrote to the Secretary of State for Education in September 2024, outlining the need to better educate about this kind of emerging technology being used by children.
In her letter she said, “Data indicates a concerning rise in children’s interactions with AI-generated illicit content, including images of other children and their peers”. She also cited Ofcom’s recent research on deepfakes, which revealed 17% of users who encountered synthetic media believed it depicted individuals under 18. [2]
In response, the Government updated its Relationships, Sex and Health Education guidance, including new provisions about emerging technology. [1] The guidance now includes curriculum on youth-produced sexual imagery, nudes, and AI-generated sexual imagery and deepfakes.
It requires teachers to outline how deepfakes can be used maliciously against children and how to identify them - ultimately better protecting and educating young people.
Commenting, Sarah Champion MP, said:
“We are increasingly seeing cases of sexual abuse imagery of children, some of which is AI-generated but disturbingly realistic.
With nudification technology on the rise, children will be committing peer-on-peer abuse, without realising the seriousness or life-long consequences of their actions.
I am grateful to the Government for listening to our concerns and updating statutory guidance to support schools in promoting the welfare of children when it comes to emerging technology.”
ENDS.
Notes to Editors: