Ages & Stages / High School

High School: Ages 14 to 17

Teens use AI more than most adults. Your role shifts from gatekeeper to coach: keep talking, know the serious risks, and make sure they know you're their safe place.

Teens carry AI in their pockets. Keep the conversation going.

The 2-minute version

  • Talk directly about online blackmail and AI-altered images, including with boys.
  • Set up teen accounts and parental controls where they exist, and know their limits.
  • Check in on feelings: a chatbot is not a therapist or a friend.
  • Agree on a family safe word for scam calls.

Teen boys are a frequent target

Online financial blackmail most often targets boys ages 14 to 17, and about 10% of the reports Thorn reviewed with NCMEC involved AI-altered rather than real images (Thorn[1]). Share the Something happened? page with your teen now, before they need it.

Top risks at this age

  • Online blackmail using AI-altered images (Thorn[1]; U.S. Secret Service[2]).
  • Image-manipulation apps and deepfakes targeting classmates, which can cause lasting distress for those affected (APA[3]; see AAP on deepfake laws[4]).
  • Emotional reliance on chatbots for support. AI chatbots have given inappropriate responses and encouraged secrecy in some reported cases (Penn State Extension[5]; AAP[6]).
  • Health misinformation. Teens often look up health info online, and AI answers may not be accurate (APA[3]).
  • Academic integrity and losing skills by outsourcing thinking (Brookings[7]).

What to say

“People can now use AI to alter a normal photo and use it to threaten someone. If that ever happens to you or a friend, it's not your fault. Come to me and we'll handle it together.”Based on advice from Thorn[8].
“If someone calls sounding like me and asks for money, ask for our safe word or hang up and call me back.”Based on FBI warnings[9].
“What's something AI got wrong for you lately?”Keeps the “check the AI” habit alive.
“Chatbots can feel easier to talk to than people. Who are the real people you can go to?”

Do this week

  • Set up ChatGPT parental controls with your teen. Independent testing by FOSI[10] found gaps, so keep talking too.
  • Save these together: Take It Down[11], the CyberTipline[12] and 988[13].
  • Choose a family safe word and practice it (SANS[14]).
  • Talk about posting photos: the APA advises teaching teens the risks of posting images and what to do if they see disturbing images of peers (APA[3]).

Good ways to use AI for learning

  • Study plans, practice tests and step-by-step explanations (APA[3]).
  • Feedback on an essay they wrote, not writing it for them.
  • Coding help, career exploration, and debate practice where AI argues the other side.
  • Question and challenge what AI says, and use it to supplement, not replace, learning (APA[3]).

Want a framework? Anthropic's free online lesson on the 4D AI fluency framework[15] (Delegation, Description, Discernment, Diligence) works well for parents and teens learning together.

References

AI-OK? summarizes these sources in our own words and links to the originals. Short quotes are marked with quotation marks, and some titles are described in [brackets]. All credit for original research and guidance belongs to the authors below.

  1. Thorn. (2024, September 26). Will I be believed? [How deepfakes add to young people's fears about online blackmail]. www.thorn.org (link). Accessed October 4, 2026.
  2. U.S. Secret Service. (2026, August). [Article on online image-based extortion in the age of AI]. www.secretservice.gov (link). Accessed October 4, 2026.
  3. American Psychological Association. (2025, June). Artificial intelligence and adolescent well-being: An APA health advisory. https://www.apa.org/topics/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning/health-advisory-ai-adolescent-well-being.pdf. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  4. American Academy of Pediatrics. [Q&A on laws and policies around AI-generated deepfakes]. www.aap.org (link). Accessed October 4, 2026.
  5. Wolbert, E. D., Rudy, T. L., & Perkins, D. F. (2026, March 18). AI chatbots and children's digital safety. Penn State Extension. https://extension.psu.edu/ai-chatbots-and-childrens-digital-safety. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  6. American Academy of Pediatrics. AI and teens: Usage trends and mental health effects. https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/qa-portal/qa-portal-library/qa-portal-library-questions/ai-and-teens-usage-trends-and-mental-health-effects/. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  7. Brookings Institution. (2026). When AI helps learning, and when it gets in the way. Parent tip sheet 12. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/tips-for-parents-raising-resilient-learners-in-an-ai-world. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  8. Thorn. [Guidance for young people facing online image threats]. www.thorn.org (link). Accessed October 4, 2026.
  9. KPRC Click2Houston. (2026, June 2). FBI warns of AI voice-cloning scam that mimics loved ones in distress. https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2026/06/02/fbi-warns-of-ai-voice-cloning-scam-that-mimics-loved-ones-in-distress/. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  10. Family Online Safety Institute. Testing OpenAI parental controls: An evaluation of safety, gaps, and policy implications. https://fosi.org/policy/testing-openai-parental-controls-parental-controls-an-evaluation-of-safety-gaps-and-policy-implications/. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  11. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Take It Down. https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  12. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. CyberTipline. https://report.cybertip.org/. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  13. 988 Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  14. SANS Institute. Secure the family: 4 AI scam conversations for parents. https://www.sans.org/go/secure-the-family. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  15. Anthropic. AI fluency: Framework & foundations. The 4D framework. Claude Academy. https://academy.claude.com/courses/ai-fluency-framework-foundations/the-4d-framework. Accessed October 4, 2026.