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New research published by Cybernews has revealed a sharp rise in malicious artificial intelligence incidents within educational settings, highlighting a worrying trend of deepfakes targeting women and girls.
Analysis of data from the Similar to AI Deepfake Incident DatabaseCybernews identified 83 deepfake incidents at educational institutions around the globe since the beginning of 2025.
The results show that 71% of the recorded cases involved sexually explicit content. Moreover, the data show that 97% of the victims were femaleand 72% were minors.
The study found that secondary schools account for 65% of all recorded incidents, while universities and colleges represent 19%.
Geographically, the United States accounted for the majority of reported cases with a known location at 68%, although the researchers note that this may partly reflect differences in regional reporting practices and media coverage.
When examining the perpetrators, students were responsible for 57% of the recorded incidents, often targeting their classmates. Meanwhile, teachers and school staff were identified as perpetrators in 18% of cases, involving cases of school staff generating unauthorized explicit material from students or peers.
The researchers emphasize that creating convincing synthetic images or videos no longer requires advanced technical expertise, making everyday AI tools easily accessible for abuse.
Experts argue that the findings highlight an urgent need for robust school policies, comprehensive digital literacy education and stronger safeguards built directly into consumer AI generation platforms to protect vulnerable students and staff.