GoKawiilSubstitute Teacher Targeted by AI-Generated Deepfake Made by Students
Luis DeSantiago, a substitute teacher in Los Banos, California, discovered a sexualized AI-manipulated image of himself circulating on TikTok after friends alerted him in March. He traced the account to a middle school student he knew, and reported the incident to school administrators. He is one of at least four educators who told WIRED they have been targeted with similarly fabricated explicit content by students.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Easy-to-use AI image tools are enabling minors to create realistic sexual deepfakes of the adults who teach them, exposing gaps in school policy and platform moderation for handling this new form of harassment. The cases highlight how educators, already navigating fraught power dynamics with students, now face a specific digital threat with unclear legal and institutional recourse.
- A substitute teacher found an AI-altered sexualized image of himself shared by a student on TikTok.
- At least three other teachers report similar deepfake harassment from students.
- Schools' responses to these incidents remain inconsistent and often slow.
Source: wired.com — Caroline Haskins, 2026-08-24
Published there as: “They Dedicated Their Lives to Teaching. Then the Deepfakes Started”
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