More safeguards needed to protect SC families from AI exploitation
RANDY PAGE MARCH 13, 2026 9:30 AM
Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than many of our laws can keep up.
While these technologies hold tremendous promise, they are also creating serious risks that policymakers cannot afford to ignore, especially when it comes to the safety of women and children.
One of the most troubling developments is the growing ability of artificial intelligence tools to generate explicit images using real photographs of people without their knowledge or consent.
These images may be fabricated, but the harm they cause is real.
Once created, they can spread quickly online, leaving victims with humiliation, harassment, and long-lasting emotional damage that is nearly impossible to undo. This has become a growing problem in schools and homes across our state. And we are now seeing the consequences.
Here in South Carolina, authorities are investigating a disturbing incident involving several high school girls whose faces were reportedly used to create AI-generated nude images that circulated among students online.
What begins as a digital manipulation can quickly become public humiliation for young victims, spreading across social media and following them long after the original images appear.
Over the past few months, national reporting has raised growing concerns about AI systems such as GrokAI, the artificial intelligence tool integrated into the X platform.
Investigations have found that the system has at times been capable of generating sexualized imagery involving women and minors with limited safeguards in place.
When tools capable of producing vast numbers of images are released without meaningful guardrails, predictable abuse follows.
For women and girls, the implications are deeply troubling. A simple photograph shared online — whether on social media, a school website, or a family page — can now be manipulated into explicit content in seconds.
Once that content spreads, victims often have little ability to stop it.
Making matters worse, the burden is placed on parents, who must worry that an innocent picture of their child could be turned into sexualized content by a bad actor using an AI system.
Technology companies developing these powerful systems have a responsibility to prevent that kind of exploitation. But when safeguards fail, our leaders must step in.
South Carolina has an opportunity to lead on this issue. Our state has long taken seriously its responsibility to protect families and vulnerable individuals from exploitation, and that commitment must extend into the digital world as new technologies create new threats.
The attorney general’s office plays a critical role in that effort.
As the state’s chief law enforcement authority, the attorney general can evaluate whether emerging technologies are operating within existing laws related to exploitation, obscenity, and consumer protection, and whether enforcement action may be warranted when safeguards fail.
At the same time, state legislators have an opportunity to ensure that South Carolina’s laws keep pace with rapidly evolving technology.
Clearer guardrails and stronger protections can help ensure that powerful AI systems cannot be easily misused to exploit women or target children.
This is not about restricting legitimate innovation or undermining free speech.
South Carolina values both technological progress and constitutional freedoms. But those values do not require us to accept technologies that can be weaponized against our children.
I think that any of our leaders knows there is a clear difference between responsible innovation and tools that can be used to harm others.
The recent incident involving South Carolina high school students should serve as a wake-up call.
Without stronger safeguards and clear accountability, these technologies will continue to be misused, harming young people and families.
Randy Page serves as executive vice president of Palmetto Family Alliance. He serves on the board of directors for the Charter Institute at Erskine and Exceptional SC. Page previously served as chief of staff at Bob Jones University and in senior staff roles for Gov. David Beasley, Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.
SC lawmaker joins Michigan families in urging Michigan legislators to pass sextortion education bill
Rep. Brandon Guffey testifies about South Carolina’s ‘Gavin’s Law’
BY: JON KING - MARCH 12, 2026 6:08 PM
A Michigan House committee heard emotional testimony Thursday from law enforcement officials and grieving parents in support of legislation aimed at educating students about the dangers of sextortion, an online crime that authorities say is increasingly targeting minors.
The measure, House Bill 4848, is sponsored by Democratic state Rep. John Fitzgerald of Wyoming and would require the Michigan Department of Education to develop and distribute informational materials to schools about state laws prohibiting sextortion and other forms of youth exploitation.
Fitzgerald told members of the Michigan House Committee on Government Operations that the proposal would build on legislation passed in 2024 that criminalized sextortion — the act of threatening to share sexually explicit images to coerce victims into sending more images, money or other payment.
“We made this an increased penalty when that happens against somebody under the age of 18,” Fitzgerald said. “But we need to make sure those closest to our children — and the children themselves — are educated about how to seek help.”
Under current Michigan law, sextortion involving minors can carry a felony penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
The bill would require schools to share educational resources, including materials developed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with students, parents and school personnel. Fitzgerald said the information could be distributed digitally to avoid creating additional costs for schools.
Authorities say sextortion cases have surged nationwide, with Fitzgerald citing data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that more than 67,000 reports of sextortion were registered in 2024. He also said the FBI reported more than 13,000 cases of financial sextortion involving minors between 2021 and 2023, including at least 20 that resulted in suicide.
Marquette County Sheriff Greg Zyburt told lawmakers that investigators in Michigan have seen the crime first hand, noting his department worked with federal authorities to prosecute suspects in Nigeria linked to a sextortion scheme tied to the 2022 death of Jordan DeMay, 17, who died by suicide after being tricked into sending explicit photos.
“This is the first time in the nation’s history where we brought people over from Nigeria and they were adjudicated and are now in prison for sextortion,” Zyburt said.
Supporters say the bill represents the final piece of a legislative package known as “Jordan’s Law,” named for DeMay.
Zyburt said awareness is critical because many teens are too embarrassed or frightened to tell adults when they are being targeted.
“It’s so important for these kids to reach out to someone they trust — a parent, a teacher, a police officer,” Zyburt said. “Ultimately, it’s not worth taking your life.”
Lawmakers also heard from South Carolina Republican state Rep. Brandon Guffey, who helped pass similar legislation in that state known as “Gavin’s Law” after his 17-year-old son died following a sextortion attempt.
Guffey told the committee that awareness and education are the most effective tools to prevent tragedies.
“The statistics at the end of 2024 were that one in 17 teens had become a victim of sextortion,” he said. “By late 2025, that number is estimated at one in five.”
However, the most emotional testimony came from Michigan parents who lost children to sextortion-related suicide.
Stephanie Rodrigues‑Torres described the death of her 13-year-old son, Deyani, in 2023. She said her family had never heard of sextortion before the tragedy.
“If I was educated, I would not be here in front of you today. Awareness, education and communication will go a long way and save many children,” Rodrigues‑Torres said. “Please do not allow another parent to sit in front of you and tell you their baby’s story without having done anything to educate them.”
Another parent, Emily Sluiter, testified about losing her 14-year-old son Henry in 2024 after he was threatened online by someone posing as a teenage girl.
“Our family is advocating for the passage of House Bill 4848 because we don’t want other families to experience the nightmare that our family and the other families in the room today live with,” Sluiter said. “Our kids deserve to know that sending an inappropriate picture is a bad decision, but threatening to circulate that photo is a crime.”
Fitzgerald said the goal is prevention.
“Without education,” he told the committee, “these are simply laws on the books. Education is what will help save lives.”
The committee did not vote on the measure Thursday, although Fitzgerald told Michigan Advance it come back up for a vote as early as next week.
This story was originally produced by Michigan Advance, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes SC Daily Gazette, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
Jon King is the Michigan Advance’s editor-in-chief, having previously served as the outlet's senior reporter, covering education, elections and LGBTQ+ issues. King has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is the Past President of the Michigan Associated Press Media Editors Association who has been recognized for excellence numerous times, most recently in 2022 with the Best Investigative Story by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Cleary University. Jon and his family live in Howell.
