While school principals fear the potential of nudity-generating AI, a form of cyberbullying that has ‘digitalised the graffiti on the back of the bathroom door’ is currently ‘running riot’.
Deputy director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) Rachel O’Connor told the Irish Mail on Sunday she has only seen one case of AI nudity so far – though she expects to encounter more soon.
A more pressing concern in AI terms is tools which generate images to ridicule pupils and staff in other, non-sexualised ways.
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But Ms O’Connor said the most ‘rapidly evolving’ cyberbullying trend in post-primary schools, which the NAPD incorporates, is the worrying rise of the so-called ‘ship accounts’.
These accounts, often on TikTok, pair people up in relationships, often ‘inappropriate’ ones and without either party’s consent.
Derived from the word ‘relationship’, ship or shipping accounts are popular among fan groups online, where users make imaginary romantic pairings, often between fictional characters.
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The term dates as far back as the 1990s, when X-Files obsessives speculated that agents Mulder and Scully were romantically involved.
But now students are creating ship accounts for their schools, pairing people up – both students and staff – for others to rate the ‘relationship’s’ potential.
Other pupils reply with ‘ship’ or ‘s’ for yes, and ‘dip’ or ‘d’ for no.
Ms O’Connor said the accounts are ‘running riot in schools’.
‘You’ll have kids in school pairing up maybe junior kids with senior kids, or senior kids with other senior kids.
‘They can be gay, straight relationships – all different types of relationships that are not based on any truth whatsoever.
‘They’re using pictures of students without their permission, or also using their names or nicknames. And when you go in, you can literally say “Such and such is now?” – whatever use of vile language they choose in terms of a sexual relationship – “…with this other person”.’
The imaginary matchings will often be shared across multiple platforms, Ms O’Connor said.
‘It can be really, really upsetting for students. Very often, it could be a vulnerable child with another child. It’s a form of harassment and bullying.
‘If you’re the vulnerable first-year child that’s been paired up with a sixth-year child, that’s going to create massive upset and harm.’
Ms O’Connor said the trend has effectively ‘digitalised the graffiti on the back of the bathroom door’.
The principal, currently undertaking a PHD and seconded from Ramsgrange Community School in Co. Wexford, said, however, that TikTok is generally good at removing such content on request from schools.
The NAPD is a ‘trusted partner’ of the tech giant, meaning that they have direct lines for reporting content and having it removed rapidly.
‘When I upload it for the TikTok moderators to remove it, 99 times out of 100, they’re removing it very swiftly.
‘But what I will say is, if you’re not a trusted partner and you’re just reporting it via the platform, it can take much longer.’
Ms O’Connor has encouraged school leaders or students who are being targeted to ‘report, report, report’.
‘It’s really, really important that it’s reported, because the more information we can gather, the more ammunition we have in terms of tackling this, and the platform’s responsibilities around tackling it.
‘It shouldn’t be up to individuals [to address this] all of the time. It should be being stopped from the moderators outwards, as opposed to us inwards.’
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