When tech giants like Apple, and more recently Google, announced tools designed to detect and warn youth and teens about nudity in messages, many parents and digital safety advocates thought, “finally”. At first glance, features like Apple’s “Communication Safety” application (within iMessage) and Google’s “Sensitive Content Warning” application (within Messages on Android) appear to be important steps forward in helping children avoid exposure to sexually explicit content. However, while these features are a welcome addition, they fall significantly short of addressing one of the most serious and complex issues facing youth online today, the sending and receiving of both consensual and non-consensual intimate images.

Google has started emailing parents who use Family Link to let them know that their kids will soon have access to Gemini on their Android devices. That means children, including those under 13, will be able to chat with a powerful generative AI system unless parents find the setting and shut it off.Google frames it as helpful. Gemini can “read stories” or “help with homework,” the company says. But even in its own email, Google admits Gemini “can make mistakes” and that children “may encounter c