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Study: Teen girls are using AI to create sexual imagery

A new study suggests that teen girls use so-called nudification apps at the same rate as teen boys. The artificial intelligence-powered undressing tools allow users to create sexualized images of a person, typically by uploading a picture of them.

The results surprised Dr. Chad M.S. Steel, a digital forensics researcher at George Mason University who studies technology-facilitated crimes against children.

“Males tend to be more involved in any type of online sexual endeavors, whether it’s sexting or viewing pornographic material or the like, there’s usually a much stronger signal for males than females,” Steel said of the findings, which were published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.

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In Jan. 2025, Steel conducted an online survey of 557 English-speaking adolescents ages 13 to 17. Even a year ago, Steel found widespread use of nudification tools. Fifty-five percent of the respondents said they’d created a sexualized image, and 54 percent said they’d received one.

More than a third of teens said they’d been victims of the technology. More than a third reported that someone had made a non-consensual image of them, and a third said an image of theirs had been shared without their permission.

Roughly 1 in 6 teen girls and boys used nudification tools frequently to see how they looked. About the same share of teen girls shared such imagery “once or twice” with someone else. A slightly smaller percentage of boys reported the same behavior.

Why girls might be using nudification tools

Steel didn’t ask the teens why they used nudification tools, though sexting is a common practice among adolescents. He suspects that the popularity of “try it on” clothing and makeup visualization tools among girls builds familiarity with the same type of engagement as nudification apps. Coupled with male coercion for sexually explicit imagery, teen girls may find themselves using a familiar technology to deal with the pressure, Steel explained.

Dr. Linda Charmaraman studies girls’ wellbeing with an emphasis on social media and digital health but wasn’t involved in the study. She reviewed the findings and told Mashable that teens are in a delicate developmental period as they form their identities and seek social connection and acceptance.

“When you combine that time of development with AI, it can bring further risks,” Charmaraman, director of the Youth, Media, & Wellbeing Research Lab at Wellesley College, wrote in an email. “For example, there might be a lot of pressure for girls to create certain kinds of content in order to fit in with their peers and to possibly promote their social status.”

Boys did report higher usage of generative AI than girls to create and distribute sexual imagery, both with and without the permission of the subject.

Steel said that he would like to see his results replicated among a much larger sample of teens.

“In this case, I’d love to find out that I had an extremely unusual subset,” Steel said.

Charmaraman said that the survey’s nationally representative sample and effective quality checks indicate it reached diverse households. Yet she wondered whether the way the survey was advertised could have attracted “technology-savvy” participants, potentially skewing the results.

Top takeaways for parents

  • Nudification has become normal.
    Steel said the survey results suggest that teen use of nudification tools has become widespread, and that “we have no idea what the effects will be.”

  • How to talk to your teen about nudification imagery.
    Steel urges parents to consider the likelihood that their child will encounter nudification tools and imagery, and talk to them nonjudgmentally about the risks. Focusing on abstention won’t work, he added, given that teens may see AI-created sexual imagery as a natural extension of exploring their sexuality.

    Charmaraman recommends regular conversations about what’s happening in teens’ digital lives. This builds a strong foundation so that if parents learn about distressing incidents like non-consensual sharing of AI-generated sexual imagery, the lines of communication are already open. Instead of immediately restricting an app or device, Charmaraman suggests learning more about a teen’s intentions, such as why they wanted to create sexual imagery and whether they were coerced by strangers or peers.

  • Deterring illegal imagery.
    Steel said teens often don’t grasp that they’re creating what’s known as child sexual abuse material when they use nudification tools. It’s unlikely that they’ll face legal consequences when that imagery is shared consensually with an adolescent peer.

    In order to deter teens from creating and sharing images without permission, Steel recommends policymakers explore a bystander approach wherein teens are taught the value of speaking up if they learn their friends or peers are going to use AI to generate sexual imagery of a victim.

    Charmaraman has previously advocated for a “duty of care” standard that shifts safety responsibility from the user to the tech companies that design platforms.

    “Tech companies must also provide tools that allow minors and their parents to manage their digital experience, including the ability to disable certain product features and protect their personal information,” she said.

  • The risk of sextortion.

    Teens might not always understand that predators are highly interested in amassing collections of child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated imagery. Adult predators may ask teens for this content online, or they may use a nudification app to create that imagery based on publicly available pictures of the victim. Some predators may even try to sextort the teen using a nudified image they made on their own.

    Steel said both parents and teens should be aware of this possibility. Teens might consider using social media account protections, such as keeping their accounts private and allowing only well-known followers to access their photos.

If you have had intimate images shared without your consent, call the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative’s 24/7 hotline at 844-878-2274 for free, confidential support. The CCRI website also includes helpful information and a list of international resources.

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NYT Pips hints, answers for March 25, 2026

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.

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Wordle today: Answer, hints for March 25, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:

  • Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

  • Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

  • Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

  • Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

  • Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

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NYT Strands hints, answers for March 25, 2026

Easy difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.

Number (14): Everything in this space must add up to 14. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.

Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 5-6, placed horizontally; 5-3, placed vertically.

Equal (1): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 1. The answer is 6-1, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 1-2, placed horizontally.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 0-6, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.

Less than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed vertically.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 6-5, placed vertically; 6-4, placed horizontally.

Greater than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is -3, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally.

Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically; 4-2, placed vertically.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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We found the best MacBook deals during Amazons Big Spring Sale — including the MacBook Neo

Amazon’s third annual Big Spring Sale runs from March 25 to 31, and the opening day of the sale already features deals on must-have tech — including flagship Apple products. Apple just refreshed and expanded its MacBook lineup earlier this month, and some of the new Apple laptops are already on sale.

The colorful new MacBook Neo with Touch ID is a whopping — wait for it — $9 off. (Don’t forget about the Apple Store’s $100 education discount.) Of course, there are better deals to be had.

Amazon’s biggest discount thus far is going to a 15-inch M4 model with 24GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which is now $300 off — its lowest price ever. You can also score 13-inch M4 MacBook Airs starting at $899. Remember: Apple has discontinued the M4 MacBooks, so once supplies dry up, they’ll only be available on the refurbished market.

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The brand-new M5 MacBook Airs and M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros are all $50 off for the Big Spring Sale, and that’s probably going to be as cheap as they get for now. (The then-new M4 models got the same discount last year.) Look for better deals in a couple of months come Prime Day.

This is just day one of the Big Spring Sale, and Mashable will be keeping track of all the latest MacBook price drops. Check back to be the first to know about the top Apple deals.

Note: Deals marked with a 🔥 have dropped to a record-low price.

Best MacBook Air deal

$949
at Amazon

$1,199
Save $250

 

Why we like it

The 13-inch M4 MacBook Air may be a last-gen laptop, but it’s still an incredibly capable ultraportable, now $250 off for its lowest-ever price. It’s faster than much pricier Windows laptops, and it has the same 12MP Center Stage webcam, Liquid Retina display, and 18-hour battery life as its new M5 counterpart. This particular model is also well future-proofed amid the ongoing RAM crunch — thanks, AI.

Read Mashable’s full review of the Apple MacBook Air (M4).

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Amazon Big Spring Sale 2026: Tablet deals are in full bloom with savings on the latest iPad Air

Best Big Spring Sale Tablet Deals

An Apple iPad Air with M4 chip

A Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ (WiFi) tablet

An Amazon Fire 7 Kids

Amazon’s Big Spring Sale kicks off on March 25. The seasonal sale, which runs through March 31, focuses on seasonal transition items – think cleaning supplies to freshen up your home and camping supples to get outdoors. However, it wouldn’t be a sale without tech deals, too.

Ahead of the sale, we’ve spotted early savings on tablets, good timing considering Apple just dropped a brand new tablet. The Apple iPad Air with M4 chip just dropped this month, and the good news is, it’s already on sale. But if iPads aren’t your thing don’t worry, there are plenty of other tablet deals to shop.

Here are all the best tablet deals to shop ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale.

Best Tablet Deal

$559
at Amazon

$599
Save $40

 

Read our full review of the Apple iPad Air (M4).

Apple’s latest iPad drop is the iPad Air with M4 chip. It’s one of the retailers speediest, most efficient tablets, scoring 13,176 on the Geekbench 6 test, which puts it ahead of most laptops. When Apple released the new iPad Air, they didn’t raise the price, keeping the midrange tablet at $599. However, it already receive a price cut at Amazon.

Ahead of the Big Spring Sale, get the Apple iPad Air with M4 chip for just $559. While that’s only $40 in savings and less than 10% off its list price, it’s still a great deal considering it’s a brand new tablet.

So while we might like this deal best, if you want some bigger savings, there are plenty more deals to shop.

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Android

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