Think twice before you share photos of your kids
Once a photo is posted, it is no longer yours: it can be copied, edited and end up in AI training data. Three questions before you hit post.
The book behind this articleWhile You Sleepfor the whole family A photo of your child posted publicly is no longer under your control. It can be copied, downloaded and re-uploaded somewhere else. It can be cropped and edited. And public images from the internet can end up, along with millions of others, in the data used to train an AI. Deleting it later does not delete the copies.
This does not mean living without photos or hiding your children. It means choosing where and how you share. Most families do not need to give anything up, just change the channel.
Three questions before posting
- Would my child sign off on this at 15? A tantrum, the bathtub or a bad day is funny today and can weigh on them tomorrow.
- Are they recognisable? Face, name, school shirt: the more pieces come together, the easier they are to identify.
- Can you tell where they are? The front door, the usual playground, location turned on: avoid clues about their routines.
Alternatives that actually work
- A private family album, shared by invitation only with the people closest to you.
- Send photos by messenger directly to the people you want to see them, instead of posting publicly.
- If you do want to post, choose photos from behind, from a distance or without the face: they tell the moment without exposing the child.
FAQ
What if the grandparents want to see photos?
Perfect: set up a private album or a family messenger group. They will see more photos than before, and only they will see them.
Are photos really used to train AI?
Public images from the internet can end up in training data collections. That is why the practical rule is simple: public means no face and no details about the child.