The event featured emotional testimony from teens and parents, including Audrey Greenberg, whose daughter was targeted in an AI deepfake incident at Radnor High School in December. Greenberg said the discovery left her family stunned.
"We found out and were frozen in a moment of time," she said.
Greenberg described the impact of the incident as immediate and devastating.
"It's an acute event that creates trauma immediately," she said. "It's incredibly humiliating."
She told attendees she is now focused on educating families everywhere.
"It's all of you right now in this audience that are going to help us make a difference with voting, talking to your friends, educating your families," she said.
A panel of experts, Pennsylvania state representatives and Attorney General Dave Sunday addressed the crowd.
"We are prosecuting these cases," Sunday said. "We have investigations all throughout PA and we're going to continue to do so."
State lawmakers have already criminalized AI deepfakes, but they are now working on legislation that would require mandated reporters to immediately notify law enforcement about sexually explicit deepfakes involving minors.
"Because it's moving so fast, our criminal laws really haven't been able to keep up with it the way I'm going to say we would like to," Sunday said.
Experts at the event emphasized that legal action alone is not enough.
Chris McKenna, founder and CEO of Protect Young Eyes, urged parents to stay engaged in their children's digital lives.
"We need to be reminding our children as often as possible where to go when harm occurs," he said. "We need to be doing our part to monitor what they're downloading."
Advocacy groups also called for greater accountability from technology companies.
"We're focused on putting pressure on tech companies to make the right decisions on behalf of children while we wait for the laws to be put in place to hold them accountable," said Brooke Istook, chief impact officer at the HEAT Initiative.
School leaders said they are taking steps as well.
In a statement, the Radnor Township School District said it has "revisited and strengthened our district policies, provided more education, training, and support for our students, plan to provide resources and training for parents, and continue to lean on third-party experts in the field and community to implement best practices."
Greenberg said schools must be required to respond in ways that prioritize victims.
"We need to do better. We need to have requirements for schools in place that they respond in a way that protects victims," she said.
Sunday reminded families to contact police if they believe they have been targeted by a deepfake.
The mothers who organized the event said they hope to continue holding educational sessions across the state.