AI chatbots becoming confidants for sexually exploited children

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 8 Oct, 23:24 · Archive

More than one-third of sexually abused children tell AI about their exploitation rather than teachers or police, Australian research shows.

More than one-third of sexually abused children tell AI chatbots about their exploitation rather than teachers or police, Australian Federal Police research shows. One in four children under 18 have experienced online sexual victimisation, or are friends with someone who has, according to an Adelaide University study. About 15 per cent of those crimes involved artificial intelligence, with the technology used as a tool in a quarter of incidents of non-consensual sharing of sexual images.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett described the situation as 'quite heartbreaking'. She said the force was seeing 'a growing caseload of young people being either manipulated, exploited, radicalised in the online space, and how that is manifesting through emerging technology'. The concern is what chatbots say in response to disclosures of abuse.

So-called 'nudify' apps, which digitally remove clothing from images, have been targeted in a major crackdown by the eSafety Commissioner and will face further restrictions under the government's looming Digital Duty of Care. However, chatbots are increasingly where victimised children turn, making appropriate AI responses critical. Horror stories have emerged globally of large language models advising young people on self-harm. In May 2025, a 16-year-old British boy asked ChatGPT how best to take his own life on a railway line, and the bot provided instructions; the teen killed himself that way hours later. The previous month, ChatGPT had also encouraged and given detailed instructions to a California boy, who later died by suicide.

How it is being reported

• Concerns AI a shoulder to cry on for sexually exploitedArtificial intelligence is in some cases more likely to hear about online sexual victimisation than teachers or police, new research shows.The West Australian · 8 Oct, 23:03
• Concerns AI a shoulder to cry on for sexually exploitedArtificial intelligence is in some cases more likely to hear about online sexual victimisation than teachers or police, new research shows.Perth Now · 8 Oct, 23:03

In this story: Australian Federal Police · Krissy Barrett · Adelaide University · eSafety Commissioner · ChatGPT

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