For some Australian teenagers facing online sexual abuse, the first place they seek help is no longer a parent, teacher, police officer, or crisis service—it is an AI chatbot. That unsettling shift has prompted Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett to warn that conversational software cannot replace the protection and care provided by trusted adults. Phys.org first reported the warning.
The concern follows research from Adelaide University and partner organizations examining how Australian adolescents respond to online sexual victimization. The nationally representative study surveyed 1,894 Australians aged 16 to 18 and found that AI was involved in more than one in four cases of image-based child sexual abuse. It also found that 35.4% of victims either disclosed what happened only to an AI system or told nobody at all. The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children Australia summarizes the study’s findings.
The numbers point to a wider change in how young people use chatbots. More than two-thirds of those surveyed had asked AI for personal-life advice, while roughly one in six said they would seek personal or psychosocial support from an AI tool at least weekly. In the abuse cases, 18.7% said they disclosed their experience to an AI chatbot, compared with 13.2% who told an authority such as a teacher, doctor, counselor, police officer, helpline, or reporting portal. South Australian coverage of the research also reported that boys were especially likely to turn to AI rather than a human authority.
For parents, the practical lesson is not simply to ban chatbots. A sudden loss of access can make a distressed child less likely to disclose what is happening, particularly if the child already feels embarrassed, afraid of punishment, or unsure whether adults will believe them. Instead, families should discuss in advance that an AI response may be inaccurate, may miss danger signals, and cannot contact emergency services or intervene with an abuser. The safer rule is straightforward: a chatbot can be a prompt to seek help, never the final destination.
Parents should also make disclosure easier by reacting calmly to troubling messages or images. Avoid blaming a child for replying to a stranger, sharing an image, or using an AI tool; preserve relevant evidence where it is safe to do so, ask whether the child is in immediate danger, and involve a trusted adult or appropriate service. Australian reporting notes that young people can access the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service through 1800RESPECT at 1800 737 732. Nine’s coverage includes that support information.
The findings also put pressure on chatbot companies, schools, and platforms to design for vulnerable users rather than assuming that a warning screen is enough. Safety systems need to recognize disclosures of exploitation, provide prominent pathways to qualified human help, protect sensitive conversations, and avoid giving children the impression that a fluent answer equals professional support. As AI-assisted abuse and manipulated sexual imagery become part of the same online landscape, the central challenge is ensuring that a child who finally reaches out—whether to a person or a machine—is guided toward real protection instead of quietly returned to the algorithm.
