New prevalence research lands as ICMEC Australia convenes the SaferAI for Children Coalition in person this week, underscoring the urgency of a coordinated national response to this issue.
Research released today provides the first estimate of how often artificial intelligence is involved in the online sexual victimisation of Australian children and finds that AI has changed both how young people are harmed and how they seek help.
At least one in 25 Australians has experienced, or has a close friend who has experienced, online sexual victimisation involving AI before the age of 18. That is at least one young person in every Australian Year 12 classroom.
The study of 1,894 Australians aged 16 to 18, conducted in early 2026 by the Australian Cybercrime Observatory, is the first to measure the role of AI in this form of harm at a population level. ICMEC Australia, which convenes the SaferAI for Children Coalition, says the findings confirm that AI is no longer an emerging risk but a present reality in the lives of Australian children, and that the national response must keep pace.
What the research found
AI was involved in more than one in four cases of nonconsensual sharing of sexual images (26%).
Boys are significantly more likely to be targeted when AI is involved (26.6% of boys' victimisation vs 9% of girls'), despite girls facing higher overall rates.
Children now disclose more to AI chatbots than to authorities: 18.7% told an AI, compared with 13.2% who told a teacher, doctor, counsellor, police officer or helpline.
More than a third of victims told no person at all, disclosing only to AI or to no one.
Victimisation clusters within friendship groups, with around a one in three chance a close peer has experienced the same harm.
"There's been a seismic shift in how young people experience and seek help for online sexual victimisation. AI involvement in this abuse is worryingly common, and victims are now more likely to tell an AI than teachers, doctors, police or reporting services. We must adapt quickly to protect children." Associate Professor Tim Cubitt, Adelaide University.
ICMEC Australia leads cross-sector advocacy on child protection, technology and AI safety, convening the SaferAI for Children Coalition, around 25 organisations across industry, law enforcement, civil society and research working to translate evidence into practical reform.
The findings follow a year of major reform: the social media minimum age law took effect in December 2025, a Digital Duty of Care was committed to in April 2026, and government action is underway on AI "nudify" apps, alongside independent MP Kate Chaney's bill to criminalise CSAM-generating technologies.
"This research confirms what frontline services and law enforcement have been warning about. AI is now shaping how children are harmed, and how they reach for help. The reforms of the past year matter, but the response has to move as fast as the technology. That means industry, government and services working together, not in isolation." Colm Gannon, Chief Executive Officer, ICMEC Australia.
The research lands the same week the SaferAI for Children Coalition meets in Sydney on Wednesday 8 July 2026, reflecting both the pace of this issue and the sector's determination to stay ahead of it.
The findings point to three priorities: reporting pathways that meet children where they already turn, including AI tools; prevention built for peer networks, given harm clusters within friendship groups; and prevention that reaches beyond traditional risk groups, given the disproportionate impact on boys when AI is involved.
"This is a national problem outpacing the response designed to address it. Our sector has watched AI reshape how children experience harm and how they reach out for help, and we cannot meet that shift working in silos. It will take industry, government, law enforcement and the services children actually turn to moving together, at the same pace as the technology." Sonya Ryan, Founder and CEO, Carly Ryan Foundation
