On 9 October 2026, the Australian Federal Police's Commissioner, Krissy Barrett, put a hard number in front of parents. Of the young people in a national study who said they had been sexually victimised online, 35 per cent either told no one or turned to an AI chatbot for help.
Not a parent. Not a teacher. Not a helpline. A chatbot, or nobody at all.
This isn't a story about one app. It's about where children go when something frightening happens, and how we make sure the answer is still "a person who loves them".
The figures come from AI and non-AI online child sexual victimisation: A national study of Australian Adolescents, by Tim Cubitt and his team at the Australian Cybercrime Observatory at Adelaide University. The research was supported by ICMEC Australia, and the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) and the National Office for Child Safety collaborated on it.
It drew on a nationally representative survey of 1,894 young Australians aged 16 to 18. The study was first released in July. What's new is the AFP putting its weight behind the findings this week, with the Commissioner speaking directly to parents.
Among the seven central findings the AFP listed:
The Commissioner added that more than 15 per cent of young people reported seeking personal or counselling advice from AI at least once a week.
Her message to families was direct: "Parents and caregivers need to know that this is happening." She urged parents to talk with their children about coming forward to a trusted adult, including police, and added: "When someone reaches out for help, particularly about child exploitation or abuse, every minute can matter."
Speaking to the ABC on 8 October, she said: "It starts in the home, it starts with parents knowing what their kids are doing online, creating those safe opportunities for conversations."
A chatbot is always awake, never shocked, and never tells Mum. You can see why a frightened teenager might type it out there first. But as the Commissioner put it to the ABC, "AI technology, it's not a human." A chatbot can't make a report. It can't sit with your child. It can't call anyone.
That's the gap. The AFP says it is talking to industry about making chatbots give sound advice, "such as encouraging adolescents to seek help from a trusted adult". That work matters. It doesn't change what happens in your house tonight.
The finding about boys deserves a second read. Boys are more likely to be targeted when AI is involved, and among boys who confided in AI rather than authority figures, two in five told no human at all. If you have a son, don't assume he'll come to you because he hasn't said anything. Silence isn't the same as safe.
Asked whether the under-16 social media ban should extend to chatbots, the Commissioner told the ABC she wouldn't speak to what government should do, and that bans are "not the whole solution". No law sits at the kitchen table. You do. (Which apps the ban currently includes is in our guide to which apps are in Australia's social media ban.)
If your child does tell you something, the first words matter most. Stay calm, thank them for telling you, and don't ask them to delete anything or confront anyone. Our guide to sextortion walks through those first steps.
This is the second piece of Australian research in as many months pointing the same way. Victimisation clusters in friendship groups, so when one child is affected, their friends may be too. That means the conversation is worth having even if you're confident your own child is fine. They may be the one a friend confides in, and they'll need to know a trusted adult is the next step.
The AFP points families to ThinkUKnow, the ACCCE-led online safety program, as part of the prevention picture.
The most useful thing you can do this week is make sure your child knows you're a safe place to land. Our guide to how to talk to your kid about online safety has the words to start, and there's more at auntybea.app.
Read next: our guide →
Aunty Bea helps Australian families with what comes next, quietly. You'll never scroll your child's messages in Aunty Bea. You get a plain-English summary of what looked risky, and how to talk about it.
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