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On Monday 3 August the Australian eSafety Commissioner released its most detailed study yet of how children are using generative artificial intelligence. The report, titled Talking to Machines: Children’s Experiences with AI Assistants and Companions, is based on a survey of one thousand nine hundred and fifty children aged ten to seventeen, conducted between the second of February and the fourth of March 2026.Seventy eight per cent of the children had used an AI assistant su

From time to time, distressing or harmful material circulates online that children and young people may come across often without ever looking for it. When this happens, we write to you not to alarm you, but so that you are prepared and know what to do. We are deliberately not describing any specific material or naming anyone involved, and we ask that you do the same. Please do not go looking for it, and please do not name it in front of children. Why we ask you not to name

Five years ago, it was the occasional email. A handful of parents starting to ask bigger, harder questions of the organisations their children spend time with. Now that same question lands in my inbox almost every day. It comes from thoughtful parents wondering about consent forms — the "permission to publish" forms that decide where images of their children end up online. Dance, martial arts, the local footy club or school — it doesn't matter. The worry is the same. And lat

Nomi.AI built the perfect partner. It remembers everything, never says no, and according to its own paying users.......keeps trying to strangle them. ****Trigger Warning**** This article discusses violence and abuse. Support if you need Australia — 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 13 11 14 UK — Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247, Samaritans 116 123 US — National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233, 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline International — fin

***This piece describes self-harm and coercion. If you are worried about a young person, please reach out to a helpline or professional*** In May, in the Netherlands, a seventeen-year-old girl the world knows only as Dana was pulled from her bed in the dark. Six armed officers stood over her and her mother with their guns drawn. Two more moved through the house. Someone had told police there was a hostage inside, held at gunpoint. It was a lie. Days earlier, Dana had done on