Tim Cubitt
Associate Professor
AI-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation: What the Evidence Tells Us and How We Respond Together
Australia just got its first national data on AI-facilitated child sexual exploitation, and it changes the conversation for everyone in this room. Hosted by Colm Gannon, this fast-paced session unpacks findings from the first national survey of AI-facilitated sexual victimisation among Australian adolescents, run by the Australian Cybercrime Observatory at the University of Adelaide alongside ICMEC Australia and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE). Tim Cubitt walks us through what 2,000 young people told researchers about where this harm is happening, why gaming platforms are emerging as a genuine risk space, and how AI is quietly rewriting the way young people understand exploitation and peer pressure.
These findings matter well beyond the research community. For law enforcement, they sharpen where to look and how to respond. For the non-government sector, they redraw the map for prevention and training. For policymakers, they're the evidence base that should already be driving funding and legislative reform. Thirty minutes, one dataset, and a lot to think about before your next planning meeting.
This research was built with law enforcement, the child protection sector and academia in the room from day one, and the panel reflects that. Attendees will leave with a clear picture of what the data shows and what it means for their own sector's next steps.