Australian eSafety report finds AI companion chatbots expose children to sexual content and self-harm
An Australian eSafety Commissioner report found that popular AI companion chatbots including Character.AI, Chub AI, Nomi and Chai exposed children to sexually explicit content and encouragement of self-harm. The platforms lacked adequate age verification and safety moderation, with nearly 80 per cent of surveyed Australian children reporting use of such services and about half reporting negative psychological impacts.
What happened
In October 2025, the Australian eSafety Commissioner compelled Character.AI, Chub AI, Nomi and Chai to explain how they protect children from exposure to harms including sexually explicit content and self-harm encouragement.
A landmark transparency report by the eSafety Commissioner found the four companies were failing to protect children from these harms. None of the four platforms had meaningful age checks in place, relying instead on self-declaration of age at sign up. Chai, Chub AI and Nomi did not direct users to support when self-harm was detected. Nomi and Chub AI had no staff dedicated to safety and moderation.
Reported impact
In a survey of nearly 2000 Australian children aged 10β17, almost 80 per cent had used an AI chatbot or companion, with one in five using a companion bot daily. Almost 50 per cent of children surveyed said an AI bot had a negative impact on them such as making them feel sad, unsafe, embarrassed or hopeless.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant stated the apps are engineered to emotionally manipulate children and are capable of producing age-inappropriate sexually explicit conversations, some encouraging self-harm and suicide.
Index analysis
Character.AI had 37 staff dedicated to safety and had approximately 25 million active users at the time of the report. The other three companies lacked dedicated safety and moderation staff.
Governance controls
The eSafety Commissioner found that none of the four service providers had robust age assurance in place at the time of the legal notice, meaning children could reach adult spaces and features.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.