AFP Tells Parliament AI Is Speeding Youth Radicalisation From Years to Days
The Australian Federal Police has warned federal parliament that artificial intelligence is helping compress the radicalisation of young people from months or years into days, The Guardian reported on October 21. Acting deputy commissioner Sandra Booth told the inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security that Australia stands at the crossroads of a “tsunami of youth crime” as vulnerable teenagers are manipulated at speed.
Booth attributed the change to AI, a growing grievance culture among young people searching for purpose and belonging, and increasingly sophisticated online networks. She said the AFP is deeply concerned that AI is accelerating manipulation and lowering the skills needed to radicalise victims and then cause serious harm. Without serious intervention, she warned, mental health, education and justice systems could be overwhelmed.
The committee heard that 65 children, some as young as 12, have been subject to federal police operations since 2020, and 35 of them have been charged with state or Commonwealth terrorism-related offences. Booth described one investigation in which a 13-year-old boy allegedly held violent extremist material, used Discord and kept a notebook with plans for a school shooting. ASIO deputy director-general Claire McGuinness said the agency now encounters more children, a sharp change from two decades ago when most subjects were in their early twenties. Home Affairs counter-terrorism coordinator Brendan Dowling said authorities are probably identifying people too late.
What it means in practice
The evidence adds a law-enforcement voice to a national AI debate that has so far centred on frontier labs and data security. Parliament’s AI committee has already pressed for embedded safety experts and early ASD access to new models, and the ASD chief has argued for an AI early-warning system. Lawmakers are also weighing platform obligations, as in the digital duty of care bill that names AI services.
For parents, schools and platforms, the message is that the window for intervention is shrinking. If AI lowers the skill needed to manipulate a teenager, as the AFP argues, detection can no longer rely on spotting slow, gradual changes in behaviour, and support services may need to act on earlier and weaker signals.
What to watch: whether the committee recommends specific obligations for AI services and social platforms, how the government responds before the final report due in March next year, and whether chair Senator Raff Ciccone’s invitation to people affected by radicalisation brings new evidence before the inquiry.