{"id":935889,"date":"2026-10-21T07:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/935889\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T07:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:26:14","slug":"afp-warns-australia-of-tsunami-of-youth-crime-and-radicalisation-accelerated-by-ai-australian-security-and-counter-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/935889\/","title":{"rendered":"AFP warns Australia of \u2018tsunami of youth crime\u2019 and radicalisation accelerated by AI | Australian security and counter-terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia is facing a \u201ctsunami\u201d of youth crime as artificial intelligence accelerates the pace and scale of radicalisation, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.<\/p>\n

The Australian federal police<\/a> acting deputy commissioner Sandra Booth told the hearing on Wednesday that, while radicalisation had traditionally taken years or months, that process could now happen within days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis can be attributed to artificial intelligence, a growing grievance generation, young people searching for purpose and belonging, and the sophistication of these online networks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AFP is deeply concerned that AI is accelerating and lowering the skills required to actively manipulate and radicalise victims online, and then cause serious harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Booth warned that, without serious intervention, Australia\u2019s mental health, education and judicial systems could be overwhelmed by people committing serious criminal offences.<\/p>\n

This may have serious consequences for democracy and institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is at the crossroads of a tsunami of youth crime as young, vulnerable and impressionable individuals are being radicalised and manipulated at rapid speed,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n

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The country had experienced an increase in the number of threats being made against politicians.<\/p>\n

In one example of radicalisation, an investigation found a 13-year-old boy allegedly possessed violent extremist material.<\/p>\n

He was using the social media platform Discord and, during a raid at his home, police allege they found a notebook that contained plans for a school shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not in the US,\u201d Booth told the hearing. \u201cThis was in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Asio deputy director general for intelligence service delivery, Claire McGuinness, said the spy agency was encountering more children, including 12-year-olds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in stark contrast to where we were, say, 20 years ago, where we would have seen a caseload predominantly of individuals within their early 20s, so quite a significant shift over the period,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The inquiry heard since 2020, 65 children, including as young as 12, had been subject to federal police operations.<\/p>\n

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Thirty-five of those had been charged with state or commonwealth terrorism-related offences.<\/p>\n

The intelligence and security committee chair, Senator Raff Ciccone, said the parliament was trying to understand why people were being radicalised in a matter of days and weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to extend an invitation to people who have been personally affected by radicalisation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise that these experiences can be deeply difficult and that coming forward may not be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The home affairs department counter\u2011terrorism coordinator, Brendan Dowling, said the nation was \u201cprobably identifying people too late\u201d after they had already come to the attention of law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve long faced an enduring threat from terrorism and violent extremism in Australia but the nature of that threat is changing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is both more urgent and more challenging than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

A final report from the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security will be handed down in March next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia is facing a \u201ctsunami\u201d of youth crime as artificial intelligence accelerates the pace and scale of radicalisation,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":935890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-935889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}