Federal police warn AI helps cut radicalisation from years to days

Radicalisation compressed from years to days

Acting AFP Deputy Commissioner Sandra Booth told the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security on 21 October 2026 that young Australians face a "tsunami" of youth crime as radicalisation and manipulation accelerate at a speed previously unseen. Booth appeared at the first public hearing of the committee's inquiry into the nature and drivers of radicalisation in Australia. The committee is constituted under section 28 of the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to oversee Australia's intelligence and security agencies.^[3]

"Previously, it used to take months or years to radicalise or manipulate individuals, but now, in some cases, it is happening within days," Booth said.^[1] Booth attributed the acceleration to artificial intelligence, grievance generation, and the increasing sophistication of online networks.

AI as a tool for violent extremists

The Five Country Ministerial communiqué, agreed in Sydney on 25 and 26 August 2026, made a similar assessment. It said emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence provide new tools for terrorists and violent extremists to misuse for radicalisation, spreading propaganda, attack planning and raising funds.^[2]

"The AFP is deeply concerned AI is accelerating and lowering the skills required to actively manipulate and radicalise victims online, and cause serious harm," Booth said.^[1] She said the current scale and pace of radicalisation did not exist during earlier threats such as the rise of ISIS in the mid-2010s.

Children groomed and turned into perpetrators

Booth described a pattern in which children are targeted by "sadistic" online predators who groom, manipulate, and trap them in violent acts, turning "desperate victims into perpetrators".^[1] She said the groups hunt for victims on social media and online games, and that many victims are young girls.

Booth described a Joint Counter Terrorism Team investigation in which police allegedly found a 13-year-old boy's notebook containing plans for a school shooting; the boy is before the courts. "This was not in the US. This was in Australia," she said.^[1] The PJCIS inquiry is examining both the pathways to extremist violence and the responsibilities of digital platforms in enabling or failing to prevent online grooming of minors.

AFP weighs powers to disrupt extremist chat groups

Booth told the committee the AFP is considering proposing expanded powers that would allow officers to move beyond covert monitoring and more actively disrupt harmful online chat groups and websites where youth are being radicalised, including by posting messages that alert users police are present.^[4] Booth put the intent plainly: "We do want to scope out how we can move forward from just covertly accepting violent extremist communications to more overtly interrupting chat groups and websites where youth are being radicalised."

Any expansion of overt disruption powers over online platforms and communications would extend state reach into spaces currently shielded by encryption and platform terms of service. The AFP has not yet tabled a formal proposal, and the PJCIS, which provides the formal mechanism through which such proposals would be scrutinised before any legislative change, is due to hand down its final report in March 2027.^[5]