What Every Australian Parent Needs to Know About the New AI Rules for Kids
It’s 9pm on a school night. You walk past your 13-year-old’s room and hear them talking — not to a friend, but to a screen. When you ask who they’re chatting with, they shrug: “Just an AI.”
That moment. The one where you realise something shifted while you weren’t looking.
If you felt a wave of relief when Australia’s social media ban for under-16s kicked in last December, you weren’t alone. But while 4.7 million underage accounts were being removed from Instagram and TikTok, something else was happening quietly. Teenagers — suddenly disconnected from their social platforms — started turning to AI chatbots instead.
And on March 9, 2026, the Australian government responded with the toughest AI rules for children anywhere in the world.
Here’s what this article gives you: a plain-English breakdown of what actually changed, the gap between the law and your living room, and three specific things you can do this week to make sure your child’s AI apps are actually keeping them safe. No legal jargon. No panic. Just a clear plan.
What Actually Changed — And Why It Matters at Your Dinner Table
There’s a lot of confusion right now. Two major rule changes hit within three months of each other, and most news coverage has blurred them together. Here’s the simple version.
December 2025: The social media ban. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and Facebook now have to take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from holding accounts. The penalty for companies that don’t comply? Up to $49.5 million. No parental consent override – the law applies to everyone under 16, full stop.
March 9, 2026: The AI age codes. This is the one most parents missed. Six new Age-Restricted Material Codes now require AI chatbots capable of generating explicit, violent, or self-harm content to verify users are 18 or older. That includes companion chatbots like Character.AI, Chai, and Nomi – the apps designed to feel like a friend, a partner, or a therapist.
The critical difference: the social media ban targets platforms. The AI codes target content generation. If an AI app can produce sexual material, graphic violence, or instructions for self-harm, it now needs real age verification. A simple “I’m over 18” checkbox no longer counts.
And there’s more coming. The Children’s Online Privacy Code – currently in public consultation – will require apps, games, and websites to put children’s best interests at the centre of how they collect and use data. It becomes law in December 2026.
Try this tonight: Ask your child if any of their apps have recently started asking for age verification. If yes, that app is responding to these new laws. If no apps have asked – that’s worth knowing too.
The Gap Between the Law and Your Living Room
Here’s the part that matters most, and it’s the part no one’s really talking about.
These laws target companies, not families. There are no fines for parents. No penalties for kids. The entire burden sits on the platforms.
That sounds reassuring — until you learn that when Reuters checked the 50 most popular AI platforms right before the March 9 deadline, only 9 had taken any visible steps to comply.
That’s an 82% non-compliance rate on launch day.
The eSafety Commissioner’s own investigation found that major AI companion apps — Character.AI, Chai, Nomi, and Chub AI — had no meaningful age checks in place. They relied on self-declaration. Some didn’t even refer users discussing self-harm to crisis support services.
Since then, Character.AI has introduced age assurance for Australian users and removed chat for under-18s. Chub AI chose to withdraw from Australia entirely rather than comply.
But the landscape is still catching up. And your child may be using an app that hasn’t caught up yet.
It’s also worth being honest about VPNs. If your teenager is tech-savvy, they’ve probably already heard that a VPN can make them appear to be browsing from another country. Three VPN apps were in the top 15 free downloads on the Australian App Store on March 9 alone.
But here’s what teens don’t always know: platforms like Meta and Snapchat now use signals beyond just IP address — including account history, behavioural patterns, and device data. VPNs aren’t the simple bypass they used to be.
The real takeaway? Laws set the floor. Your home sets the standard. The rules give you something to point to – a reason to start the conversation that doesn’t begin with “because I said so.”
Three Things to Do This Week
You don’t need to become a cybersecurity expert. You need 15 minutes and a willingness to have one conversation.
1. Audit Your Child’s AI Apps (5 Minutes)
Sit down with your child – not in a “hand over your phone” way, but a “let’s look at this together” way. Open their phone or tablet. Look for any app they “talk to.”
The ones to watch for: ChatGPT, Character.AI, Chai, Nomi, Replika, Janitor AI, and anything your child describes as a character they chat with.
For each app, check two things. First: does the app ask for age verification when you open it? If it doesn’t, it may not be compliant with the new Australian codes. Second: visit esafety.gov.au/the-esafety-guide and search for the app by name to see what eSafety says about it.
(Wise Families takes the stance that any AI companion apps are not healthy under the age of 16.)
The key distinction to understand: AI assistants (like ChatGPT or Gemini) help with tasks – homework, research, writing. AI companions (like Character.AI or Replika) simulate relationships – friendship, romance, emotional support. The companion category is where the eSafety Commissioner has flagged the highest risk for children.
According to eSafety’s March 2026 survey of 1,950 Australian children aged 10 to 17, 79% have used an AI assistant or companion. Around 200,000 Australian children have used an AI companion specifically.
If that number surprises you, you’re in good company. A Pew Research study found a 13-point gap between the number of parents who think their teen uses AI chatbots (51%) and the number of teens who actually do (64%).
2. Have One Conversation This Week
The scripts below aren’t magic words. They’re starting points. Adapt them for your child, your relationship, and the moment.
For ages 8–12: Start with the external rule, not with suspicion.
“Hey — did you know Australia just made new rules about AI apps? The government said apps have to check how old someone is before they can use certain features. It’s like how you can’t watch an MA15+ movie at the cinema. Same idea, just online. Can you show me which AI apps you use? I’m not taking anything away — I want to make sure the apps are following the rules.”
For ages 13–16: Start with curiosity, not control.
“You’ve probably heard about Australia’s new AI rules. What do you think about them?”
When the pushback comes – and it will, probably something about the government overreacting – try this:
“Some of the rules are pretty blunt. But here’s what surprised me: when they checked the 50 biggest AI apps, most hadn’t even bothered to comply by the deadline. That tells me the apps aren’t necessarily looking out for you. That’s what concerns me more than the rules themselves.”
If your teen mentions VPNs: “You probably could use one. But I’m less worried about the workaround and more interested in understanding what you’re using and why. Especially with AI companions — they’re designed to keep you coming back. What do you think about that?”
If you had no idea your child was using AI at all, that’s okay. This isn’t about catching them out. It’s about catching up.
3. Set Up Your Safety Net (10 Minutes, Once)
Parental controls on app installs:
- iPhone/iPad: Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchases → set “Installing Apps” to “Don’t Allow” or require permission
For a more detailed explanation check out www.familyitguy.com - Android: Open Google Family Link → set app approval to “require parent permission”
This single step means no new AI apps get installed without you knowing about it.
Bookmark the eSafety reporting page: Visit esafety.gov.au/report and save it to your phone’s home screen. If your child encounters harmful content in an AI app — explicit material, self-harm encouragement, anything that shouldn’t be there — you can report it in under two minutes.
What This Means for Different Ages
Not all children need the same approach. A quick guide based on where your child is.
Ages 8–12: This is your window. Children in this age group are less likely to be using AI companions independently, but they may encounter AI through homework tools, gaming, or an older sibling’s device. At this age, the frame is co-discovery: “Let me show you how this works.” Set the norms now, while they’re still open to your guidance. Enable parental controls. Make AI something you explore together.
Ages 13–16: Independence is the whole point of this age — and that makes this harder. Your teen may already have opinions about the laws (“they’re treating us like babies”). VPN awareness is high. Privacy pushback is real. The frame here is collaborative, not adversarial: “I’m not trying to control you. I want to understand what you’re using and make sure it’s actually looking out for you.”
Whatever your child’s age, the core action is the same: know what’s on their device, and make AI something they can talk to you about openly.
Your One Thing for This Week
The new AI rules for children in Australia are real, they’re significant, and they’re still being enforced.
But the biggest gap isn’t in the legislation. It’s in the living room.
Take 15 minutes this week. Sit with your child. Check their apps. Have one conversation. Set up one safeguard.
That’s not helicopter parenting. That’s just knowing what’s on the screen — and making sure your child knows you’re paying attention.
For a printable version of this guide, plus conversation scripts and a step-by-step device audit checklist, download the free AI-Ready Parent Starter Kit.
Links:
- eSafety Guide: https://www.esafety.gov.au/the-esafety-guide
- eSafety Report page https://www.esafety.gov.au/report
- eSafety AI companions advisory: https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/ai-chatbots-and-companions-risks-to-children-and-young-people
- WiseFamilies article on children’s emotional attachments to AI chatbots
- WiseFamilies article on deepfake bullying in schools
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