𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A growing wave of high-tech misogyny has left the British public fearing for the safety of women and girls, a bombshell report reveals today. In a damning indictment, three in four (73%) of the public say Sir Keir Starmer’s Government should be doing more to tackle violence against women and girls. Campaigners warn that predators have harnessed the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to supercharge abuse on an “unprecedented scale”.

AI-powered chatbots have encouraged boys and men to abuse women and girls and the technology is used to create sexually explicit and abusive images, according to the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition. Its director, Janaya Walker, warned that AI is “making abuse easier and more widespread”. Eight out of 10 (79%) women and 65% of men say more regulation of AI is needed to protect women and girls.

YouGov polling found seven out of 10 people aged 18-25 believe AI has “made it easier to harm women and girls online”. Campaigners warn that women and girls continue to experience “endemic” levels of violence “every day”, with “chronic underfunding” and closures of services. In further grim reading for Labour, they say the criminal justice system has “continued to crumble”.

The report sounds the alarm about the rise of often-submissive “AI girlfriends”. It is claimed the market for this form of digital companion could hit $9.5billion by 2028.

“AI chatbots are profit-driven and are designed to be addictive, as well as humanlike and sycophantic,” the report warns.

It cites research from the Internet Watch Foundation, warning that “reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery increased by 400%, with material identified on 210 webpages in the first half of 2025, compared with 42 webpages in the same period in 2024”. Girls were depicted in “94% of illegal AI-generated images” last year.

Concern about the “manosphere” and the fuelling of anti-women attitudes in boys has deepened following last year’s broadcast of Adolescence, the television drama set in the aftermath of the killing of a schoolgirl. Nearly six out of 10 people (57%) thought society’s expectations about “what it means to be a man” have increased men and boys’ levels of loneliness. Almost half (47%) thought such expectations have increased domestic abuse and sexual violence towards women and girls. And more than half (52%) said the internet had become “somewhat” or “much more” more dangerous in the past 12 months for women and girls.

A spokesperson for communications regulator Ofcom said: “Tackling the shocking and disproportionate harm that women and girls face online is one of our highest priorities. The insights we’ve gathered from our extensive engagement with victims, survivors and women’s advocacy groups have been at the heart of our work. “No woman should have to think twice before expressing herself online. Our rules make it clear that tech firms must act when they are aware of illegal abuse on their platforms.”

The spokesperson warned that “companies that don’t comply with their duties can expect us to take action”.