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Policy briefing report 69 views 10 downloads

Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls

Clare McGlynn Orcid Logo, Yvonne McDermott Rees Orcid Logo, Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo, Rüya Tuna Toparlak Orcid Logo, Fabienne Tarrant, Samantha Treacy Orcid Logo

Swansea University Authors: Yvonne McDermott Rees Orcid Logo, Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo, Samantha Treacy Orcid Logo

  • Invisible No More - How Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls v6.pdf

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    ©2026 Clare McGlynn, Yvonne McDermott, Stuart Macdonald, Rüya Tuna Toparlak, Fabienne Tarrant and Samantha Treacy.

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUreport.71633

Abstract

This report provides the first comprehensive mapping of how chatbots are implicated in violence against women and girls (VAWG), identifying new forms of harm - chatbot-driven and chatbot-simulated abuse. It develops a new typology to better understand, and then prevent and redress, the varying forms...

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Published: Durham University and Swansea University 2026
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71633
Abstract: This report provides the first comprehensive mapping of how chatbots are implicated in violence against women and girls (VAWG), identifying new forms of harm - chatbot-driven and chatbot-simulated abuse. It develops a new typology to better understand, and then prevent and redress, the varying forms of chatbot-VAWG, namely chatbot-driven, chatbot-enabled, chatbot-simulated and chatbot-normalising abuse. It aims to render visible the very real harms and threats to the freedom and safety of women and girls. It identifies for the first time the range of platform design choices and policies that enable, encourage and normalise VAWG. It examines how far current legal and regulatory frameworks respond to these risks, exposing significant gaps. It sets out urgent recommendations for governments and AI platforms to address the escalating threat.
Item Description: This report is accessible online at https://www.claremcglynn.com/ and through Durham University and Swansea University institutional research repositories.
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Funders: UKRI (grant number UKRI3600).

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