Held on 30 September, the fourth annual convening was hosted at Google on the margins of the Stanford Trust and Safety Research Conference. Nearly 30 participants took part, including researchers from eight Fund-supported projects and representatives of Tech Coalition member companies. The Research Fund has now invested nearly USD 3 million in 19 independent research projects on online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA).

For 2026, Safe Online worked with Tech Coalition members to identify three priority areas where online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) intersects with emerging risk, informed by what we’re seeing across the ecosystem: AI companionship and intimacy, nihilistic violent extremism and sadistic online exploitation (NVE/SOE), and grooming in online gaming environments. These are areas where the evidence base is thin and the risk of harm is escalating. The result was a narrower call than in past years, asking applicants to go deep on one problem and build industry engagement into independent research itself.

Elon Musk’s free and accessible AI system, Grok, has generated an estimated three million non-consensual nude images, triggering an urgent global response. A coalition of 107 leading child-protection and humanitarian organisations has united to confront what they describe as an unacceptable threat to human dignity and child safety.

Elon Musk’s free and accessible AI system, Grok, has generated an estimated three million non-consensual nude images, triggering an urgent global response. A coalition of 107 leading child-protection and humanitarian organisations has united to confront what they describe as an unacceptable threat to human dignity and child safety.

New report reveals the growing mental health crisis and global knowledge gaps on the impact of technology use for children

Children, youth, parents, survivors, government, private sector, civil society, and global institutions meet for High-Level roundtable at G20 Social Summit to launch new coalition to align on investment priorities and scale solutions that work to protect children online