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More than four out of five teens, adults concerned about AI-based online abuse

Published: 30 Mar. 2026, 13:34

An image of a person using an AI chatbot on their phone [GETTY IMAGES]

More than 80 percent of Korea's teenagers and adults expressed concerns over online abuse involving the misuse of generative AI tools, such as the creation of deepfake videos and disinformation, a poll showed Monday.

According to a poll conducted from September to November last year on teenagers and adults by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), 89.4 percent of teenagers said they recognize the seriousness of AI-driven cyber violence, while 87.6 percent of adults said the same.

The survey was conducted on 9,296 students from fourth-grade elementary school to third-year high school, and 7,521 adults aged 19 to 69.

Teenage respondents cited the ease of creating content with AI tools as their top concern, while adults expressed fears over the potential for repeated harm from AI-generated materials.

The poll additionally showed 42.3 percent of teenagers experienced some form of cyber abuse in 2025, down 0.5 percentage points from a year earlier. The figure for adults came to 15.8 percent, up 2.3 percentage points over the same period.

By channel, teenagers said they were mainly exposed to cyber abuse via text messages and online gaming platforms, while adults reported similar experiences primarily through text messages or social media.

For both teenagers and adults, strangers accounted for the largest share of abusers, followed by friends.

“Cyber abuse is not just an ethical issue online, but an issue that can harm people's dignity and violate the right to happiness as guaranteed by the Constitution,” said KMCC Chair Kim Jong-cheol, adding that the government will make efforts to promote the healthy use of digital platforms.

Yonhap