# Study examines chatbot advice on digital abuse

> Researchers assessed older chatbot answers.

By BIGCHANGE.AI Editorial

Published: 2026-10-31T08:06:38.260Z
Updated: 2026-10-31T08:06:38.260Z
Canonical: https://bigchange.ai/blog/chatbot-advice-digital-abuse-study

![AI-generated conceptual illustration of a blank-screen phone beside an open blank notebook](https://bigchange.ai/api/media/file/blank-phone-notebook.png)
AI-generated conceptual illustration by BIG CHANGE

An August 2026 [USENIX study](https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity26/presentation/prakash), highlighted by [NYU on October 20](https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/ai-chatbots-often-give-unsafe-or-incomplete-advice-survivors-tech-enabled-abuse-study-finds), examined chatbot advice about technology-facilitated abuse.

## The big change

- Answers can omit safety context.
- Perception differs from expert assessment.
- Older results cannot establish current performance.

## What researchers found

Experts assessed single-turn answers to public-source questions; GPT and Claude received safety-centered prompts. Of 268 answers, 86% were imperfect in at least one of accuracy, completeness or safety—not necessarily unsafe. The sample included 139 GPT-4o (`gpt-4o-2024-08-06`) answers and 43 each from Claude 3.7 Sonnet (`claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219`), Ruth and Aimee. Missing warnings mattered: a change could alert an abuser.

Separately, 114 self-reported survivors rated perceived confidence and difficulty. Some feared escalation; their sample cannot represent all survivors. BIG CHANGE did not test the systems.

### Sources & further reading

[USENIX paper](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity26/sec26_prepub_prakash.pdf): methods; [NYU](https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/ai-chatbots-often-give-unsafe-or-incomplete-advice-survivors-tech-enabled-abuse-study-finds): same study.

## Sources

- [USENIX Security paper](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity26/sec26_prepub_prakash.pdf) — Research methods, results and limitations.
- [NYU Tandon summary](https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/ai-chatbots-often-give-unsafe-or-incomplete-advice-survivors-tech-enabled-abuse-study-finds) — October 20 account of the same study.