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Finnish youth chat service says young people abroad who said an AI recommended it sought help there and were redirected, leaving them disappointed

Helsingin Sanomat reported on 29 October 2026 that Netari, the online youth service of Pelastakaa Lapset (Save the Children Finland), has since summer 2026 received requests for help from young people around the world, and that some of them say they ended up at the service on an AI's recommendation. According to the organisation's psychosocial support expert, about 20 to 30 contacts from abroad have arrived since the summer, from countries including Uganda, Britain, India and Palestine; the messages are long and partly composed with AI, and describe violence, loneliness and long-standing problems. The expert says some of these young people live in families or communities where they experience violence and discrimination because of their identity, and some are very self-destructive. Netari's chat help is meant for young people living in Finland. The organisation has decided that young people living permanently abroad are directed straight to services in their own countries, and Netari has looked for such services for them; the expert says the young people have been clearly disappointed when redirected, and the organisation is concerned that some may be left without support. Working through these situations burdens duty staff and takes time from young people in Finland. The route by which every young person found the service is not known; some may have found it through search engines or social media, and the names of the AI services involved are not known. A University of Helsinki computer science professor considers it possible that the contacts relate to how AI is trained to answer requests for help, and calls this guesswork.

AI system
Unidentified chatbot
Occurred
2026
Reported
29 October 2026
Event location
Finland
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Psychological Distress
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Health
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
9 claims: 9 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Unnamed AI services that, according to some of the young people, recommended the Netari chat service; the organisation does not know which AI services were used

Reported harm

According to Save the Children Finland's expert, young people abroad who said an AI recommended its Netari chat sought help there, some in very difficult situations, and were redirected to services in their own countries because the chat is for young people in Finland; the expert says they were clearly disappointed, and the contacts burden duty staff and take time from young people in Finland.

Outcome

Ongoing

Pelastakaa Lapset has decided that young people living permanently abroad are directed straight to services in their own countries, and Netari has searched for such services for them. The organisation says the problem so far seems to concern mainly Netari; other Finnish youth chat services report no notable contacts from abroad.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI services recommended Netari and what exactly they said; no exchange was published.
  • How many of the 20 to 30 contacts from abroad followed an AI recommendation.
  • Whether the young people redirected found support in their own countries.
  • Why the contacts began in summer 2026.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Save the Children Finland's expert told Helsingin Sanomat that some of the young people who contacted Netari from abroad said an AI had recommended the service to them. Acting on that recommendation, they sought help from a chat meant for young people in Finland and were redirected to services in their own countries; the expert says they were clearly disappointed. The AI services are not named, the route of every young person is unknown, and some may have found the service through search engines or social media.

9 claims: 9 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Save the Children Finland's Netari youth service has received requests for help from young people around the world, and some of them say they ended up at the service on an AI's recommendation.

Causal attribution. The AI recommendation is the young people's account as relayed by the organisation's expert.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Pelastakaa Lapset ry:n nuorten verkkopalveluun Netariin on alkanut tulla avunpyyntöjä eri puolilta maailmaa. Osa nuorista kertoo päätyneensä palveluun tekoälyn suosituksesta.'; 'Lassilan mukaan jotkut nuoret ovat kertoneet tekoälyn suositelleen Netaria.'
Reported The contacts began in summer 2026 and about 20 to 30 have arrived from abroad since then, from countries including Uganda, Britain, India and Palestine.

Causal attribution. An estimate from the organisation; it covers all contacts from abroad, not only those attributed to AI.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Ilmiö alkoi näkyä Netarissa tänä kesänä. Sen jälkeen ulkomailta on kertynyt arviolta 20–30 yhteydenottoa.'; 'Yhteydenottoja on tullut ympäri maailman, kuten Ugandasta, Britanniasta, Intiasta ja Palestiinasta.'
Reported The expert says some of the young people contacting the service from abroad live where they experience violence and discrimination because of their identity, and some are very self-destructive.

Causal attribution. Context for the vulnerability of the people redirected; not caused by AI.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Lassila kertoo, että osa ulkomailta yhteyttä ottaneista nuorista elää perheissä tai yhteisöissä, joissa he kokevat väkivaltaa ja syrjintää identiteettinsä vuoksi. Jotkut ovat hyvin itsetuhoisia.'
Reported Netari is meant for young people living in Finland, and the organisation has decided that young people living permanently abroad are directed straight to services in their own countries.

Causal attribution. The organisation's response to the contacts.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Nyt Pelastakaa Lapset on linjannut, että ulkomailla pysyvästi asuvat nuoret ohjataan suoraan oman maansa palveluihin.'; 'Keskusteluapu on tarkoitettu Suomessa asuville nuorille.'
Reported The expert says the young people have been clearly disappointed when redirected, and the organisation is concerned that some may be left without support.

Causal attribution. The adverse experience as the organisation describes it.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    '”Nuoret ovat kuitenkin olleet selvästi pettyneitä, kun olemme ohjanneet heidät toisaalle”, Lassila kertoo.'; 'Huolena on, jäävätkö nuoret vaille tukea.'
Reported Working through these contacts burdens duty staff and takes time from young people living in Finland, for whom the service is intended.

Causal attribution. The organisation's account of the effect on the service.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Haastavien ongelmavyyhtien selvittely kuormittaa päivystäjiä ja vie aikaa apua hakevilta Suomessa asuvilta nuorilta, joille palvelu on tarkoitettu.'
Reported The route by which every young person found the service is not known, some may have found it through search engines or social media, and the names of the AI services used are not known.

Causal attribution. Limits the AI attribution: other routes are possible and no AI product is identified.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Kaikkien reittiä palveluun ei tiedetä. Nuoret ovat voineet löytää sen myös hakukoneista tai sosiaalisesta mediasta. Käytettyjen tekoälypalvelujen nimet eivät ole tiedossa.'
Reported A University of Helsinki professor considers it possible that the contacts relate to how AI is trained to answer requests for help, and calls this guesswork.

Causal attribution. An expert's hypothesis, not a finding.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Helsingin yliopiston tietojenkäsittelytieteen professori Hannu Toivonen pitää mahdollisena, että yhteydenotot liittyvät tapaan, jolla tekoälyä opetetaan vastaamaan avunpyyntöihin.'; '”Tämä on valitettavasti tällaista arvailua”, Toivonen sanoo.'
Reported Netari has an English-language welcome text on its website, shown since at least May 2025, before the contacts began; elsewhere the site states that the chat is for young people living in Finland.

Causal attribution. A possible contributing factor named by HS.

  • hs.fi(opens in new tab) supports · Finnish
    'Tekoälyn antamiin suosituksiin ulkomailla saattaa vaikuttaa myös se, että Netarissa on englanninkielinen tervetulotoivotus. Teksti on ollut verkkosivuilla esillä jo ainakin toukokuusta 2025 lähtien eli merkittävästi ennen yhteydenottojen alkamista.'; 'Toisaalla sivustolla löytyvässä tekstissä vedetään kuitenkin selvä raja. Keskusteluapu on tarkoitettu Suomessa asuville nuorille.'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Finnish on 2026-10-30; translation by the research agent, an AI. Helsingin Sanomat article published 29 October 2026 (13:01 local time) quoting Save the Children Finland's expert and a University of Helsinki professor; the stripped page text appeared complete. Applies to s1.

Event countries: Finland. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The contacts were received and redirected by Netari, an online service run in Finland by Pelastakaa Lapset for young people living in Finland. The young people were abroad; HS lists Uganda, Britain, India and Palestine among the countries contacts came from but does not say which contacts followed an AI recommendation, so affected-person countries are left unknown.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-30: Published as a concrete adverse experience in help-seeking: the operator of a Finnish youth chat service reports that young people abroad who said an AI recommended the service sought help there, were redirected because it serves only young people in Finland, and were clearly disappointed, while the contacts burdened its staff. The AI attribution is the young people's own account relayed by the organisation, and no AI product is identified.

People described

Young people living outside Finland who sought help from a Finnish youth chat service, some of whom said an AI had recommended it; some describe violence or discrimination at home and some are very self-destructive

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

HS reports an estimated 20 to 30 contacts from abroad since the summer, but only some of these young people said an AI recommended the service and no number is given for them; contacts are not counted as harmed people, so the count is unquantified with zero placeholders.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#help-seeking#youth-support-service#ai-recommendation#redirected#service-burden

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Finnish youth chat service says young people abroad who said an AI recommended it sought help there and were redirected, leaving them disappointed. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-finland-youth-chat-service-says-ai-recommendations-sent-young-people-abroad-who-were-then-redirected

BibTeX

@misc{2026_finland_youth_chat_service_says_ai_recommendations_sent_young_people_abroad_who_were_then_redirected,
  title = {Finnish youth chat service says young people abroad who said an AI recommended it sought help there and were redirected, leaving them disappointed},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-finland-youth-chat-service-says-ai-recommendations-sent-young-people-abroad-who-were-then-redirected}
}

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