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Compassion International · Night Desk ·
Compassion International’s AI test flagged 25,810 sponsor letters as suspected grooming
An internal AI scan of sponsor letters written from August 2018 to May 2026 flagged 25,810 as suspected grooming, according to a Compassion International report reviewed by The Roys Report. Former Compassion analyst Andrew Vezey says the charity has no process to cancel flagged sponsors. Compassion disputes his claims and calls the scan a “training test” on old letters that translators and churches had already reviewed.
The numbers
Compassion, one of the largest Christian child-sponsorship groups, reaches 2.4 million kids in 29 countries. Its scan of letters from August 2018 to May 2026 flagged over 20,000 of its 1.5 million sponsors.
The whistleblower
Andrew Vezey, a former Compassion analyst who helped build the tool, says there’s no process to cancel flagged sponsors. He quit Oct. 13. On Oct. 26, Compassion’s lawyers told him to stop sharing internal documents.
Compassion’s answer
Compassion disputes his claims. It calls the scan a “training test” on old letters that translators and churches had already reviewed, and says it’s midway through a 10-step review of sponsor letters.
Why it matters
Child sponsorship runs on trust. A flag should trigger action, not a “monitoring phase.” Handwritten letters weren’t scanned, Vezey says; Compassion says it’s “exploring” that.