OpenAI Launches 'ChatGPT for Teens' Amid Mounting Child Safety Scrutiny and Lawsuits

OpenAI is rolling out a new “ChatGPT for Teens” experience designed to provide additional safety protections for young users. The move comes as OpenAI faces a string of lawsuits alleging that inappropriate conversations with ChatGPT contributed to the harm or deaths of young people.

According to a blog post published by the company on Tuesday, the new experience brings together several youth safety protections developed over the past year. These measures include nudges encouraging teen users to take a break after 90 minutes of activity within a three-hour window. Additionally, OpenAI is introducing options for teens or parents to set “Quiet Hours” when ChatGPT is unavailable, as well as “Study Hours” that keep the chatbot's study mode on by default.

OpenAI also stated that it has improved protections to prevent ChatGPT from expressing personal feelings toward users, alongside reminders cautioning teens before they upload private or sensitive images to the chatbot. The protections apply age-appropriate safeguards aimed at reducing exposure to potentially harmful or developmentally inappropriate content while preserving learning and exploration.

Users who identify as under 18 during sign-up will automatically receive these protective settings. OpenAI is also using artificial intelligence to estimate users' ages and apply the safeguards to anyone suspected to be under 18, regardless of the birthdate listed on their profile.

A Pew Research Center study published in December found that nearly a third of American teens use AI chatbots daily, with ChatGPT being the most popular among them. However, OpenAI has faced significant scrutiny over concerns regarding inappropriate content exposure, loneliness, and inhibited learning, alongside multiple lawsuits from families alleging that the chatbot contributed to or encouraged suicides.

Last fall, OpenAI introduced controls allowing parents to disable features like memory and chat history and receive distress alerts. The company announced plans to add eating disorder alerts for parents in the coming weeks. Despite these measures, OpenAI continues to face legal challenges, including a lawsuit filed in April by seven families of victims from a school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. The families allege the chatbot was complicit because the shooter had extensive conversations related to gun violence.

In June, the state of Florida sued OpenAI and Altman, accusing the company of failing to address safety risks for minors, encouraging suicide, and getting minors addicted to the tool. Furthermore, a Massachusetts district attorney charged a 17-year-old with two counts of murder involving his mother and brother, noting the teen had engaged in conversations with ChatGPT about killing his family prior to the incident.