OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens with added safety features amid lawsuits

OpenAI announced a new "ChatGPT for Teens" experience that incorporates a suite of safety measures aimed at younger users. The service will prompt teens to pause after 90 minutes of use within a three-hour period and allows parents or teens to set "Quiet Hours" when the chatbot is unavailable or "Study Hours" that activate a learning-mode by default. Additional safeguards include preventing the model from expressing personal feelings, warning users against uploading private images, and applying age-appropriate content filters.

Users who indicate they are under 18 at sign-up will automatically receive these protections, and the company said it will also use AI to estimate a user’s age and apply the same safeguards even if the profile lists a different birthdate. Lauren Jonas, OpenAI’s head of youth and families, described the offering as a "dedicated, learning-focused experience for teens with additional protections and safeguards."

The rollout comes as OpenAI confronts a series of lawsuits alleging that interactions with ChatGPT contributed to suicides, mass-shooting planning, and other harmful behaviors among minors. Recent legal actions include a suit by families of a Canadian school shooting, a Florida state lawsuit accusing the company of failing to protect minors, and a Massachusetts case linking a teen’s murder charges to prior chatbot conversations. OpenAI has previously introduced parental controls, such as disabling memory features and alerts for acute distress, and said it will soon add notifications related to eating disorders.

"Any one of these instances is too many," Jonas told CNN. "Our safety work is never done. This is 24/7, 365, a continuous effort to make sure that we’re getting teens the support they need in the moments they need it."

OpenAI maintains that it has implemented industry-leading protections, though critics continue to call for stronger oversight of AI tools used by young people.