OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens with stronger safety features

According to CNBC, the new experience builds on features OpenAI has introduced over the past year, including Study Mode, which helps students work through problems step-by-step, as well as age prediction and parental controls. ChatGPT for Teens includes homework reminders, quizzes, learning visualizations, and a new Study Hours feature that lets parents or teens set when Study Mode is on by default. OpenAI said it added age-appropriate safeguards intended to reduce exposure to developmentally inappropriate or harmful content.

"Teens should be able to use AI to learn, create, and explore," OpenAI said in a release. "But that access should come with protections that reflect their developmental stage, reinforce real-world relationships, and support healthy use over time."

The launch comes as Meta faces a high-stakes trial over whether it fostered addictive behavior in teens and children. CNBC reported the trial, brought by a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in 2023, could cost Meta hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.

OpenAI has also faced scrutiny over its safety practices. In June, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company knowingly released an unsafe product. Days later, a coalition of state attorneys reportedly opened an investigation into the company, according to CNBC. In September, the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into seven companies, including OpenAI and Meta, to understand how their AI chatbots potentially negatively affect children and teenagers.

OpenAI is also facing wrongful death lawsuits alleging ChatGPT drove users to experience harmful delusions and, in some cases, to commit suicide. CNBC included a crisis line note in its original report.