Parents can now manage how teens use ChatGPT
OpenAI has launched parental controls and a dedicated parent resource page, aiming to give families greater control over how teenagers use ChatGPT. The new feature allows parents to link their accounts with their teens’ accounts, customize settings, and create a safer, age-appropriate experience, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
Enhanced safeguards for teen accounts
To set up parental controls, a parent or guardian sends an invite to their teen to connect accounts. After the teen accepts, the parent can manage the teen’s settings from their own account. Teens can also invite a parent to connect.
When accounts are linked, teens automatically receive extra protections. These include reducing exposure to graphic content, viral challenges, sexual or violent roleplay, and extreme beauty ideals. Parents can disable these restrictions if they choose, but teens cannot make changes on their own.
The safeguards were designed with input from experts and policymakers, including the Attorneys General of California and Delaware, as well as advocacy groups such as Common Sense Media.
Parents also can adjust a range of options from a simple control page in account settings. Among the features available are quiet hours, voice mode restrictions, the ability to disable memory or image generation, and the option to opt out of model training.
Notification system for emergencies
In addition to content protections, OpenAI has added a notification system designed to alert parents if there are signs a teen may be in serious distress. If ChatGPT detects indications of potential harm, a trained team reviews the situation. In urgent cases, parents are contacted via email, text message, and push notification, unless they have opted out.
The company notes the system is not perfect and may raise false alarms but stresses that alerting parents is preferable to remaining silent. OpenAI is also exploring when it may be appropriate to involve law enforcement or emergency services if a parent cannot be reached and an imminent threat to life is detected.
To help families navigate these new tools, OpenAI has created a parent resource page. It brings together guidance on how ChatGPT works, details on parental controls, and suggestions for how teens can use AI safely for learning, creativity, and daily life. The page will be regularly updated with expert advice, conversation starters, and tips.
In the coming months, OpenAI plans to introduce its age prediction system to better identify users under 18 and apply safeguards automatically.
Earlier, Kazinform News Agency reported that OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced five new artificial intelligence (AI) data centre locations in the United States under Stargate.
