OpenAI Adds ChatGPT Parental Controls

OpenAI has launched new parental controls for ChatGPT, allowing parents to link their accounts with their teens' accounts to manage settings and ensure an age-appropriate experience. This initiative follows a lawsuit concerning a teenager's suicide allegedly coached by ChatGPT and broader concerns about AI chatbot safety for young users. The controls enable parents to set quiet hours, disable voice mode, remove image generation, turn off memory, and opt out of model training. Linked accounts will also receive enhanced content protections, reducing exposure to graphic content, viral challenges, and inappropriate roleplay. OpenAI has also implemented a notification system to alert parents if ChatGPT detects signs of self-harm in a teen's interactions. Common Sense Media has praised these controls as a positive step, while the United States — Federal Trade Commission in the United States has opened an inquiry into AI chatbot harms to minors.