ChatGPT launches parental controls: Linked teen accounts first step in age assurance plan

ChatGPT’s new age controls are live today, allowing parents to link to their kids’ accounts and customize settings.

A post from OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, says the parental controls system is a “good starting point” and an “important step” in a longer process of building toward “a long term age prediction system⁠ that will help us predict whether a user is under 18 so that ChatGPT can automatically apply teen-appropriate settings.”

“Parental controls are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to keeping teens safe online,” says Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs for Common Sense Media, an advocacy group that worked with OpenAI to develop the controls. “They work best when combined with ongoing conversations about responsible AI use, clear family rules about technology, and active involvement in understanding what their teen is doing online.”

The Attorneys General of California and Delaware also consulted on the measures.

In linking accounts through an invitation, the system gives parents access to a dashboard of controls that allow them to set quiet hours or blackouts, turn off voice mode, turn off memory, remove image generation, and opt out of model training, so conversations won’t be fed back into GPT as training data.

Parents can turn settings off; teens cannot. If an account is unlinked, parents get a notification.

“Once parents and teens connect their accounts,” OpenAI says, “the teen account will automatically get additional content protections, including reduced graphic content, viral challenges, sexual, romantic or violent roleplay, and extreme beauty ideals, to help keep their experience age-appropriate.”

OpenAI recommends parents “talk with their teens about healthy AI use and what that looks like for their family.”

Large language model AI chatbots, of which GPT is king, have begun to attract regulatory attention, fueled by a high-profile lawsuit over the suicide of a teen and revelations that certain AI bots were having “sensual” exchanges with children.

Article Topics

age inference  |  age verification  |  ChatGPT  |  children  |  OpenAI