OpenAI introduces ‘ChatGPT for Teens’ experience amid scrutiny over child safety

By Clare Duffy, CNN

New York (CNN) — OpenAI is rolling out a new “ChatGPT for Teens” experience that it says will provide additional safety protections for teen users. The move comes as OpenAI faces a string of lawsuits alleging that inappropriate conversations with ChatGPT contributed to the harm or deaths of young people.

The experience will bring together new tools and a number of youth safety protections that OpenAI has rolled out over the past year, the company said in a blog post Tuesday.

Those will include nudges for teen users to take a break if they’ve been active for 90 minutes within a three-hour window. OpenAI is also adding options for teens or parents to set “Quiet Hours” when ChatGPT is unavailable or “Study Hours” where ChatGPT’s study mode for learning will be on by default.

The company also said it has improved protections to prevent ChatGPT from expressing personal feelings toward a user. And it’s adding reminders that caution teens to think twice if they try to upload a private or sensitive image to the chatbot.

The new protections will apply “age-appropriate safeguards designed to reduce exposure to content that may be harmful or developmentally inappropriate,” the company said in its Tuesday blog post,” while preserving the ability to learn, create, and explore.”