OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens with default safeguards and parental controls

OpenAI is introducing a dedicated ChatGPT experience for users it identifies or estimates to be between the ages of 13 and 17, called ChatGPT for Teens. The company says the mode consolidates existing youth safeguards and adds new protections under one roof.

By default, the teen mode tightens restrictions on prohibited or sensitive content such as graphic violence, self-harm depictions, and sexual or romantic roleplay. It also surfaces warnings and safety information on topics like eating disorders and prompts teens with break reminders during extended sessions.

Parents receive controls including the ability to set quiet hours and to receive notifications when the system flags a possible safety risk. Teens or parents can also configure “study hours” that automatically enable a dedicated study mode, which OpenAI describes as a way to discourage shortcutting assignments.

OpenAI notes that many of the protections are not new, pointing to age-prediction features introduced earlier in the year, parental controls and study mode launched roughly a year ago, and more frequent break reminders added last month. The company says its teen protections are “underpinned by ongoing safety research” and that it plans to publish more of what it is learning alongside additional safety features.

In a blog post announcing the teen mode, OpenAI frames the experience as designed to help teens “learn, think critically, deepen understanding, and use AI with confidence,” while reinforcing real-world relationships and supporting healthy use over time.