Common Sense Media calls OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens an ‘unacceptable risk’

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on youth safety, rated OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens as an "unacceptable risk" in an assessment published on October 7, 2026. The organization cited three primary concerns: unreliable parental alerts, inadequate support in crisis situations, and the continued ability of teens to use the tool for homework assistance.

According to the assessment, ChatGPT for Teens "doesn’t send alerts to parents when it should," fails to "offer the right help in crisis situations," and "still does kids’ homework." The nonprofit’s executive director of the Youth AI Safety Institute, Tom Siegel, stated, "ChatGPT for Teens could give parents false confidence in guardrails and safety alerts that frequently don’t work."

OpenAI responded by disputing the assessment’s methodology and conclusions. A spokesperson, Eric Porterfield, stated that the company is "deeply committed to teen safety" and welcomes "rigorous independent evaluation," but argued that Common Sense Media’s testing did not accurately reflect how the teen safeguards operate in practice.

OpenAI further claimed that Common Sense Media’s testing may have begun and concluded before parental controls were fully activated, which could invalidate the findings. The company added that it remains committed to working with experts to ensure its products provide teens with learning opportunities while giving parents confidence in their use.

Common Sense Media maintained its position, asserting that it confirmed with OpenAI prior to testing that features such as eating disorder notifications and study mode were fully launched. The nonprofit also noted that OpenAI disclosed after testing that parental notification systems could take several hours to activate on newly linked accounts, yet some test accounts linked for longer periods still did not receive notifications.

Siegel emphasized that the new information did not change the nonprofit’s conclusion that parental alerts are unreliable in crisis situations. He added that Common Sense Media shared its evaluation results with OpenAI in good faith prior to publication to allow for improvements, and expressed hope that OpenAI would engage with the substance of the findings rather than questioning the methodology.