OpenAI is adding parental controls to ChatGPT

OpenAI has promised to release parental controls for ChatGPT within the next month, the company said Tuesday. Once the controls are available, they'll allow parents to link their personal ChatGPT account with the accounts of their teenage children. From there, parents will be able to decide how ChatGPT responds to their kids, and disable select features, including memory and chat history. Additionally, ChatGPT will generate automated alerts when it detects a teen is in a "moment of acute distress." According to OpenAI, "expert input will guide this feature to support trust between parents and teens."

The announcement of parental controls comes after OpenAI was sued in the first known instance of a wrongful death lawsuit against an AI company. In a lawsuit filed last week, Matt and Maria Raine, the parents of a teen who committed suicide this year, allege ChatGPT was aware of four failed suicide attempts by their son before helping him plan his death. The Raines said ChatGPT provided their son Adam with information on specific suicide methods, and even gave him tips on how to hide neck injuries sustained from his previous failed attempts.      

On Tuesday, OpenAI said parental controls are part of a broader effort by the company to improve safety on ChatGPT. Separately, the company has promised to work with additional experts, including those who specialize in eating disorders, substance use and adolescent health, to fine tune its models. 

The company has also promised to deploy a new real-time router designed to funnel sensitive conversations through its reasoning models. "Trained with a method we call deliberative alignment, our testing shows⁠ that reasoning models more consistently follow and apply safety guidelines and are more resistant to adversarial prompts," said OpenAI. Moving forward, in situations where ChatGPT detects a person may be in distress, the chatbot will direct those conversations through a reasoning model, regardless of the model the user selected before starting the conversation. 

More broadly, OpenAI says people can expect more safety features in the future. "This work has already been underway, but we want to proactively preview our plans for the next 120 days, so you won’t need to wait for launches to see where we’re headed," OpenAI said. "The work will continue well beyond this period of time, but we’re making a focused effort to launch as many of these improvements as possible this year."

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