A Common Sense Media report says ChatGPT's teen mode sent parents no alerts during long talks about self-harm. OpenAI disputes the testing.
A new report says ChatGPT's teen mode did not alert parents even when testers spent up to an hour talking about self-harm, disordered eating and suicidal thoughts. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that studies youth and technology, calls it an "unacceptable risk" to young people's safety. OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, says the testing does not reflect how its teen safeguards work in practice.
Testers set up teen accounts linked to parent accounts. Those parent accounts are supposed to receive alerts about disturbing behavior. According to the report, parents got none. ChatGPT also failed to refer teens to crisis hotlines and doctors.
The report adds that the "study mode" for students makes cheating easy. OpenAI promotes it as a tutoring feature, but users can still click a "show me the answer" option.
Teen settings are meant to switch on automatically for users ages 13 to 17, with the technology working out who is a teen. Researchers said the platform could "not reliably tell" a user's age. That means the protections did not always apply.
OpenAI says the research is likely flawed and may have been done before all parental controls were turned on. In a statement, the company said it welcomes rigorous independent evaluation but does not believe the testing "accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice." Common Sense Media wants OpenAI to stop marketing ChatGPT for Teens and keep young people off the platform until safety improves. The teen mode launched in August.
Pew Research Center says as many as two-thirds of U.S. teenagers use an AI chatbot regularly. ChatGPT reports more than a billion users worldwide.
Kate Conroy teaches an Advanced Placement writing class at Philadelphia's Sayre High School. She has heard of young people who took their own lives after confiding in chatbots such as ChatGPT and Character.AI. She went from banning AI in her classroom to banning all tech devices this year, and she does not buy OpenAI's claim that teens are protected.
Parents who let a teen use ChatGPT should not rely on its alerts alone. A direct conversation about what teens ask chatbots is a safeguard no setting replaces.
Do not count on ChatGPT's parental alerts to catch a crisis. Talk with your teen directly about what they ask chatbots.
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