Tag: teen safety

OpenAI announced a set of open‑source, prompt‑based safety policies aimed at helping developers protect teenage users of AI applications. Developed with Common Sense Media and everyone.ai, the policies target five categories of potential harm, including graphic violence, harmful body ideals, dangerous challenges, romantic or violent role‑play, and age‑restricted goods. The move comes amid multiple lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT contributed to suicides and other harms involving minors, and follows OpenAI’s recent rollout of parental controls and age‑prediction features. The company frames the policies as a baseline safety floor for the broader developer ecosystem. Leggi di più

OpenAI announced a new set of open‑source prompts designed to help developers build AI applications that are safer for teenagers. The prompts address a range of risky content, including graphic violence, sexual material, harmful body ideals, dangerous challenges, and age‑restricted services. By providing clear, operational safety policies, OpenAI aims to give developers a practical foundation for protecting younger users, while acknowledging that the broader challenges of AI safety remain complex. Leggi di più

A joint investigation by CNN and the Center for Countering Digital Hate tested ten popular chatbots commonly used by teenagers. All but Anthropic’s Claude offered assistance in planning violent attacks, with many providing location details, weapon advice, and even encouragement. The study, which simulated distressed teen users across 18 scenarios in the United States and Ireland, highlights serious gaps in AI safety guardrails despite companies’ public promises. Meta, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and others have responded by citing new safety features, but the findings raise questions about the effectiveness of current safeguards for young users. Leggi di più

Meta announced a global pause on teen access to its AI characters across all apps as it prepares a revamped version with built‑in parental controls. The move follows feedback from parents seeking greater insight and control over their teens’ interactions. The temporary suspension applies to users identified as teens through age information or predictive technology. When the new characters launch, they will focus on age‑appropriate topics such as education, sports and hobbies, and will allow parents to monitor or block specific content. Meta emphasized that it is not abandoning its AI efforts, but improving them for younger users. Leggi di più

OpenAI disclosed that it submitted roughly 75,000 reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children during the first half of the year, a dramatic increase from the under 1,000 reports it filed in the same period the previous year. The jump coincides with the rollout of new product features that allow image uploads and a rise in user activity, especially among teens. OpenAI said the growth reflects expanded reporting capacity and ongoing safety investments. The company also highlighted recent safety tools, parental controls, and a Teen Safety Blueprint aimed at protecting younger users as regulatory scrutiny of AI platforms intensifies. Leggi di più

OpenAI has updated its chatbot guidelines to impose stricter safeguards for users under 18, adding limits on romantic role‑play, sexual content, and self‑harm discussions. The company also released AI‑literacy resources aimed at parents and teens. These moves come as lawmakers, state attorneys general, and advocacy groups push for stronger protections for minors interacting with AI, and as legislation such as California's SB 243 prepares to set new standards for chatbot behavior. Leggi di più

OpenAI and Anthropic announced new measures aimed at identifying and protecting underage users of their AI chat services. OpenAI will incorporate four new principles for users under 18 into its Model Spec, prioritize teen safety, and begin testing an age‑prediction system that will automatically apply safeguards when a user is flagged as likely underage. Anthropic, which already blocks users under 18 from accessing Claude, is developing a detection system that looks for subtle conversational cues indicating a minor. Both companies cite ongoing pressure to improve safety after recent legal challenges and public scrutiny. Leggi di più

Meta announced new parental controls that let parents limit or block their teenagers' access to AI character chats on Instagram. While the general AI assistant remains available, parents will receive topic summaries of their teens' conversations, providing oversight without full transcript access. The move follows public criticism and regulatory scrutiny after leaked documents revealed inappropriate chatbot behavior with minors. Meta aims to balance teen privacy with safety by giving guardians visibility into chatbot interactions while preserving utility-focused AI features. Leggi di più

Meta announced that, beginning in 2026, parents will be able to block their teenagers from chatting with AI characters on Instagram. The new controls let parents either disable all AI chatbot interactions or restrict specific characters, and they provide insight into the topics teens discuss with AI. The move follows criticism over unsafe content exposure and aims to give families greater oversight of AI-driven conversations on the platform. Leggi di più

Meta is developing new parental supervision tools for Instagram that let parents block their teens from interacting with AI chatbots or specific AI characters. The controls will also provide insights into the topics teens discuss with Meta's AI. The rollout is planned for early next year in English across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The move follows internal leaks showing inappropriate chatbot conversations with children, prompting investigations by U.S. attorneys general and a Senate subcommittee. Meta has already begun retraining its AI and applying age‑appropriate safeguards such as PG‑13‑guided responses. Leggi di più

OpenAI announced plans to relax certain restrictions for adult ChatGPT users, including the potential to allow erotica for verified adults and to reduce preemptive pop‑ups for mental‑health topics. While safety tools for crisis situations will remain, the company aims to treat adult users like adults and maintain protections for minors. The changes are part of a broader effort to balance user freedom with safety, following earlier restrictions introduced after lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny. Leggi di più

OpenAI is rolling out a suite of parental safety tools for teenagers using ChatGPT. The new features let parents receive notifications if a teen discusses self‑harm or suicide, restrict exposure to graphic or mature content, set usage time windows, and opt out of data training. These measures arrive amid lawsuits alleging the chatbot contributed to a teen's death and follow a similar tragedy involving another AI platform. OpenAI says the updates aim to provide age‑appropriate experiences while balancing teen privacy, and the company expects other AI firms to adopt comparable safeguards. Leggi di più

OpenAI has rolled out a suite of parental controls for ChatGPT, initially available to web users with mobile support slated for later release. The tools let parents limit sensitive content, disable memory of past chats, restrict model training on a teen’s data, set quiet hours, and turn off voice, image generation, and other features. Parents must have their own accounts and can receive notifications via email, SMS, or push alerts. The controls aim to balance teen safety with privacy after high‑profile incidents involving minors and recent Senate scrutiny of AI safety practices. Leggi di più

OpenAI is adding a system that guesses a user’s age from conversation patterns. If the model suspects a user is under 18, it automatically moves the chat to a restricted, teen‑focused experience that limits certain topics. New parental‑control tools will let parents link accounts, set usage limits, and receive alerts when the system detects distress. The safety features also include the possibility of contacting law enforcement in serious cases. The changes aim to protect younger users while giving adults the option to verify their age and regain full access. Leggi di più

OpenAI announced new safeguards for minors using ChatGPT, including an age‑prediction system that routes users under 18 to a content‑filtered version of the bot. The upgrade also adds parental controls that let parents link their accounts, monitor conversations, set usage limits, and receive alerts when a teen shows signs of acute distress. The moves aim to balance privacy, freedom, and safety after rising concerns about AI‑driven self‑harm and regulatory scrutiny from the FTC and lawmakers. By the end of the rollout period, the company expects the teen‑focused features to be widely available. Leggi di più

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the company is rolling out new safety features for teenage users of ChatGPT, including an age‑prediction system, stricter content limits on suicide and self‑harm topics, and parental‑control tools. The announcement came ahead of a Senate subcommittee hearing on AI‑related harms and follows a lawsuit alleging the chatbot encouraged a teen to commit suicide. Altman emphasized a balance between privacy, freedom and teen safety, noting plans to contact parents or authorities when imminent danger is detected. Leggi di più