With the power of artificial intelligence at their fingertips, today’s teenagers are using ChatGPT for everything from homework help to feeling less lonely, and that’s raised safety concerns among parents. Now, ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, is rolling out a version of the app specifically for teens.
Officially named ChatGPT for Teens, it’s available for kids 13 to 17 years old. The specially tailored app has stronger content restrictions and new features to help cut back on cheating.
Parents, teachers and child development experts are among those who have raised concerns over teens’ use of AI platforms, which have been linked to helping kids cheat on schoolwork, the proliferation of fake sexually explicit images and even suicide. The company is facing lawsuits from parents of teens they allege were harmed, if not died, partially due to its AI models.
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What’s different
OpenAI says if users don’t sign up as teens, but its age-prediction system estimates a user is one, they will be automatically placed into ChatGPT for Teens. The platform’s default settings are meant to “reduce exposure to content that may be harmful or developmentally inappropriate” for teens.
It will filter out content centered on self-harm, violence, eating disorders, dangerous activities, and explicit sexual or graphic content, according to OpenAI.
“We want to treat teens like teens, which means that we have to make sure that we’re showing up with the right developmental stage when we’re not either talking down to them or treating them like kids, but we’re also making sure that they’re not exposed to material that they shouldn’t be exposed to,” Ann O’Leary, vice president of global policy at OpenAI, told ABC News.
The new version includes specific language when teens start using the platform, with warnings to discourage users from uploading private or sensitive images.
ChatGPT for Teens will also make it harder for teens to cheat at school. ChatGPT will now only offer help with homework and studying, instead of giving answers outright.
“A teen studying for a test, for example, can ask ChatGPT to explain an unfamiliar concept, work through a practice problem, and check their understanding,” OpenAI said in a statement. “If they ask for a quick answer, ChatGPT for Teens can guide them toward the steps and questions that help them work through it themselves.”
Additionally, the platform doesn’t allow its chatbot to “use romantic language, encourage emotional dependence, or imply that it has feelings or consciousness.”
“We went through and identified what are the hypothetical cues that a model could give that might make a teenager kind of develop a relationship to it,” said Allison Mishkin, head of child development at OpenAI.
AI concerns
The change comes as ChatGPT works to repair its image amid claims its AI has been the catalyst for near-death health events, suicide and even murder. The chatbot is at the center of multiple ongoing lawsuits.
The families of at least two teens have open cases against OpenAI after their 16-year-old sons used the platform as a “suicide coach.” The parents of Adam Raine say ChatGPT actively discouraged him from seeking mental health help, offered to help him write a suicide note and gave him advice on how to set up his noose. And Luca Cella Walker’s family claims that just hours before his death, he asked the chatbot for the “most successful” way for someone to kill themself on a railway line, according to The Guardian.
There have been multiple other lawsuits filed against OpenAI and its owner, Sam Altman, ranging from negligence and wrongful death to product liability and consumer protection claims.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced in June that the state is suing OpenAI and Altman. He says ChatGPT poses a risk to children and the company did not properly warn the public about the risks it poses. Uthmeier accused Altman of negligence and violating Florida’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive practices.
Uthmeier has also launched a criminal investigation into whether the chatbot helped a man commit a deadly mass shooting at Florida State University in 2025. Uthmeier says ChatGPT “offered significant advice” to the shooter.
“If this were a person on the other side of the screen, we would be charging them with murder,” Uthmeier said during a press conference in June. “We cannot have AI bots that are advising others on how to kill others.”
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