Why teens deserve access to safe AI
OpenAI Blog · 2026-07-16
OpenAI outlines its framework for teen safety on ChatGPT, detailing age prediction, Study Mode, expanded parental controls, break reminders, and expert partnerships to provide age-appropriate protections while maintaining broad access for the nearly 90% of teen users who use the platform for learning.
Extraction
Topics: ai-safetyyouth-safetyeducation-aiparental-controlscontent-moderation
Claims
- Nearly 9 in 10 teens on ChatGPT use it for learning, information, skill-building, or productivity in a single week.
- OpenAI's age prediction system automatically provides more age-appropriate experiences for users estimated to be under 18, with stronger safeguards against graphic violence, self-harm, dangerous roleplay, and unhealthy body-image content.
- Study Mode, designed in collaboration with teachers and learning scientists, uses guiding questions and structured explanations rather than direct answers, and parents can now enable it from Parental Controls.
- 18 million weekly users engage with interactive math and science experiences in ChatGPT across more than 250 topics.
- OpenAI will notify parents when a linked teen account is deactivated for violating policies on violent threats, expanding parental visibility into serious incidents.
Key quotes
Keeping teens from using it until adulthood would be like asking a previous generation to avoid the internet or search engines until they turned 18, leaving them less prepared to use one of the defining technologies of their time.
If our system estimates someone using ChatGPT is under 18, we automatically provide a more age-appropriate experience. Teens can still use ChatGPT to learn, create, and explore, but with additional protections.
The North Star is to help ensure ChatGPT remains a tool for learning and creativity and not a substitute for real-world relationships.