ChatGPT wants teens to agree to let their parents spy on them
(2025/09/29)
- Reference: 1759167652
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/29/chatgpt_parental_controls/
- Source link:
OpenAI says it is introducing parental controls to ChatGPT that will help improve the safety of teenagers using its AI chatbot. The only catch? Teens will have to allow their parents to connect to their accounts before the controls can take effect.
The new protections are designed to help ChatGPT identify when a teenager chatting with it might be thinking about harming themselves or otherwise be in distress. OpenAI is adding the features after facing criticism and a high-profile [1]lawsuit alleging its chatbot contributed to a teenager's death.
“If there are signs of acute distress, we will contact parents by email, text message and push alert on their phone,” the company said in a [2]blog post introducing the controls.
Sign in to sound off
[3]Register for The Register 's Forums here.
OpenAI hasn’t gone into details about "the system" it’s using to detect identifiers of potential harm in inputs made by teenage users – but the company promises that flagged interactions with ChatGPT will be reviewed by what it describes as “a small team of specially trained people” who will decide if an alert is sent to parents.
“I’m especially proud of this launch because it combines two things we care deeply about: helping teens learn, explore, and create with ChatGPT - and giving families tools to guide that experience,” Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, [4]posted on LinkedIn . (That is, if [5]ChatGPT didn’t write it for him …)
[6]
The parental controls can also be used to reduce the chances of kids seeing sensitive or graphic content.
[7]OpenAI reorg at risk as Attorneys General push AI safety
[8]The crazy, true story behind the first AI-powered ransomware
[9]OpenAI eats jobs, then offers to help you find a new one at Walmart
[10]OpenAI says models are programmed to make stuff up instead of admitting ignorance
Worried parents can choose to “customize” - as OpenAI describes it - their teen’s chatbot usage by setting specific times of day ChatGPT can’t be used, turning off ChatGPT’s voice mode or turning off the LLM’s memory, so it won’t draw upon previous interactions when responding.
Parents can also remove image generation, preventing kids from using ChatGPT to create pictures. Additionally, OpenAI is introducing the ability to opt teen accounts out of model training, so their conversations aren’t used to train ChatGPT.
[11]
Privacy campaigners are likely to raise concerns that ChatGPT’s parental controls enable parents to snoop on their children – but in their statement on the new safety options, OpenAI says “We take teen privacy seriously” and “we will only share the information needed for parents or emergency responders to protect a teen’s safety.”
The parental controls require the teen to agree to allowing them to be applied, which might not be a simple ask. However, OpenAI notes that the company is building an age prediction system designed to identify whether a user is under 18 “so that ChatGPT can automatically apply teen-appropriate settings.”
[12]
Unfortunately, this blanket approach to age detection could also catch adults who happen to write like teens. “In instances where we’re unsure of a user’s age, we’ll take the safer route and apply teen settings proactively,” the OpenAI blog post said. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgerwp7rdlvo
[2] https://openai.com/index/introducing-parental-controls/
[3] https://account.theregister.com/register/
[4] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicholasturley_introducing-parental-controls-activity-7378386545306886144-Om0y?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAVP3kBPKtvwNZf8EG_xpBG0SU6i0vG0y8
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/16/chatgpt_usage_study/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNsBdSfol6as9iQ5TRzG1gAAAhU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/openai_reorg_at_risk/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/real_story_ai_ransomware_promptlock/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/openai_jobs_board/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/17/openai_hallucinations_incentives/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNsBdSfol6as9iQ5TRzG1gAAAhU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNsBdSfol6as9iQ5TRzG1gAAAhU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The new protections are designed to help ChatGPT identify when a teenager chatting with it might be thinking about harming themselves or otherwise be in distress. OpenAI is adding the features after facing criticism and a high-profile [1]lawsuit alleging its chatbot contributed to a teenager's death.
“If there are signs of acute distress, we will contact parents by email, text message and push alert on their phone,” the company said in a [2]blog post introducing the controls.
Sign in to sound off
[3]Register for The Register 's Forums here.
OpenAI hasn’t gone into details about "the system" it’s using to detect identifiers of potential harm in inputs made by teenage users – but the company promises that flagged interactions with ChatGPT will be reviewed by what it describes as “a small team of specially trained people” who will decide if an alert is sent to parents.
“I’m especially proud of this launch because it combines two things we care deeply about: helping teens learn, explore, and create with ChatGPT - and giving families tools to guide that experience,” Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, [4]posted on LinkedIn . (That is, if [5]ChatGPT didn’t write it for him …)
[6]
The parental controls can also be used to reduce the chances of kids seeing sensitive or graphic content.
[7]OpenAI reorg at risk as Attorneys General push AI safety
[8]The crazy, true story behind the first AI-powered ransomware
[9]OpenAI eats jobs, then offers to help you find a new one at Walmart
[10]OpenAI says models are programmed to make stuff up instead of admitting ignorance
Worried parents can choose to “customize” - as OpenAI describes it - their teen’s chatbot usage by setting specific times of day ChatGPT can’t be used, turning off ChatGPT’s voice mode or turning off the LLM’s memory, so it won’t draw upon previous interactions when responding.
Parents can also remove image generation, preventing kids from using ChatGPT to create pictures. Additionally, OpenAI is introducing the ability to opt teen accounts out of model training, so their conversations aren’t used to train ChatGPT.
[11]
Privacy campaigners are likely to raise concerns that ChatGPT’s parental controls enable parents to snoop on their children – but in their statement on the new safety options, OpenAI says “We take teen privacy seriously” and “we will only share the information needed for parents or emergency responders to protect a teen’s safety.”
The parental controls require the teen to agree to allowing them to be applied, which might not be a simple ask. However, OpenAI notes that the company is building an age prediction system designed to identify whether a user is under 18 “so that ChatGPT can automatically apply teen-appropriate settings.”
[12]
Unfortunately, this blanket approach to age detection could also catch adults who happen to write like teens. “In instances where we’re unsure of a user’s age, we’ll take the safer route and apply teen settings proactively,” the OpenAI blog post said. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgerwp7rdlvo
[2] https://openai.com/index/introducing-parental-controls/
[3] https://account.theregister.com/register/
[4] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicholasturley_introducing-parental-controls-activity-7378386545306886144-Om0y?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAVP3kBPKtvwNZf8EG_xpBG0SU6i0vG0y8
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/16/chatgpt_usage_study/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNsBdSfol6as9iQ5TRzG1gAAAhU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/openai_reorg_at_risk/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/real_story_ai_ransomware_promptlock/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/openai_jobs_board/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/17/openai_hallucinations_incentives/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNsBdSfol6as9iQ5TRzG1gAAAhU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNsBdSfol6as9iQ5TRzG1gAAAhU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Dan 55
Privacy campaigners are likely to raise concerns that ChatGPT’s parental controls enable parents to snoop on their children
AKA parenting?
One for me, one for you
MachDiamond
It will be handy to have two accounts run from two devices. One will be very prim and proper and the other will be for more dodgy applications. Simply use another account to ask how to circumvent online age restrictions.
When I had a manufacturing business, I had two cars. One I used all of the time and the other was a cheap POS I could declare as my personal vehicle while writing off 100% of the "company" car's expenses.
Codswallop
“In instances where we’re unsure of a user’s age, we’ll take the safer route and apply teen settings proactively,”
For a teen without the parental controls set, the trick will be to sound like an ancient. The easiest way to do so is to use words common in past decades, that have now largely gone out of use. My sister and I were recently discussing this very thing and we agreed to revive the word codswallop in conversation whenever possible.