OpenAI is hoping to turn ChatGPT into more of an educational tool\u2014and less of an emotional support system\u2014for underage users.<\/p>\n
The company introduced<\/a> \u201cChatGPT for Teens\u201d on Tuesday, a new suite of safety guardrails and features designed to prevent the kinds of abuses that parents and teachers have been flagging for years. The age-specific mode will be turned on automatically for all users who self-identify as being between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, according to OpenAI. The company will also monitor certain indicators, such as the time of day the chatbot is used, to automatically flag underage users trying to fly under the radar. (OpenAI has a minimum age requirement of thirteen years for ChatGPT, but the company has had trouble enforcing that restriction.)<\/p>\n ChatGPT for Teens is being marketed as a healthy middle ground for underage users: \u201cTeens should be able to use AI to learn, create, and explore,\u201d OpenAI wrote in a blog post. \u201cBut that access should come with protections that reflect their developmental stage, reinforce real-world relationships, and support healthy use over time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The age-specific mode includes a new \u201cresponsible homework reminder,\u201d for example, which automatically detects when a teenage user is trying to get a quick answer from ChatGPT on a school assignment, and instead helps guide them through the problem step-by-step via the chatbot\u2019s Study Mode feature. It\u2019s also been designed to withhold sensitive content related to self-harm, eating disorders, sexual content, and other \u201chigh-risk areas,\u201d according to OpenAI\u2019s blog post.<\/p>\n A less personal (but still customizable) chatbot <\/p>\n One of the big promises of AI, at least according to the companies that have invested billions into building it, is that it will soon allow each of us to have 24\/7 access to a personal assistant, health coach, tutor, and even a friend<\/a>, all rolled into one. The problem is that things can often get much too personal.<\/p>\n Chatbots are trained to imitate human language and maximize user engagement\u2014not truth or personal well-being. Many people, including teens, have as a result come to believe that these automated systems are in fact conscious entities, and formed emotional or even romantic connections with them. That\u2019s sometimes had tragic consequences. Last year, OpenAI was sued<\/a> by the parents of sixteen-year-old Adam Raine, who claim ChatGPT played a role in their son\u2019s decision to take his own life.<\/p>\n