{"id":146798,"date":"2026-08-21T00:49:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/146798\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T00:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:49:22","slug":"alabama-lawmakers-react-to-launch-of-chatgpt-for-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/146798\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama lawmakers react to launch of ChatGPT for teens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">MONTGOMERY, Ala. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\">WSFA<\/a>) &#8211; A new artificial intelligence chatbot has been launched, specifically for users under the age of 18. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">OpenAI announced ChatGPT for teens, which they said will have added safety features. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The launch of the platform comes as Alabama lawmakers continue to determine how they will regulate artificial intelligence in the 2027 legislative session. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cAre these changes enough? Will they do the job that it\u2019s saying it will? And I do think it\u2019s a step in the right direction, but I think it\u2019s still too early to see,\u201d said Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Rep. Robbins said ChatGPT for teens is a good place to start in the effort of keeping teens safe in an emerging world of artificial intelligence. The question, which may take some time to answer, is whether the safety features are effective, or if teens are able to bypass the guardrails. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to OpenAI, the program is specifically designed for 13-to-17-year-olds and comes with features such as \u2018study mode.\u2019 <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThis is a dedicated learning-focused experience for teens with additional protections and safeguards,\u201d said Laura Jonas, Head of Youth and families at OpenAI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Parental controls have been a focus of Alabama\u2019s Commission on AI and Kids\u2019 Safety, whose members include Rep. Robbins and Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cOversight is going to be important to ensure that we\u2019re keeping our children safe and that we\u2019re able to support our children and parents as well,\u201d said Sen. Stewart. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">OpenAI said if their system estimates that someone is younger than 18-years-old, they will automatically be placed into ChatGPT for Teens. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The system also will allow parents to set quiet hours and get safety notifications if their teen is discussing graphic or dangerous topics. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cLooping the parents in, I think, is vital,\u201d said Rep. Robbins. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be one of the most important things that\u2019s done by ChatGPT, and I think in terms of policy too, involvement in parental empowerment will be the most important tool that we use.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Rep. Robbins said lawmakers could gear legislation towards parental and child education on artificial intelligence and data privacy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Not reading this story on the WSFA News App? Get news alerts FASTER and FREE in the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/wsfa-12-news\/id449733109\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple App Store<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.raycom.wsfa&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google Play Store<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WSFA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) &#8211; A new artificial intelligence chatbot has been launched, specifically for users under the age&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[25,580,70690,72121,8872,72118,157,72120,72122,72119,72123],"class_list":["post-146798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-chatgpt","tag-chatgpt-for-teens","tag-laura-jonas","tag-open-ai","tag-open-artificial-intelligence","tag-openai","tag-representative-ben-robbins","tag-selma","tag-senator-robert-stewart","tag-sylacauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}