For minors, ChatGPT strengthens its safeguards and gives control to parents

ChatGPT integrates a guided study mode and parent-managed time limits. What OpenAI's new safety framework for minors changes.

OpenAI outlines its doctrine on the use of ChatGPT by teenagers, balancing expanded access with age-appropriate protections. The company claims that nearly nine out of ten minors on the tool use it weekly to learn, gather information, or build skills, and advocates for supervised access rather than a ban until they reach adulthood.

When its system estimates that a user is under eighteen, ChatGPT switches to a tailored experience: enhanced filtering on graphic violence, self-harm, dangerous viral challenges, body image, and romantic or sexual roleplay. Parents with a linked teen account can now activate Study Mode, a study mode designed with educators that guides the student through questions instead of delivering the answer, and which remains active by default for every new conversation once enabled. Break reminders are displayed during extended sessions.

Parental controls are gaining ground: quiet hours, disabling voice mode, image generation management, and alerts in certain high-risk situations. A notification now alerts parents when a teen account is closed for violating rules on online threats or acts of violence, a feature developed with Moonshot, a specialist in violence prevention.

The company estimates that eighteen million weekly users engage with its interactive math and science experiences, which have been expanded to over two hundred and fifty subjects. It is joining the Family Online Safety Institute, collaborating with the American Psychological Association and Common Sense Media, and advocating for global safety standards for minors led by a dedicated institute, with open policies and tools that other developers can adopt.