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Parents can now manage their teen's ChatGPT account.
With the controls, parents can enable or disable key features.
A new resource page offers details on the parental controls.
Parents concerned about how their kids use AI chatbots like ChatGPT now have additional controls to better manage and monitor their use. On Monday, OpenAI announced an expansion of its parental controls through which you can link to your teen's ChatGPT account and customize core features, time limits, and other settings.
How to link to your teen's ChatGPT account
To use ChatGPT, someone must be at least 13 years old, and users between the ages of 13 and 17 must have parental permission. Now rolling out to all ChatGPT users, the new controls are designed specifically to better protect people in that age range.
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To set up the new account links as a parent or guardian, open ChatGPT on the web, go to Settings, and then select Parental Controls. Here, you should be able to send an invitation to your teen's account. Alternatively, your teen can also send you the link.
After the invitation is accepted, you can manage your teen's ChatGPT settings from your own account. The key features and options you're able to view and control include the following:
Reduce sensitive content. After the accounts are linked, you can opt to reduce sensitive content that the teen is able to see and access.
Model training. You can turn off model training for the teen's account so that their conversations and files won't be used for AI training.
Memory. You can also disable the memory feature so that ChatGPT won't save or use memories in its responses to the teen.
Voice mode. You can remove the ability to use voice mode on your teen's account.
Image generation. You can disable the option to create or edit images on the teen's account.
Quiet hours. You're able to set specific times when the teen can't use ChatGPT.
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To respect your teen's privacy, you won't be able to see their conversation. However, you will be notified if the AI and trained human reviewers detect content that could pose serious risk or harm. Here, you can choose to receive notifications via email, text message, push notification, or all three.
OpenAI
A good starting point
In developing the controls, OpenAI worked with advocacy groups such as Common Sense Media and policymakers such as the Attorneys General of California and Delaware. The company said that it expects to refine and further develop these controls over time.
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"These parental controls are a good starting point for parents in managing their teen's ChatGPT use," Robbie Torney, Senior Director of AI Programs for Common Sense Media, said in a statement. "Parental controls are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to keeping kids and teens safe online, though--they work best when combined with ongoing conversations about responsible AI use, clear family rules about technology, and active involvement in understanding what their teen is doing online."
Though generative AI can be a powerful and valuable tool, there are decided downsides. Bots like ChatGPT can feed people misleading, inaccurate, or even dangerous information. Teens can be especially vulnerable.
Other steps
In April, a teenage boy who had discussed his own suicide and methods with ChatGPT eventually took his own life. His parents have since filed a lawsuit against OpenAI charging that ChatGPT "neither terminated the session nor initiated any emergency protocol" despite an awareness of the teen's suicidal state. In a similar case, AI chatbot platform Character.ai is also being sued by a mother whose teenage son died by suicide after chatting with a bot that allegedly encouraged him.
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In response to these teen suicides and other cases, OpenAI has been attempting to improve its parental controls and other safety nets. In August, the company announced that it would strengthen the ways that ChatGPT responds to people in distress and update how and which type of content is blocked. To address vulnerable teenagers in particular, OpenAI is also working to expand intervention to teens in crisis, direct them to professional resources, and involve a parent when necessary.
In another step, the company is developing an age-prediction system that estimates a user's age based on how they use ChatGPT. If the AI determines that the person is between 13 and 18, it will switch to a teen version in which it will be trained not to talk flirtatiously or participate in a discussion about suicide. If the underage user is discussing suicidal thoughts, OpenAI will try to contact parents or authorities.
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Parents and guardians who want to stay abreast of OpenAI's safeguards can also now consult a new resource page. The page explains how ChatGPT works, which parental controls are accessible, and how teens can use the AI more safely and effectively.