ChatGPT Teen Mode Called Too Risky for Teens in New Report

A US non-profit group, Common Sense Media, has released a report saying ChatGPT's teen mode is too risky for users aged 13 to 17. It is calling on OpenAI to pause promoting the product until a safe experience is assured.

In tests, when teens spent long chats on suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, the teen mode often failed to alert parents. Sometimes no alert was sent at all. Accounts needed hundreds of prompts over weeks to trigger a parent notice.

OpenAI said the tests may have run before all parent controls were live, and asked for a retest. The researchers stood by their findings, noting that accounts registered as adults did not switch to teen mode even when users said they were 13 in chat.