OpenAI on Monday announced the launch of ChatGPT for Teens, following numerous lawsuits over the lack of safety measures in AI chatbots, leading to teen suicides and other mental health concerns. The new product promises to include additional security measures as well as the educational crisis of ChatGPT-based cheating in schools.
On the educational side, ChatGPT for Teens introduces new learning mode features and other tools designed to encourage teens to use their curiosity to approach problems, rather than just getting answers right away.
As OpenAI explains in a blog post, the learning mode option provides teens with guiding questions and step-by-step support to help them understand the material. Meanwhile, the teen experience also includes homework reminders that appear when the teen appears to be trying to cheat instead of understanding the material. The AI chatbot prompts teens to use learning mode instead.
The app also supports quizzes and learning visualizations, as well as controls that allow parents or guardians to decide whether learning mode is enabled by default, the company said.
Still, it’s not clear how difficult it will be for teens to escape these new systems if they decide not to cooperate. Teens are very adept at circumventing parental controls and other attempts to lock down their digital experiences. Until ChatGPT’s Teen Mode undergoes more rigorous testing, it will be unclear how difficult it actually is to circumvent these safety measures.
There is also the question of why these protections were not part of ChatGPT from the beginning. AI chatbots first appeared in late 2022 and grew to 900 million weekly users before meaningful protections designed specifically for teenage users were added.
OpenAI says ChatGPT for Teens enables app-appropriate protections by default and is designed to reduce exposure to harmful or developmentally inappropriate content. These measures are based on the under-18 principle in OpenAI’s model specification, which the company claims is based on “developmental science and guidance from experts.”
Parents can also use previously introduced Family Tools and Parental Controls to manage settings, receive safety notifications, set quiet time, and more.
OpenAI announced a partnership with CodeAI to help youth learn more about AI, including how it works, how to instruct and ask questions of AI, and how to use AI. In the classroom, OpenAI already offers ChatGPT for Teachers, enabling schools to provide access and support to institution-managed AI.
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