OpenAI has rolled out a new set of parental controls following a controversial issue where a teenage boy committed suicide after talking with the company's chatbot, sparking a lawsuit by his family.
Starting Monday, all ChatGPT users will gain access to the control features, which are especially important because users as young as 13 are allowed to sign up. The announcement contends with mounting public pressure to prioritize the safety of the chatbot for teenagers.
New Parental Controls for ChatGPT
OpenAI committed changes to its flagship product after a family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. This legal challenge came after their 16-year-old son was allegedly spurred to take his own life after conversing with ChatGPT.
The new parental controls will now allow parents to link their own ChatGPT accounts to their children's accounts. They would also give them the ability to "customize settings for a safe, age-appropriate experience," according to CBS News.
In its Monday announcement, the company stated that certain types of content will be automatically restricted on a teenager's linked account. These include graphic content, viral challenges, "sexual, romantic, or violent" role-play, and "extreme beauty ideals."
Read more: OpenAI Announces New Parental Controls Following Lawsuit Over California Teenager's Suicide Death
In addition to content moderation, the changes will allow parents to opt for notifications from OpenAI if their children exhibit potential signs of self-harm while interacting with the ChatGPT bot.
The new parental controls come as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States has opened an inquiry into several tech firms. This is regarding the potential harm to children and teenagers who access the companies' AI chatbots, as reported by Tech Xplore.
Protecting Children and Teenagers
The changes allow parents more control and freedom in adjusting a range of settings and switching of restrictions as they see fit for their kids. One example is if teens are sleeping late because they are using ChatGPT. The new features let parents set a quiet time when kids cannot access the bot at all.
Other adjustable settings include the ability for parents to turn off the chatbot's memory, so that conversations cannot be saved or will not be used in future responses. They can also turn off ChatGPT's ability to generate or edit images.
In addition to the new parental controls, OpenAI shared its plans to develop a long-term age prediction system for users. This system would be designed to predict whether a user is 18 years old, enabling ChatGPT to apply teen-appropriate settings automatically without requiring a parent's action, as per Cryptopolitan.
