ChatGPT for Teens flagged as 'unacceptable risk'
Original: ChatGPT for Teens keeps teens talking, even during mental health crises
Why This Matters
Chatbot safety for minors is now a legislative and liability flashpoint across the industry.
Common Sense Media rated ChatGPT for Teens 'unacceptable risk,' finding its design encourages engagement even during mental health crises, despite OpenAI's August launch promises of stronger teen safeguards.
Common Sense Media, the nonprofit behind age-based media ratings, released a study finding that OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens still prioritizes engagement over user safety — including during mental health emergencies. The report described engagement cues as 'pervasive even in crisis situations,' and noted that while the product warned teens about unhealthy relationships broadly, it failed to recognize an unhealthy relationship with the chatbot itself. The product earned failing scores on three of five 'Red Lines' the researchers use to assess severe harms.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens in August following a wave of teen suicides linked to chatbot use and concerns about cheating. The company promised parental controls, limits on high-risk content, and guardrails against emotional dependence. OpenAI disputed the study's conclusions, claiming testing may have started before parental controls were fully activated, calling the findings 'inaccurate.'
The report lands against a broader regulatory backdrop. Meta recently settled for $18 billion with 29 states over addictive features harming children. Congress introduced the bipartisan CHATBOT Act, which directly targets AI companies using 'rewards, notifications, and targeted advertising to drive prolonged engagement by adolescent users.' Common Sense researchers were blunt: 'Kids shouldn't be using an unsafe product.'