Earlier this month, OpenAI said it would be introducing parental controls for ChatGPT following an incident and lawsuit involving a teenager who allegedly used ChatGPT to plan and carry out his own suicide. That day is now here, with OpenAI rolling out ChatGPT parental controls.
The feature allows parents to link their ChatGPT accounts with their child’s account and customize ChatGPT’s settings to create a safer, more age-appropriate experience for under-age users.
OpenAI explains their approach to parental controls:
We’ve worked closely with experts, advocacy groups including Common Sense Media, and policymakers, including the Attorneys General of California and Delaware, to help inform our approach, and expect to refine and expand on these controls over time.
Parents can establish quiet hours, restrict access to voice control and image generation functions, and decide whether their teen’s conversations with ChatGPT can be used for training its AI models. However, parents can’t see the linked account’s chat history, preserving the privacy of the children and their activities.
Linking ChatGPT accounts also activates enhanced protections that automatically block discussions involving graphic content, sexual or violent role play, viral challenges, and extreme beauty ideals.
In addition, there’s a warning function that can be triggered when ChatGPT detects signs of self-harming behavior, which will then alert the linked parents. In extreme cases, authorities may also be contacted.
OpenAI has created a hub page for parents who want to know more about ChatGPT and keeping their kids safe on it:
We’ve created a new parent resource page to bring everything together in one place. It explains how ChatGPT works, the parental controls available, and offers ideas for how teens can use it for learning, creativity, and everyday life. This is just a starting point and we expect to regularly update it with tips, guides, expert advice, and conversation starters so parents feel supported as their family’s use of AI grows.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC för Alla and was translated and localized from Swedish.
