OpenAI adds parental controls to ChatGPT and other new safety measures amid ongoing lawsuit
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has announced that it will introduce parental controls “within the next month” and a number of other safety measures, following a lawsuit filed by parents in the US.
In a statement announcing the new safeguard, OpenAI warned: “Some of this work will move very quickly, while other parts will take more time.”
Over the next 120 days, OpenAI says it will focus on:
interventions for people in crisis
making it easier to reach emergency services and get expert help
enable connections to trusted contacts
strengthen protections for teenage users
The company will also add more clinicians and researchers with expertise in teen adolescent health, eating disorders and substance abuse to its Global Physician Network.
OpenAI says new parental controls will be added “within the next month” to allow parents to control how ChatGPT responds to their teenage child using age-appropriate behaviour rules and disable features, such as memory and chat history. Parents will also be able to link their children’s ChatGPT accounts to their own.
Parents will receive notifications when the system detects their teenager is in “a moment of acute distress”. OpenAI says it will use expert guidance to ensure that this feature supports trust between parents and teenagers.
OpenAI says: “These steps are only the beginning. We will continue learning and strengthening our approach, guided by experts, with the goal of making ChatGPT as helpful as possible. We look forward to sharing our progress over the coming 120 days.”
The news follows shortly after parents in the US filed a lawsuit against OpenAI following the death of their teenage son. In the lawsuit, the parents claim ChatGPT validated the 16-year-old boy’s suicidal thoughts.
Shortly after, OpenAI published a blog titled Helping people when they need it most, which acknowledges that ChatGPT is sometimes used by people experiencing “serious mental and emotional distress.” It outlines existing safeguards, including training models not to provide self-harm instructions, nudges to take breaks in long conversations, and directing users to hotlines such as 988 in the US and Samaritans in the UK.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available in the US on 988, 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. International helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
