Overview
- OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, bundling prior youth safeguards with new controls aimed at teen use.
- The product automatically applies teen settings when users say they are 13–17 or when OpenAI’s age-estimation AI suspects they are minors.
- New specific protections include 90-minute activity break nudges, Quiet Hours and Study Hours modes, prompts before uploading private images, and limits that stop the model from saying it has personal feelings.
- Parental controls require both teen and parent opt-in and let linked parents set quiet hours and get limited safety alerts with plans to add eating-disorder notifications.
- The release responds to rising legal and public scrutiny after lawsuits and criminal cases cited ChatGPT conversations in harms to young people and follows watchdog research showing chatbots can give risky, detailed guidance to teens.