OpenAI has introduced a separate version of ChatGPT for users under 18. The product features enhanced safety settings and educational tools—the company aims to reduce risks for minors and simultaneously address the problem of cheating in schools.
The main innovation is the "Learning Mode." Instead of providing a ready-made answer, the system asks leading questions and offers step-by-step support, encouraging the teenager to figure out the topic on their own. If the algorithm notices that the user is trying to obtain a ready-made solution for homework, the chatbot shows a corresponding reminder and suggests switching to the learning format. Parents will be able to set this mode as default for their child's account. Within the mode, self-assessment quizzes and learning progress visualization will also appear.
Parental Controls and Protection from Dangerous Content
The version for teenagers includes filters against harmful and inappropriate materials by default. Parents have access to a separate set of tools, including notifications about potentially dangerous situations, a "quiet hours" function limiting access to the chatbot during specific times, and management of the child's account safety settings.
Separately, OpenAI announced a partnership with CodeAI—it is intended to help teenagers gain a deeper understanding of how artificial intelligence works, learn to use it correctly, and critically evaluate the answers they receive from it. Previously, the company had already launched a version of ChatGPT for teachers, focused on integrating AI into the educational process.
The new product was released against the backdrop of a series of lawsuits against chatbot developers: plaintiffs link the lack of sufficient protective measures to teen suicides and other cases of worsening mental health among minor users. ChatGPT appeared at the end of 2022 and amassed 900 million weekly users in just a few years—long before the company developed separate protection mechanisms for the teenage audience.
For now, the question remains of how resilient the new restrictions will prove to be—teenagers have traditionally demonstrated ingenuity in circumventing parental controls on various platforms.
OpenAI is betting on a combination of technical barriers and parental involvement in monitoring children's use of AI.
AI Opinion
From the perspective of machine data analysis, the launch of ChatGPT for teenagers logically continues OpenAI's broader strategy of establishing a foothold in the educational sphere: the company had already offered free access to ChatGPT Plus for school teachers, and at that time the number of weekly platform users was estimated at 800 million—this figure has now grown to 900 million. This sequence of steps—first teachers, then students—resembles the construction of an entire ecosystem around the school, rather than a one-off reaction to lawsuits.
A particular technical fork deserves attention: the system must simultaneously recognize an attempt to cheat and not interfere with a legitimate learning request, yet the accuracy of such classification in practice is rarely one hundred percent. History shows that parental controls on other platforms have regularly been circumvented by switching accounts or devices—whether the "Learning Mode" will be an exception will only be shown by the product's mass adoption.
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