Via gizmodo.com
The company is rolling out a tailored teen experience with content filters, parental controls, and an age-prediction system set to go global in 2026.
OpenAI is building guardrails around ChatGPT for its youngest users. On September 16, 2025, the company announced a suite of safety measures designed specifically for users under 18, including automatic content restrictions, a new parental control system, and an AI-powered age-prediction tool that tries to figure out if you’re a teenager before you even tell it.
What the teen experience actually looks like #
The new “teen experience” is essentially a filtered version of ChatGPT that automatically blocks several categories of content. Graphic and sexual material, flirtatious interactions, and discussions around self-harm or suicide are all restricted by default for users identified as minors.
The minimum age to use ChatGPT remains 13, but users under 18 now need parental consent. That consent isn’t just a checkbox, either. On September 29, 2025, OpenAI launched a parental controls feature that lets guardians link their own accounts to their teens’ accounts.
Parents can customize safety settings, monitor usage patterns, and receive notifications when the system detects signals of acute distress from their teen’s conversations.
The age-prediction system #
Rather than relying solely on users self-reporting their age, the system analyzes behavioral signals to estimate whether a user is likely under 18. If the system flags someone as a probable minor, it defaults to the restricted teen experience automatically.
The global rollout of this prediction system is scheduled for mid-2026, with a European Union-specific deployment following shortly after.
For adults who get misidentified as teenagers by the system, users can verify their age through third-party services to regain access to the full, unrestricted version of ChatGPT. OpenAI has explicitly stated that these changes prioritize teen safety over total privacy and freedom. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our