Common Sense Media Says ChatGPT for Teens Sent No Parent Alerts, OpenAI Disputes Findings

Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute reports that ChatGPT for Teens sent no parental alerts during hour-long talks on self-harm and missed over 25% of crisis-referral situations, based on 4,000-plus prompts. OpenAI disputes the findings, saying parental controls likely had not finished activating, and asks for a retest with a larger sample.

• Common Sense Media says researchers triggered a parental alert only after weeks of accumulated chats on sensitive topics, with child psychiatrists evaluating the responses.
• Common Sense Media reports adult-registered test accounts never switched to teen accounts in repeated testing over many days, even when the user said they were 13.
• OpenAI says teens spend under 15 minutes a day on average in the chatbot, and fewer than 2% spend over three consecutive hours.