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's Youth AI Safety Institute reports that ChatGPT for Teens sent no parental alerts across 4,000-plus test prompts and missed over 25% of crisis-referral situations. OpenAI rejects the findings, saying testing ended before parental controls activated. It asks for a rerun with fully activated accounts and a larger sample.
OpenAI unveils MentalHealthBench, an open safety benchmark for AI mental-health conversations that tests context gathering, user agency and actionable guidance across synthetic emotional, high-acuity and emergency scenarios reviewed by 80 professionals from 22 countries.
OpenAI updates ChatGPT’s default GPT-5 to better respond to self-harm, psychosis and unhealthy emotional reliance, adding crisis-hotline access, safer model routing and break reminders while reporting 65–80% fewer responses that miss its safety standards.
OpenAI says it is handling mental health-related lawsuits transparently while tightening ChatGPT safeguards, arguing in the Raine case that the complaint selectively omits context from chat transcripts filed under seal.
Anthropic launches a $5 million grant program funding independent research into AI's impact on user wellbeing, offering clinicians, psychologists, and methodologists funding, model access, and technical support, with applications due September 21.
Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann launches a $249 AI companion pendant 2.0 with a built-in speaker, OpenAI-powered upgrades, and randomly assigned voices, targeting lonely users as he pushes to scale sales from 5,000 to 50,000 units despite widespread public criticism.
Teenagers are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support, reporting they feel more understood and less judged by AI than by real people, prompting researchers to urge policymakers to address teens' unmet emotional needs rather than simply restricting AI access.
A alarming new survey of over 1,300 teens reveals nearly half have been exposed to AI-generated explicit content, with one in four reporting they've seen such material depicting themselves or someone they know, sparking urgent concerns about safety, body image, and relationship expectations among young people.
A alarming new survey reveals 44% of teens have encountered AI-generated sexual content, with most exposures accidental, leaving two-thirds fearing they'll become deepfake targets and 60% reporting distorted perceptions of real bodies, as pressure mounts on tech platforms and lawmakers to act.