ChatGPT for Teens: How OpenAI is making AI safer for young users

​Earlier this year, ChatGPT crossed 100 million weekly users in India, with 18- to 24-year-old users leading the demographic. Considering the ever-expanding number of users, India is a significant market for OpenAI. According to Misra, India is positioned to benefit vastly from AI-assisted learning.  “There is a large community and a large population in India where just some sort of learning is better than no teacher at all,” she said, pointing to underserved communities now gaining quality educational content through smartphones rather than classrooms.

​When asked why now was the time for rollout of the age-appropriate mode, Misra shared that it was not incidental. “Today young people are already using AI,” she said, adding that the idea for a teen-specific product came from tracking what people actually use ChatGPT for in India. “Nine out of 10 use cases that we have, or chats that we have, are learning use cases, and many of them are under 18,” Misra said.

At present, with more and more teens using AI worldwide, policymakers are advocating for safe and responsible use of the technology. When it comes to regulation, Misra hailed the Indian government’s current posture of ‘principle-based and risk-based regulation’. According to her, it leaves room for innovation while still requiring companies to build guardrails for young users who are usually at higher risk. The OpenAI executive also backed the government’s push for AI literacy to 10 crore students, as announced by the Prime Minister on Independence Day, adding that schools and teachers have moved beyond the inhibitions about AI to how well it could be used.  

The Open Dialogues initiative

OpenAI has been touring India under its flagship programme Open Dialogues focused on AI and youth safety. The initiative brought together parents, educators, civil society groups, and public figures in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai to speak on how young people are actually using AI.  The Mumbai event this week coincided with the launch of ChatGPT for Teens, a dedicated experience for users aged 13–17, backed by stronger safety measures and new tools for parental oversight.

“This is really a parent’s guide to learning with ChatGPT, which means making sure the under-18 experience is age-appropriate, with all the safety guardrails in place,” said Misra.

What is ChatGPT for Teens?

ChatGPT for Teens is a version of ChatGPT that has been designed for users under the age of 18. The age-appropriate version comes with stronger safety protections and features that enhance learning. It also comes with features like Study Mode, Responsible Homework Reminders, and Study Hours to encourage responsible and safe use of the platform. Additionally, it will limit conversations surrounding high-risk topics like self-harm, violence and eating disorders, etc. Through linked accounts, parents can manage selected settings, set Quiet Hours and receive safety notifications in limited high-risk situations. It also frequently reminds teens to take breaks during prolonged use.

On what “safe and age-appropriate” AI use means for teenagers in practical terms, Misra elaborated that the company relies on a mix of behavioural signals instead of a single checkpoint. “The timing when you use ChatGPT is one indicator,” she said. According to her, usage around 3 or 4 pm, when many Indian students are just out of school, can suggest a teenage user. The phrasing of prompts and questions is another. A third comes from images, as teens frequently photograph handwritten notes, and handwriting patterns offer a further clue.

She shared that if the model is unable to confidently determine a user’s age, OpenAI defaults to caution. “We’d much rather be safe than be sorry,” Misra said. “By default, we actually put you into the much safer experience, which is the under-18 experience.”

What OpenAI is guarding against

Speaking about the biggest risks facing teenage users, Misra pointed to three areas the company has explicitly designed against. The first is around self-harm and self-image, along with a pattern of emotional or romantic dependency in conversations with the chatbot. “We expect the model to have a conversation more like a friend and less like a partner,” she said of the under-18 experience.

The second risk is a diminished learning experience, what Misra described as ‘brain rot’, the erosion of the productive struggle that comes with genuinely learning a concept. Apprehension over this is part of the reasoning behind Study Mode that was launched last August and is now built into ChatGPT for Teens. “The model actually nudges you for it to become like a tutor and less like an answering machine,” Misra said, describing an experience that adapts to how a student learns best.

Further, the third risk, according to Misra, is simply the absence of adult guidance. Parental controls are meant to close that gap. This means if the system flags a distress signal or an inappropriate conversation, a linked parent account receives a notification by SMS or email, prompting them to step in. “That responsibility, in a social context, does not go away,” she said. “We can only do whatever we can on the product… but we want to empower the parents to have better understanding and knowledge so that they can take action.”

Balancing parental oversight and teen privacy

When asked how OpenAI balances parental oversight with a teenager’s right to privacy, Misra narrated a conversation from the Mumbai event in which a parent influencer asked whether OpenAI could let parents view every message their teenager sends the chatbot. “That is the ideal world where we want to be able to do it, but that is not the way that we would expect young adults to grow up and also to interact,” she said. Instead, the company’s approach leans towards flagging genuine risk rather than blanket surveillance, paired with what Misra called “real-world conversations with parents, with adults, with friends, with teachers” about responsible use. This is part of the guidance published by OpenAI through its OpenAI Academy, its online resource hub for students, teachers and parents.

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