OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens moves youth safety from a policy page into a distinct product experience. Accounts identified as ages 13–17, or estimated to be under 18, are placed into the mode automatically.
The launch combines stronger built-in protections, learning-oriented interaction, healthy-use features, and additional parent controls. OpenAI also says teen-specific evaluations are being added to system cards for sensitive areas such as self-harm, eating disorders, violence, age-restricted goods, and sexual content.
The announcement describes intended safeguards, not their real-world effectiveness across families and regions. The site-worthy signal is the product architecture: age estimation, default behavior, parent controls, and public evaluation are being joined into one lifecycle rather than left as separate settings.