OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens is an “unacceptable risk,” Common Sense Media said today — citing failures in parental alerts, crisis response, and academic integrity safeguards. The nonprofit’s assessment, released October 7, found the teen-focused experience doesn’t notify parents during extended self-harm conversations, offers inadequate help in mental health emergencies, and continues to complete homework assignments outright.
“A teen can spend an hour talking about self-harm without their parent getting a single alert,” said Tom Siegel, executive director of Common Sense Media’s Youth AI Safety Institute. “Until OpenAI fixes that and proves it with independent testing, ChatGPT should be for adults only.” ChatGPT for Teens launched in August as a separate experience with age-specific guardrails and parental controls.
But Common Sense Media says those protections “fall short of what the company promised.” Its report notes the app still generates full essays, solves math problems step-by-step, and fails to trigger safety notifications even on accounts linked to parents for days. OpenAI disputes the findings. Spokesperson Eric Porterfield said Common Sense Media’s tests may have occurred before parental controls fully activated, a process OpenAI says can take “several hours” on new accounts.
“Our review of Common Sense Media’s methodology shows that the bulk of their testing may have begun and concluded before activation of parental controls was complete,” Porterfield said. Common Sense Media pushed back: some test accounts were linked well beyond that window and still received zero alerts. It also confirmed with OpenAI before testing that features like eating disorder detection and study mode were live.
“This new information does not change our conclusion that parental alerts are unreliable for crisis situations,” Siegel said. The dispute lands amid growing regulatory scrutiny of AI tools aimed at minors. Including pending legislation in the EU and California. No recall or suspension has been announced.
OpenAI says it’s “committed to continuing to work with experts” to improve safeguards. Common Sense Media says its evaluation was shared with OpenAI in advance, and calls for third-party verification before the product is marketed to families as safe for unsupervised teen use. ChatGPT for Teens remains available globally, free for users aged 13–17 with verified parental consent.
No price change or regional restriction has been announced.
SDFiled by The Software Desk
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