Digital Event Horizon
OpenAI has announced plans to develop an automated age-prediction system for ChatGPT, prioritizing safety over privacy and freedom for teens. The move comes after a lawsuit filed by parents whose 16-year-old son died by suicide following extensive interactions with the chatbot.
OpenAI plans to develop an automated age-prediction system for its ChatGPT platform to determine users' ages. The system will route users under 18 to a modified experience with restricted content and parental controls. Experts caution that developing effective age-verification systems is challenging, with low accuracy rates and limitations in relying solely on conversational text. PARENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DISABLE MEMORIES AND CHAT HISTORY, SET BLACKOUT HOURS, AND RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS IF THEIR TEEN IS EXPERIENCING ACUTE DISTRESS Other tech companies have introduced youth-specific versions of their services, but teens often find ways to bypass age verification. The effectiveness of OpenAI's plan will be closely watched by experts and parents in balancing user safety with digital freedom.
OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot platform ChatGPT, has announced plans to develop an automated age-prediction system that will determine whether users are over or under 18 years old. This move comes after a lawsuit filed by parents whose 16-year-old son died by suicide following extensive interactions with ChatGPT, and amid concerns about the chatbot's safety features.
In a companion blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the company's decision to prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens. While acknowledging that adults may eventually need to verify their age to use a more unrestricted version of the service, Altman stated that "not everyone will agree with how we are resolving that conflict" between user privacy and teen safety.
The proposed age-prediction system represents a non-trivial technical undertaking for OpenAI, and whether AI-powered age detection can actually work remains a significant open question. When the AI system in development identifies users under 18, OpenAI plans to automatically route the user to a modified ChatGPT experience that blocks graphic sexual content and includes other age-appropriate restrictions.
However, experts caution that developing effective age-verification systems isn't straightforward. A recent academic research study achieved 96 percent accuracy detecting underage users from text, but only in controlled conditions with cooperative subjects. When attempting to classify specific age groups, accuracy dropped to 54 percent, with the models completely failing for some demographics. Moreover, researchers note that relying solely on conversational text can be an unreliable signal of user age, as language usage patterns shift over time.
Moreover, ChatGPT's memory function and chat history storage are among the features that will be subject to parental controls. Parents will be able to disable these features, set blackout hours when teens cannot use the service, and receive notifications when the system "detects" their teen experiencing acute distress. However, OpenAI states that in rare emergency situations where parents cannot be reached, the company may involve law enforcement as a next step.
The proposed parental controls have been met with skepticism by some experts, who point to cases of teens circumventing age verification through false birthdate entries or technical workarounds. A 2024 BBC report found that 22 percent of children lie on social media platforms about being 18 or over.
In an effort to create "safer" digital spaces for young users, other tech companies have introduced youth-specific versions of their services. However, these efforts often face similar challenges, as teens find ways to bypass age verification through creative means.
As OpenAI moves forward with its plan to develop the age-prediction system, experts and parents alike will be watching closely to see how effective it proves to be in balancing user safety with digital freedom.
Related Information:
https://www.digitaleventhorizon.com/articles/The-Age-old-Conundrum-Balancing-Privacy-and-Safety-in-AI-Powered-Chatbots-deh.shtml
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/chatgpt-may-soon-require-id-verification-from-adults-ceo-says/
Published: Tue Sep 16 17:30:40 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
