ChatGPT for Teens is an ‘unacceptable risk,’ says Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media, the nonprofit known for reviewing apps and entertainment from a youth-safety perspective, has declared OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens an “unacceptable risk.” The group’s Youth AI Safety Institute evaluated the teen-focused experience, which OpenAI launched in August with additional guardrails and parental tools intended to support learning. Common Sense Media concluded those protections fall short of what OpenAI promised. The nonprofit’s assessment lists several failures: parental notifications do not always trigger when they should, crisis-related responses do not provide appropriate help, and the model can still assist with completing schoolwork. Tom Siegel, executive director of the Youth AI Safety Institute, said the system could leave parents falsely reassured and argued the product should be limited to adults until OpenAI addresses the problems and proves fixes through independent testing. OpenAI responded through spokesperson Eric Porterfield, saying the company is committed to teen safety and welcomes independent review but disputes Common Sense Media’s testing as not reflective of how safeguards operate in practice. OpenAI said its review of the nonprofit’s methodology indicates many tests may have occurred before parental controls had fully activated for newly linked accounts; the company said that activation can take several hours, which could explain missing notifications. Common Sense Media pushed back on that explanation, saying it confirmed with OpenAI before testing that Teen mode features were fully launched, and noting that while OpenAI later disclosed a potential multi-hour activation window for parental notifications, some of the organization’s test accounts had been linked long enough that delays do not account for all missed alerts. The nonprofit said it shared its findings with OpenAI before publication and called for engagement on the substance of its results rather than challenges to its methods.