As a growing number of teens turn to artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT as a homework aid, its parent company OpenAI announced Tuesday that it is launching a new ChatGPT for Teens experience to protect younger users.
“It provides stronger built-in safety protections for teens, including features to promote healthy use and additional controls for parents,” said the company in a press release. “If our system estimates someone is under 18 or they state their age is between 13 and 17, they are automatically placed into ChatGPT for Teens.”
ChatGPT for Teens is engineered to “support moments outside the classroom when help is not always available” said OpenAI. At the same time, it aims to “keeping teens engaged in an active and collaborative learning process.”
Pew Research Center data from last year found that the percentage of teens who used ChatGPT for schoolwork had doubled from 2023 to 2025 to reach around a quarter of students. While it is becoming increasingly popular, some research has indicated that AI has a negative impact on education.
According to Open AI, the company believes “AI should expand educational opportunity,” and used an example of student asking AI to explain a concept as they are studying. It said a student can “ask ChatGPT to explain an unfamiliar concept, work through a practice problem, and check their understanding.”
On the education front, Open AI said has entered into signature partnership with CodeAI to prepare the first generation of students who have had access to AI with tools and resources that help them learn how to benefit from it. This partnership will focus on how to help teens understand how AI works, as well as how to direct, question and create with it – and to work through questions themselves instead of getting easy answers.
“Teens are already using AI not only to study, but to build tools, teach themselves new skills, and work on problems in their communities,” Open AI said. “Those are the kinds of uses ChatGPT for Teens is meant to foster: capable, learning-centered AI that helps young people move from understanding ideas to applying them.”
OpenAI used the example of Rushil Kukreja, Arhan Menta, and Nayel Rehman of Virginia, developers of WiFind, “a search-and-rescue system that uses existing Wi-Fi signals to help locate survivors trapped beneath rubble after natural disasters,” as an example of teens using AI positively.
To create ChatGPT for Teens, Open AI brought together features like Study Mode built with teachers, scientists, and pedagogy experts (including Study Hours to have it on by default); homework reminders; quizzes and learning visualizations. It has also worked on safety for teens with features such as Parental Controls, Under-18 Model Spec, Teen Safety Blueprint, Age-Prediction and features to support learning and healthy AI use for teens.
“We have been guided by four commitments: put teen safety first, encourage real-world support, treat teens like teens, and be transparent about how our systems should behave,” said OpenAI. “We’re reinforcing and furthering those commitments in ChatGPT for Teens with a focus on learning and even stronger built-in protections.”
OpenAI explained that ChatGPT for Teens applies age-appropriate safeguards designed to reduce exposure to content that may be harmful or developmentally inappropriate, for users under age 18. Previously, research has raised concerns about ChatGPT’s tendency to flatter users and AI chatbots have been linked to teen suicides in lawsuits.
Earlier this month, the Center for Countering Digital Hate released a report that indicated ChatGPT “betrays vulnerable teens by encouraging dangerous behavior,” and “by generating dangerous advice about self-harm and suicide, eating disorders and substance abuse.”
When it comes to explicit content, Audacy has reported on the company’s stance that ChatGPT should not be used to create sexually explicit content.
Using the Under-18 Principles in our Model Spec, OpenAI seeks to offer “age-appropriate model protections and product interventions in higher-risk areas such as self-harm, violence, eating disorders, dangerous activities, and explicit sexual or graphic content.” Image upload reminders in ChatGPT for teens will also caution them against sharing private or sensitive messages and the program will introduce and explain its safety features to users.
Overall, Open AI said it “designed ChatGPT for Teens to support real-world relationships and healthy habits, with break reminders that encourage teens to step away, and product cues that consistently identify ChatGPT as AI,” not a person with feelings or consciousness. It said that it plans to continue building this experience and these features.
As for what educators think about the growth of AI, results of an NPR/Ipsos poll from earlier this summer shows that they’re concerned about the impact this tech has on students’ critical thinking and think students use it as a shortcut to avoid doing more work. Even with the new guardrails, educators also stress that tactile learning – such as practicing handwriting – has a positive impact on students, as explored in this recent article in Education Week.
