OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens with new safety features

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT for Teens, a specialized version of its chatbot for users aged 13 to 17. The release comes amid mounting legal pressure, including a 2025 lawsuit over the suicide of 16-year-old Adam Raine. To protect minors, the platform restricts content related to self-harm and eating disorders, blocks romantic roleplay, and introduces a Study Mode to prevent homework cheating. OpenAI uses self-declaration and over 2,000 behavioral signals to automatically place minors into this restricted mode.

ChatGPT for Teens launch

• ▪The global rollout of ChatGPT for Teens is scheduled to take place over a few weeks starting on August 19, 2026.
• ▪OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens on August 18, 2026, a tailored version of its chatbot designed specifically for users aged 13 to 17.

Teen suicide lawsuits

• ▪The parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI in 2025, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged their son to take his own life after he began using it for schoolwork.
• ▪Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in June 2026, alleging the company failed to warn the public about ChatGPT's dangers regarding self-harm and eating disorders.

Content restriction features

• ▪ChatGPT for Teens restricts content and limits conversations around high-risk issues such as suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, violence, and explicit graphic material.
• ▪ChatGPT for Teens blocks romantic or sexualized roleplay and prevents the chatbot from implying that it has personal feelings, consciousness, or emotions.

Study Mode homework support

• ▪ChatGPT for Teens features a Study Mode that provides guiding questions and step-by-step support to help students learn concepts rather than directly generating answers.
• ▪ChatGPT for Teens displays homework reminders that redirect teenagers back to Study Mode when the system detects they are attempting to get direct answers to cheat.

Parental notification system

• ▪Parents with linked accounts can set "quiet hours" to restrict access and receive safety notifications within an hour if human-reviewed systems detect risks like eating disorders.
• ▪Linking parent and teen accounts on ChatGPT for Teens requires both the teenage user and their parent or guardian to opt in.

Age verification methods

• ▪OpenAI automatically places users into ChatGPT for Teens if they declare their age as 13 to 17 during registration.
• ▪OpenAI tracks more than 2,000 minimally privacy-invasive signals, such as typical login times and account age, to estimate if a user is under 18 and apply teen mode.