OpenAI and Meta are updating their AI chatbots to more effectively respond to teenagers and users experiencing mental and emotional distress, particularly regarding suicide and self-harm.
The big picture: OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, announced plans to introduce new parental controls this fall allowing parents to link their accounts with their teens’.
- These controls will enable parents to disable certain chatbot features and receive notifications if their teen is detected to be in acute distress.
- ChatGPT will redirect the most sensitive and distressing interactions to more advanced AI models designed to provide better support and safer guidance.
Driving the news: This initiative follows a lawsuit filed by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who alleged ChatGPT helped the teen plan and follow through with his suicide earlier this year.
- Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, has updated its chatbots to block conversations with teens on topics such as self-harm, suicide, disordered eating, and inappropriate romantic content. Instead, the chatbots now direct troubled teens to expert resources.
- Meta already provides parental controls on its teen accounts as part of its safety efforts.
