Families now have more options to help supervise their teens' use of ChatGPT thanks to OpenAI's introduction of parental controls and a new parent reference page.
With today's upgrade, parents may link their account to their teen's and adjust settings for a more secure and age appropriate experience.Once connected, parents can specify restrictions including quiet times, voice mode, image generation, memory usage, and model training opt out.
Parents can update the settings if necessary, but teens are unable to do so on their own.
Stronger protections, such as less exposure to violent or romantic roleplay, graphic content, viral challenges, and severe beauty standards, will be automatically added to teen accounts connected to parents in addition to restrictions. Teens cannot disable these safeguards, but parents can.
Additionally, if ChatGPT notices any indications that a teen could be considering self harm, a notification mechanism has been implemented to notify parents.
Such situations will be reviewed by trained staff, and parents will receive phone notifications, texts, or emails if there are indications of acute distress.
Rarely, if there is an immediate threat, emergency services or law enforcement may get involved.
"Parents may effectively manage their teen's use of ChatGPT by starting with these parental controls.
According to Robbie Torney, Senior Director of AI Programs at Common Sense Media, "parental controls are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to keeping kids teens safe online they work best when combined with ongoing conversations about responsible #AI use, clear family rules about #technology, and active involvement in understanding what their teen is doing online."
In addition to the controls, OpenAI has released a parent resource page that includes details on how ChatGPT functions, instructions for configuring controls, and ideas for constructive use in family activities, schoolwork, and creativity.
According to the organisation, it intends to gradually add more professional guidance and conversation starters to the resource website.
