Paris Soir - ChatGPT to get parental controls after teen's death

NYSE - LSE

RBGPF	0%	71.48	$
CMSC	0.67%	23.94	$
NGG	0.51%	68.92	$
RIO	-0.03%	62.46	$
BTI	0.63%	55.43	$
RYCEF	-1.87%	14.45	$
GSK	0.63%	39.61	$
RELX	2.09%	46.8	$
AZN	-0.4%	81.78	$
CMSD	0.38%	23.96	$
SCS	1.29%	17.05	$
VOD	0.43%	11.75	$
JRI	0.22%	13.57	$
BP	-0.47%	34.3	$
BCC	3.74%	87.23	$
BCE	-0.25%	24.47	$

ChatGPT to get parental controls after teen's death

HEALTH 02.09.2025

ChatGPT to get parental controls after teen's death / Photo: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV - AFP

American artificial intelligence firm OpenAI said Tuesday it would add parental controls to its chatbot ChatGPT, a week after an American couple said the system encouraged their teenaged son to kill himself.

Text size:

"Within the next month, parents will be able to... link their account with their teen's account" and "control how ChatGPT responds to their teen with age-appropriate model behavior rules," the generative AI company said in a blog post.

Parents will also receive notifications from ChatGPT "when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress," OpenAI added.

The company had trailed a system of parental controls in a late August blog post.

That came one day after a court filing from California parents Matthew and Maria Raine, alleging that ChatGPT provided their 16-year-old son with detailed suicide instructions and encouraged him to put his plans into action.

The Raines' case was just the latest in a string that have surfaced in recent months of people being encouraged in delusional or harmful trains of thought by AI chatbots -- prompting OpenAI to say it would reduce models' "sycophancy" towards users.

"We continue to improve how our models recognize and respond to signs of mental and emotional distress," OpenAI said Tuesday.

The company said it had further plans to improve the safety of its chatbots over the coming three months, including redirecting "some sensitive conversations... to a reasoning model" that puts more computing power into generating a response.

"Our testing shows that reasoning models more consistently follow and apply safety guidelines," OpenAI said.

F.Colin--PS

Featured

RFK Jr defends US health agency shake up, Democrats call for his ouster

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said Thursday that firing a top government scientist was "absolutely necessary," as he faced blistering criticism from Democrats urging him to resign over his steps to curb vaccines.

Could humans become immortal, as Putin was heard telling Xi?

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have been recorded on a hot mic discussing how organ transplants and other medical advances could let humans live past 150 years -- or even become immortal.

RFK Jr defends health agency shake up, Democrats call for his ouster

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said Thursday that firing the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was "absolutely necessary" to restore high standards, as he faced blistering criticism from Democrats urging him to resign.

Florida to scrap all vaccine mandates, West Coast states push back

A top health official in Florida on Wednesday vowed to end all vaccine mandates in the state, including school requirements, likening the measure to prevent childhood diseases to "slavery."