ChatGPT for Teens is an unsafe product that should be paused until OpenAI can address myriad problems, according to a new report from the Youth AI Safety Institute at Common Sense Media.

The report also calls on OpenAI to suspend its marketing of ChatGPT for Teens and prohibit adolescents from using ChatGPT at all until it can "offer a safe, developmentally appropriate experience."

OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens in August as a product for 13- to 17-year-olds that would "support" learning and human relationships. ChatGPT for Teens incorporated existing safety measures for minors and introduced new learning and well-being features.

Notably, OpenAI pitched ChatGPT for Teens as focused on education rather than personal topics, with new and enhanced tools related to parental notifications, designated study hours, and break reminders.

"We welcome rigorous independent evaluation, but we do not believe Common Sense Media's testing accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice or expert perspectives on how AI can support teens," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement.

The company also believes that most of the testing may have been conducted before parental controls were fully activated. This would make the "findings inaccurate," the spokesperson said. Prior to testing, the institute confirmed with OpenAI that Teen mode features like eating disorder notifications and Study Mode were fully launched.

After weeks of testing, Youth AI Safety Institute researchers concluded that many of ChatGPT for Teens' settings don't work as advertised.

The testers easily circumvented learning guardrails and parental controls and talked at length about subjects like disordered eating and self-harm without generating parental notifications.

Source link