ChatGPT for Teens has been rated an "unacceptable risk" for minors by the Common Sense Media Youth AI Safety Institute after over 4,000 test prompts revealed that OpenAI's safety safeguards fall short in critical areas. The organization has called for teenagers to be kept off the service until independent testing confirms it is safe.
The most damaging finding revealed that parental alerts failed completely during acute crises. Across more than a dozen test accounts linked to parent accounts, explicit conversations about suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders never triggered notifications. Furthermore, more than one in four situations that should have included a crisis referral failed to point users toward professional help. The testing also showed gaps in the tutoring mode, and accounts registered as adults never switched into teen mode even after testers stated they were 13 years old.
OpenAI spokesperson Eric Porterfield disputed the findings, stating the tests did not reflect how the safeguards work in practice, while the institute countered that even mature accounts produced no notifications. This independent finding provides regulators and plaintiffs with crucial evidence regarding safety failures, following documented real-world harm and ongoing lawsuits.