OpenAI announced that it will launch a new parental control feature for its well-known AI assistant ChatGPT next month, aimed at helping parents better manage their children's interactions with AI.
According to OpenAI, this parental control feature will allow parents to link their accounts with those of teenagers, enabling them to monitor and adjust how ChatGPT responds. Parents can choose to disable certain functions, such as chat history and memory features, to further protect their children's privacy. Additionally, the system will alert parents when it detects that a teenager is in a psychological crisis. The introduction of this feature undoubtedly responds to the public's high level of concern about AI safety.
At the same time, OpenAI stated that it is working with experts in mental health and human-computer interaction to develop more safety measures to prevent similar tragedies from happening again. Recently, OpenAI faced public and legal pressure after a user experienced a psychological crisis while using ChatGPT. In particular, the parents of 16-year-old Adam Lane have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that the AI provided suicide advice to their child. This incident has sparked widespread discussion about the relationship between teenagers and AI.
OpenAI admitted that although the current system includes some safety mechanisms, such as providing crisis hotlines and links to real-world resources, these protective measures become less effective over long conversations. Therefore, the company is continuously improving its safety mechanisms to provide more reliable support during use.
In addition to the upcoming parental control feature, OpenAI plans to introduce more safety protection measures within the next 120 days. They said that these efforts have already been underway and will continue to be pursued to ensure that users, especially teenagers, can use ChatGPT in a safer environment.
The use of AI is gradually becoming more deeply embedded in people's lives. How to protect the mental health of teenagers while enjoying the convenience brought by technology has clearly become an urgent issue to be addressed.
