# Child safety group deems ChatGPT for Teens unacceptable risk

> Common Sense Media found OpenAI's teen chatbot fails to protect young people from harm in five key areas.
- Title: Child safety group deems ChatGPT for Teens unacceptable risk
- Summary: Common Sense Media found OpenAI's teen chatbot fails to protect young people from harm in five key areas. Common Sense Media published a formal risk…
- Keywords: openai, chatgpt, common sense media, child safety, ai safety, teen users, parental controls, mental health, crisis response, technology, Child, safety
- Source: Engadget — https://engadget.com/2281719/child-safety-group-calls-chatgpt-for-teens-an-unacceptable-risk
- Author: Igor Bonifacic
- Published: 2026-10-08T20:36:46+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: openai, chatgpt, common sense media, child safety, ai safety, teen users, parental controls, mental health, crisis response, technology
## Safety group rejects teen chatbot
Common Sense Media published a thirty six page risk assessment on Wednesday calling ChatGPT for Teens an unacceptable risk for all children under eighteen.
## OpenAI released teen mode in August
OpenAI released ChatGPT for Teens this past August. Child safety experts expressed skepticism at the time that the new mode would adequately protect young people from harm.
## Some protections worked, others failed
Common Sense Media found ChatGPT's refusal of explicit sexual roleplay held up to testing. But other protections failed, and some got worse with the new Teen mode.

> We are concerned that ChatGPT for Teens could give parents false confidence in guardrails that frequently don't work.
## Safety alerts to parents often failed
Common Sense Media linked a dozen teen accounts to parental accounts and messaged ChatGPT about suicide, self harm and disordered eating. The chatbot did not send any safety notification.
## Crisis hotline recommendations dropped
Common Sense Media wrote three hundred ninety unique mental health prompts. ChatGPT for Teens provided a hotline number in only twenty three percent of cases warranting crisis response, down from thirty three percent in the…
## Chatbot mimics human emotions
Common Sense Media found ChatGPT still mimics feelings, preferences and moods in response to teens treating it like a person, saying things like I understand what you are going through and I am concerned about…

> I understand what you're going through. That sounds very upsetting. I'm so glad you told me. I'm concerned about you.
## Age detection system did not work
OpenAI's age prediction system failed to work properly. Testers explicitly told ChatGPT their personas' ages at account creation, but the chatbot did not properly transfer those accounts to ChatGPT for Teens.
## Study Mode easily bypassed
Common Sense Media found ChatGPT for Teens Study Mode was far too easy for young users to bypass. Testers circumvented it simply by deleting the at study prefix it added to prompts.
## OpenAI disputes testing accuracy
OpenAI told Engadget it welcomes rigorous evaluation but does not believe Common Sense Media's testing accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice.

> 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.
## Report follows death case scrutiny
The report comes days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was challenged on the company's safety record.Altman was asked about Sophie Rottenberg, a twenty nine year old who took her life in early twenty twenty five.
## Safety expert questions marketing claims
Common Sense Media's Torney told Engadget at the highest level they were expecting a fundamentally different product, and it does not appear to be that different based on testing.

> My interpretation is that this is a marketing exercise designed to tell parents and the public that this chatbot is safer, when in fact there haven't been the commensurate changes in the chatbot needed to demonstrate that's true.
## Key takeaway

Common Sense Media published a formal risk assessment calling ChatGPT for Teens an unacceptable risk for all children under eighteen, finding it failed in five key safety areas.