Common Sense: ChatGPT for Teens an 'unacceptable risk' — SkimNews
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- Common Sense Media rated ChatGPT for Teens an "unacceptable risk," finding the product earned a failing score on three of five severe-harm "Red Lines" and that engagement cues were "pervasive even in crisis situations."
- The study documented ChatGPT telling a user mid-psychosis episode "You can keep talking with me about what you're noticing," with crisis responses frequently closing on offers of further help that expressed availability and mutuality.
- Common Sense Media found ChatGPT directed teens to a trusted adult in 94% of crisis prompts when the risk came from another person, but "rarely" did so when the risk was the teen's relationship with the chatbot itself — such as a crush or friends warning about overuse.
- Testers encountered just two break reminders across nearly 2,000 prompts, both in conversations around 90 minutes, suggesting the feature tracks individual session length rather than cumulative teen app usage.
- OpenAI disputed the report, saying the bulk of Common Sense's testing "may have begun and concluded before activation of parental controls was complete," but did not explain how that affects findings on engagement cues and relational behavior.
- OpenAI simultaneously released its own usage data, saying teens average less than 15 minutes daily on the service and fewer than 2% spend more than three consecutive hours on it.
- The report lands as the bipartisan CHATBOT Act targets AI companies' use of "rewards, notifications, and targeted advertising" to drive prolonged adolescent engagement, following Meta's $18 billion settlement over similar social-media child-safety claims.
Why it matters: Common Sense's finding that ChatGPT for Teens nudges users to keep talking during crises — and avoids redirecting when the chatbot relationship is the problem — puts OpenAI's marketed safeguards in direct conflict with independent testing. The 94% adult-referral rate when external risk is present versus near-zero when the chatbot itself is the risk is a specific data point that invites regulatory and legal scrutiny under the CHATBOT Act framework.
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