OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens poses an ‘unacceptable risk’ to kids, says watchdog

Some of the guardrails that OpenAI included in its ChatGPT for Teens product don’t work as intended and the chatbot poses an “unacceptable risk” to children, according to a report Wednesday by Common Sense Media.The watchdog group urged OpenAI to restrict the chatbot to adults “until it can offer a safe, developmentally appropriate experience.”OpenAI said the group’s testing doesn’t reflect how the chatbot’s safeguards work.Parents, educators and child development experts have been sounding alarms over children’s use of AI chatbots, which have been blamed for facilitating cheating on schoolwork and even suicide.While even adults can fall victim to anthropomorphizing AI and develop unhealthy relationships with it, teenagers’ brains are not yet fully developed and they can be particularly vulnerable, child development experts say.“We are concerned that ChatGPT for Teens could give parents false confidence in guardrails that frequently don’t work,” said the report from Common Sense Media, a group that advocates for using digital media sensibly.Its report said that some teen-mode features worked as intended, including the chatbot’s refusal of explicit sexual role-play. Others that did…