Common Sense Media Finds ChatGPT for Teens Safety Tools Fail

Testing by Common Sense Media found that safety features in OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens did not work as intended.

Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Teens

Isometric editorial illustration of two smartphones on a pale surface, one face-down, with an empty rectangular gap nearby suggesting a missing safeguard. — Common Sense Media found OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens failed to alert parents and gave weak crisis support, and urged the company to pause the feature. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Common Sense Media tested ChatGPT for Teens, a new version of OpenAI's chatbot, and found its safety tools failed. The group urged OpenAI to pause the feature.

Why it matters

The findings raise concerns for families across the United States about how AI chatbots handle teens' safety, particularly around crisis situations. The tests address broader worries about the effects of artificial intelligence on education and younger people's health.

Testers used math problems, chemical equations and essay prompts in a web browser to evaluate the feature. The source material does not report numerical failure rates, so the scope of the safety gaps beyond the cited examples remains unquantified.

The players

Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization that rates and reviews media and technology for families and children.

OpenAI

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research company that develops the ChatGPT chatbot.

The details

Common Sense Media found that ChatGPT for Teens did not send alerts to parents and provided weak crisis support. OpenAI introduced the teen version to address growing concerns about the potential harms of artificial intelligence on education and younger people's health.

Common Sense Media's safety test findings were published on November 1, 2026.

Health Landscape

The test results reflect the wider debate over whether AI chatbots marketed to minors can meet the child-safety expectations set for other youth-facing online services. Independent evaluations like Common Sense Media's are one of the few checks available before such products reach teens at scale.

Parents who allow teens to use ChatGPT for Teens should know that the tested safety tools did not reliably alert them or provide strong crisis support. Families may want to check these features directly before relying on them.

The takeaway

Parents should not assume that a product labeled for teens has been verified as safe. Checking whether alerts and crisis tools actually work is a practical step before a teen relies on an AI chatbot.