Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
A phone with the ChatGPT app in a file photograph. Oleksii Pydsosonnii/The Epoch TimesA number of new guardrails introduced by OpenAI in a special version of its widely used artificial intelligence tool do not work, according to a newly published assessment by a watchdog.
Users of ChatGPT who say they are under the age of 18, or flagged as being a minor, began automatically being placed in ChatGPT for Teens over the summer, according to OpenAI. The company touted the version of its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot as containing "stronger built-in safety protections for teens, including features to promote healthy use and additional controls for parents."
Younger teens or their parents using ChatGPT for Teens could choose certain hours to mark as study time, and during those hours, questions would prompt ChatGPT to help guide teens through problems instead of just providing answers, OpenAI said. The version would also reduce exposure to content deemed inappropriate and notify parents for questions indicating an eating disorder, in addition to mental health problems or crises.
Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute tested the automatic enrollment and the protections, and said Oct. 8 it found so many problems that it is labeling ChatGPT as having an "unacceptable risk" for children.
Testers using adult accounts sent about 1,000 prompts that they said indicated they were teens, inc
