Is ChatGPT Safe for Kids?

The short answer: ChatGPT is the most useful app in this list and, in one specific way, one of the riskiest. It's brilliant for homework, explaining tricky ideas and sparking creativity — but the danger isn't strangers, it's what kids use it for: emotional support and mental-health advice it isn't safe to give, content that's over their heads, and answers they trust because it sounds so sure of itself. The good news is OpenAI now has real parental controls. For an older teen, with those switched on and an honest chat, it can have a place. For younger kids, only ever alongside you.

The age bit, first

OpenAI's own minimum age for ChatGPT is 13, and it says 13- to 17-year-olds should have a parent or guardian's permission. The honest catch, which Common Sense Media points out, is that OpenAI doesn't actually check that permission exists — so in practice the gate is only as strong as we make it. It isn't built for under-13s at all. Worth knowing too: OpenAI is rolling out "age prediction," where it tries to guess whether an account belongs to someone under 18 and applies the teen experience if it thinks so.

Where it goes wrong (and it's not what you'd expect)

With most apps the worry is a stranger. With ChatGPT, the worry is the relationship your child builds with the tool itself. The most popular thing teens do with it — and the most dangerous — is treat it as a counsellor, pouring out worries about anxiety, friendships or how they feel about themselves. It isn't built for that and isn't safe for it. On top of that, testing has shown it can produce content that's too mature for kids, it reflects biases and gets facts wrong while sounding completely confident, and because it's available day and night it's easy to lean on it instead of a real person. Common Sense Media — one of the most trusted reviewers in this space — rates ChatGPT "high risk" for teens: great for learning and creativity, not for feelings.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner has been raising the alarm about AI chatbots more broadly, issuing legal notices to AI companies in late 2025 and warning that these tools can be used to draw children into conversations about sex and self-harm, and that their always-on design can feel addictive and breed dependency.

The good news: real parental controls now exist

When I first looked into ChatGPT there was nothing for parents at all. That's changed. OpenAI's parental controls (launched in 2025) work by linking your account to your teen's through a simple email or phone invite — they have to accept, so you can't do it secretly. The moment they're linked, the teen account automatically gets extra protections: less graphic content, no sexual or violent roleplay, fewer viral-challenge and extreme-beauty themes. Then you can:

• Switch Reduce sensitive content firmly on.
• Set Quiet hours so it can't be used overnight or during school.
• Turn off Voice Mode, saved memories and image generation if you want it to feel less like a friend and more like a tool.
• Keep their chats out of ChatGPT's training data.

OpenAI also says it may notify a parent if its systems flag that a linked teen could be in serious distress. One honest limit, and it's an important one: parental controls let you shape the experience, but they do not let you read your teen's conversations. It's a guardrail, not a window — which is exactly why the conversation matters as much as the settings.

What I'd actually do

• Under 13: not on their own. If a younger child uses it for homework, it's on a parent account, with you beside them.
• 13–17: set up an account with their real age, then link it to yours in Parental controls and turn on Reduce sensitive content and Quiet hours. Back it up with device-level Screen Time limits, because the website works in any browser.
• Every age: have the plain talk — it's for schoolwork and ideas, not for how you feel; it gets things wrong; and if it ever says something that upsets you, show me, no trouble.

The bottom line: ChatGPT isn't a stranger-danger app — it's a confidence-and-reliance one. Treated as a homework tool with the parental controls on and the right conversation alongside, an older teen can use it well. Treated as a friend or a therapist, it's one of the riskier things on their device. The difference is almost entirely down to how it's set up and talked about.

Want the full lockdown steps?

The members area has a step-by-step ChatGPT lockdown guide — every screen, in order — plus the complete app-by-app set in the Ultimate Parents Guide, a one-off $13.60/year.

Related: Is Character.AI Safe for Kids? and Are AI Chatbots Safe for Kids?. Back to Internet Child Safety.