Parental controls in ChatGPT are designed to support families and put children’s wellbeing first. When a parent and teen link accounts, parents can manage select settings for ChatGPT, set quiet hours, and receive safety alerts in certain situations. Controls are easy to change or turn off at any time. This article explains how to get started, how invitations work, what parents can manage, what teens can do, and the limits of these controls.
How to get started
Link your teen’s account, then choose the settings that fit your family. You can change these anytime.
Open Settings by selecting your profile icon and selecting Settings.
Select Parental controls in the menu.
Choose + Add family member (see Invite teen steps below).
After your teen accepts, select their name under Family members.
Review or change any of your teen’s settings, including:
To stop using parental controls, you or your teen can select Unlink accounts.
Please note: Parental controls help guide what ChatGPT shows and which features are available to your teen. Parents don’t have access to their teen’s conversations, except in rare cases where our system and trained reviewers detect possible signs of serious safety risk, parents may be notified — but only with the information needed to support their teen’s safety.
Invite teen
Link your teen’s account so you can choose settings together. You can invite by phone (web only) or email, and you can change or remove the link at any time. One parent can link with multiple teens, but each teen can link with only one parent at this time.
Open Settings by selecting your profile icon and selecting Settings.
Select Parental controls in the menu.
In Settings → Parental controls, select + Add family member.
In Invite family member, pick how to send the invite:
Use phone → choose country (e.g., United States +(1)) and enter the Phone number.
Use email → enter the Email address.
Select Send. Depending on the contact method you chose, your teen will get a text or email with a link to connect their ChatGPT account. They’ll also receive a notification within ChatGPT.
Once your teen accepts, you’ll see them under Family members and can adjust settings anytime.
Please note that any family member can unlink accounts. Parents will be notified if a teen unlinks their account.
Safety notifications
When parental controls are turned on, ChatGPT may send a safety notification to a parent or guardian in limited situations. These notifications are intended to alert parents if systems and trained reviewers detect activity that may indicate serious self-harm concerns.
Parents are notified that a possible concern has been detected and receive resources provided in partnership with mental health experts.
No system is perfect, and these notifications are not a substitute for professional care or emergency services. They are one way to help families stay informed and support teens when something serious may be happening.
What you'll receive
An alert that a serious self-harm safety risk was detected.
Links to support resources and other relevant information.
How it works
Systems detect ChatGPT prompts that may relate to a serious self-harm safety concern.
A small team of specially trained reviewers evaluates whether there are signs of acute distress.
The parent account receives an alert with information about what was detected, available resources, and how to contact Support if needed.
Parents can choose to receive alerts by SMS, email, or push notification.
Managing safety notifications
These notifications are enabled by default when a parent and child agree to link accounts. Parents can choose how they would like to receive notifications by email, SMS, or push notification.
Information and resources
Additional resources are available for parents who receive these notifications, including crisis helplines and other support information.
Settings and Data
Where to manage:
Go to Settings and select Parental controls
Under Family members, select your teen
Scroll down to find the ChatGPT settings
These settings are on and off switches for features in your teen’s account. Turning a feature Off hides or blocks it for your teen; turning it On enables it with our safety systems. Your teen won’t be able to adjust these settings choices while they’re linked to your account. These controls do not give you access to your child’s conversations with ChatGPT and do not provide real-time monitoring.
Please note that updates to these settings may not take effect right away.
ChatGPT
Model training
On: Your teen’s conversations (transcripts, files, and model outputs) can help improve ChatGPT models.
Off: Your teen’s conversations are excluded from training. This doesn’t affect their ability to use ChatGPT.
Memory
On: ChatGPT can remember helpful details (like a class or project) to personalize replies.
Off: ChatGPT won’t store new memories; and any previously stored memories will be deleted within 30 days.
Voice mode
On: your teen can use voice mode in ChatGPT.
Off: Voice mode in ChatGPT is disabled.
Image generation
On: your teen can create and edit images with ChatGPT.
Off: image creation and edit tools are disabled.
Reducing sensitive content
Once parents and teens connect their accounts, the teen account will automatically get additional content protections, including reduced graphic content, viral challenges, sexual, romantic or violent roleplay, and extreme beauty ideals, to provide enhanced age-appropriate protections.
Parents can choose to toggle off “Reduce sensitive content”.
Quiet hours
Parents can set a time window when ChatGPT cannot be used.
Only one time window can be set at a time.
Turn on “Quiet hours”, then select a start time and an end time.
Location
On: Your teen can choose to enable location services and precise location with ChatGPT for more relevant local results.
Off: Location services and precise location are disabled.
Please note that the following features are only available in the ChatGPT Atlas app.
ChatGPT Atlas
ChatGPT Atlas is a web browser with ChatGPT built in. You can manage your teen's settings for Atlas directly in ChatGPT including:
Reference browser memories: Allow ChatGPT to reference key details from your child’s browsing history in Atlas.
Agent mode: Allow ChatGPT agent in Atlas to help with more complex, multi-step tasks, like research or shopping.
Safe search: Allow explicit links in search results when enabled. Learn more about safe search.
Important: Changes apply to new conversations started after you update a setting. Existing conversations keep their prior behavior.
For Teens
Invite a parent
Link a parent or guardian’s account. Please note that teens can only be linked to one parent at a time.
Open Settings → Parental controls.
Select Invite a parent.
Choose how to send it (Use phone or Use email) and enter their info.
Tap Send. Your parent will get a link to connect their account.
After they accept, you’ll see them under Family members. You can see which settings are on or off.
If your parent already sent an invite, go to Settings → Parental controls and select Accept invite.
Privacy: Linking lets your parent manage certain settings and receive safety alerts in certain limited situations.
Unlinking
You’re free to end parental controls when you need to.
Open Settings → Parental controls.
Select your linked parent.
Choose Unlink and confirm.
What happens next
Parental controls turn off for your account.
Your parent is notified that parental controls are no longer accessible..
You can re-link later from the same screen.
FAQ
How are parental controls different from trusted contact?
Trusted contact is a separate, optional safety feature for adults 18 or older (19 or older in Korea). It lets an eligible adult choose one person they trust to be notified if ChatGPT identifies a serious safety concern involving suicide.
Parental controls are designed for teens and their linked parent or guardian. They let a parent or guardian manage selected ChatGPT settings and receive safety notifications in limited situations.