Overview
Parental controls in ChatGPT are designed to support families, put children’s wellbeing first, and help provide age-appropriate experiences for teens. When a parent or guardian and teen link their accounts, the parent or guardian can manage selected ChatGPT settings for the teen, set quiet hours, and receive safety notifications in certain limited situations.
Parental controls do not let a parent or guardian read or monitor the teen’s conversations. In limited safety-notification situations, OpenAI may send the parent or guardian only the information needed to help support the teen’s safety.
Either the parent or guardian or the teen can unlink accounts at any time.
Link a teen account
You can invite your teen by phone on the web or by email. One parent or guardian can link with multiple teens, but each teen can link with only one parent or guardian at a time.
To invite a teen:
Open Settings from your profile menu.
Select Parental controls.
Select Add family member.
In Invite family member, choose how to send the invite:
Use phone: Choose the country code and enter the phone number.
Use email: Enter the email address.
Select Send.
Your teen will get a text or email with a link to connect their ChatGPT account. They may also receive a notification in ChatGPT.
After your teen accepts, select their name under Family members to review or change settings.
To stop using parental controls, you or your teen can select Unlink accounts.
Parental controls may also be removed automatically when a linked teen account is identified as 18 or older and moves out of ChatGPT’s teen experience. For more information, see What happens when a teen account turns 18 in ChatGPT.
Link a parent or guardian account
You can invite a parent or guardian to link accounts. Teens can only be linked to one parent or guardian at a time.
To invite a parent or guardian:
Open Settings > Parental controls.
Select Invite a parent.
Choose how to send the invite: Use phone or Use email.
Enter their information.
Select Send.
After they accept, you will see them under Family members. You can see which settings are on or off.
If your parent or guardian already sent you an invite, go to Settings > Parental controls and select Accept invite.
Linking lets your parent or guardian manage certain settings and receive safety alerts in certain limited situations. It does not give them access to your conversations.
What parents and guardians can manage
After your teen accepts the invitation, go to Settings > Parental controls, then select your teen under Family members.
The following settings are available:
Reduce sensitive content: Adds extra safeguards to help reduce sensitive or age-inappropriate content.
Default: On
Improve the model for everyone: Controls whether your teen’s conversations can be used to help improve ChatGPT models.
Default: Off
Reference saved memories: Controls whether ChatGPT can use saved memories to personalize responses.
Default: On
Voice Mode: Controls whether your teen can use Voice Mode in ChatGPT.
Default: On
Image generation: Controls whether your teen can create and edit images with ChatGPT.
Default: On
Quiet hours: Sets a schedule when ChatGPT cannot be used from the linked teen account.
Default: Off
These settings are switches for features in your teen’s account. Turning a feature off hides or blocks it for your teen. Turning a feature on enables it with ChatGPT’s safety systems. Your teen cannot change these parent-managed settings while your accounts are linked.
Updates to these settings may not take effect right away. Some changes apply to new conversations started after you update a setting, while existing conversations keep their previous behavior.
Reduce sensitive content
When parent and teen accounts are linked, the teen account automatically gets additional content safeguards, including safeguards that help reduce graphic content, viral challenges, sexual, romantic, or violent roleplay, and extreme beauty ideals.
A parent or guardian may be able to turn Reduce sensitive content off for the linked teen account. Turning it off only turns off this specific additional safeguard. It does not make the teen account equivalent to an adult account. The account may still be treated as under 18, and other teen protections, feature limits, or safety systems may still apply.
For more information, see Reduce sensitive content in ChatGPT.
Quiet hours
Quiet hours let you set a time window when ChatGPT cannot be used from the linked teen account.
To set quiet hours:
Go to Settings > Parental controls.
Select your teen under Family members.
Turn on Quiet hours.
Select a start time and an end time.
Only one window of quiet hours can be set at a time.
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 or guardians if systems and trained reviewers detect activity that may indicate serious self-harm concerns.
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 may receive
You may 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 serious self-harm safety concerns.
A small team of specially trained reviewers evaluates whether there are signs of acute distress.
The parent or guardian account receives an alert with information about what was detected, any account action that was taken, available resources, and how to contact Support if needed.
Parents or guardians can choose to receive alerts by SMS, email, or push notification.
Manage safety notifications
Safety notifications are enabled by default when a parent or guardian and teen agree to link accounts. Parents or guardians can choose how they would like to receive notifications by email, SMS, or push notification.
Additional resources are available for parents or guardians who receive these notifications, including crisis helplines and other support information.
When a teen account turns 18
When a teen account is identified as 18 or older, it moves out of ChatGPT’s teen experience. If parental controls are linked when this happens:
ChatGPT will notify the account holder and the linked parent or guardian.
Parental controls are removed.
The parent or guardian can no longer manage ChatGPT settings for the account.
Teen safety notifications stop for that account.
In Settings, ChatGPT may show that parental controls have been removed.
Teen protections are turned off, and the account holder gets full control over their ChatGPT settings.
Other account settings are not reset automatically.
For more information about what changes when a teen account turns 18, see: What happens when a teen account turns 18 in ChatGPT.
FAQ
Do parental controls let parents or guardians read conversations?
No. Parental controls do not give parents or guardians access to the teen’s conversations and do not provide real-time monitoring.
In limited safety-notification situations, OpenAI may send the parent or guardian only the information needed to help support the teen’s safety.
Can a teen unlink parental controls?
Yes. Either the teen or the linked parent or guardian can unlink accounts. Parents or guardians are notified if a teen unlinks their account.
What happens to parental controls when a teen account turns 18?
When a teen account is identified as 18 or older, it moves out of ChatGPT’s teen experience. If parental controls are linked, parental controls are removed, the parental-controls connection ends, and teen safety notifications stop for that account.
The account holder gets full control over ChatGPT settings. Teen protections are turned off, and other account settings are not reset automatically.
For more information, see What happens when a teen account turns 18 in ChatGPT.
Can parental controls be set up again after an account moves out of the teen experience?
A parent or guardian may be able to send another invitation later, but the account holder must accept the invitation before parental controls are linked again.
If the account was moved out of the teen experience too soon, the account holder can use age verification in ChatGPT. For more information, see What happens when a teen account turns 18 in ChatGPT.
Adults can also use other available safety settings, such as Trusted Contact, for additional support.
How are parental controls different from Trusted Contact?
Trusted Contact is a separate, optional safety feature for adults 18 or older, or 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.