OpenAI will try to guess your age before ChatGPT gets spicy

OpenAI says it has begun deploying an age prediction model to determine whether ChatGPT users are old enough to view "sensitive or potentially harmful content."

Chatbots from OpenAI and its rivals are linked to a series of suicides, sparking litigation and a congressional hearing. AI outfits therefore have excellent reasons to make the safety of their services more than a talking point, both for minors and the adult public.

Hence we have OpenAI's Teen Safety Blueprint, introduced in November 2025, and its Under-18 Principles for Model Behavior, which debuted the following month.

OpenAI is under pressure to turn a profit, knows its plan to serve ads needs to observe rules about marketing to minors, and has erotica in the ChatGPT pipeline. That all adds up to a need to partition its audience and prevent exposing them to damaging material.

Part of OpenAI's plan has been to develop an ...