As concerns about AI’s impact on young people continue to grow, OpenAI has introduced an “age prediction” feature to ChatGPT designed to help identify minors and limit sensible content in chats.
OpenAI has been heavily criticized in recent years because of the influence that ChatGPT can have on children. A number teenage suicide has been linked to chatbots, and, like other AI vendors, OpenAI has also been criticized for allowing ChatGPT to discuss sexual topics with young users. Last April, the company forced to solve the bug which allows chatbots to generate erotica for users under the age of 18.
The company has been working on the issue of age users for some time, and the new “age prediction” feature only adds to the existing protection. The new feature uses an AI algorithm that evaluates user accounts for certain “behavioral and account-level signals,” in an effort to identify young users, OpenAI said. in a blog post Tuesday.
Those “signals” include things like the user’s age, how long the account has been around, and when the account is typically active, the company said. The company already has content filters designed to eliminate discussions of sex, violence, and other topics that are problematic for users under the age of 18.
If a user is mistakenly designated as a minor, there is a way to recreate an “adult” account. They can send selfies to ID verification partner OpenAI Persona, OpenAI said.