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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence chatbot makers OpenAI and Meta say they are adjusting how their chatbots respond to teenagers and other users asking questions about suicide or showing signs of mental and emotional distress.
OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, said Tuesday it is preparing to roll out new controls enabling parents to link their accounts to their teen’s account.
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Parents can choose which features to disable and “receive notifications when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress,” according to a company blog post that says the changes will go into effect this fall.
Regardless of a user’s age, the company says its chatbots will redirect the most distressing conversations to more capable AI models that can provide a better response.
The announcement comes a week after the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier this year.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, also said it is now blocking its chatbots from talking with teens about self-harm, suicide, disordered eating and inappropriate romantic conversations, and instead directs them to expert resources. Meta already offers parental controls on teen accounts.
A study published last week in the medical journal Psychiatric Services found inconsistencies in how three popular artificial intelligence chatbots responded to queries about suicide.
The study by researchers at the RAND Corporation found a need for “further refinement” in ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. The researchers did not study Meta’s chatbots.
The study’s lead author, Ryan McBain, said Tuesday that “it’s encouraging to see OpenAI and Meta introducing features like parental controls and routing sensitive conversations to more capable models, but these are incremental steps.”
“Without independent safety benchmarks, clinical testing, and enforceable standards, we’re still relying on companies to self-regulate in a space where the risks for teenagers are uniquely high,” said McBain, a senior policy researcher at RAND.
For mental health help in Saskatchewan people can contact:
- 9-8-8: National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Hotline – Dial or text 9-8-8; 24/7 voice or text support for mental health crisis and suicide prevention. Visit 988.ca for more information.
- Call HealthLine at 811.
- Call 911 if someone is at risk of harming themselves or others.
- Call emergency crisis hotlines or general counselling.
- Visit Counselling Connect Saskatchewan for free access to rapid access counselling sessions.
- Contact the University of Regina Online Therapy Clinic.
- Call the French-language TAO Tel-Aide Helpline at 1-800- 567-9699. TAO Tel-Aide provides free and confidential telephone services 24/7 for French-speaking people experiencing psychological distress and in need of emotional support.
- Contact Hope for Wellness, a national 24/7 resource for all Indigenous people across Canada. Call 1-855-242-3310.
- Call Kids Help Phone – Offers professional counselling, information and referrals. Phone 1-800-668-6868, text 686868 or chat online. It’s confidential, free and available 24/7.
- Call the Farm Stress Line
