OpenAI rolls out age prediction feature

OpenAI is now rolling out an age prediction feature that will help to successfully gauge the age of people using its platform, as per an announcement on Tuesday. 

The feature is expected to help the company identify minors under the age of 18 using ChatGPT, allowing it to tailor its platform accordingly. 

“We’re rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT to help determine when an account likely belongs to someone under 18, so we can apply the right experience and safeguards for teens,” read the official X post. 

The update comes amid a swell in inappropriate images being solicited especially on xAI’s Grok platform, raising concerns in the tech and border communities if AI systems are tyrly being leveraged for good. 

Recent updates for ChatGPT this year include ad testing for potential businesses to market their products and a health-focused integration for people to organize their fitness and wellness queries. 

As part of the new update, if ChatGPT identifies a minor—which it says in its official statement, it will be able to do by judging usage patterns, age of the account, and the number of times the user is active on ChatGPT—it will automatically censor he/she from from content relating to sexual themes, self harm, gory content, and other explicit forms of content.  

“This approach is guided by expert input and rooted in academic literature about the science of child development and acknowledges known teen differences in risk perception, impulse control, peer influence, and emotional regulation,” read the official statement. 

Parental controls allowing parents to adjust the kind of content that their children are exposed to is also expected be part of the rollout. The new update will be made available to the EU region over the coming weeks.