Washington: In a blog post released Tuesday, the California-based AI company said the new features aim to help families “set healthy guidelines that fit a teen’s unique stage of development.” The controls, expected to go live within the next month, will allow parents to link their ChatGPT accounts with their children’s, restrict certain features such as memory and chat history, and establish “age-appropriate model behavior rules” for responses.

Parents will also have the option to receive alerts if their teen shows signs of distress. OpenAI added that it would consult mental health experts to ensure the new system balances parental oversight with trust between parents and teenagers.

The move follows a lawsuit filed last week by Matt and Maria Raine, who accuse OpenAI of contributing to the death of their 16-year-old son, Adam. The couple allege that ChatGPT validated their son’s “most harmful and self-destructive thoughts,” and called his suicide a “predictable result of deliberate design choices.”

The broader debate around AI tools and mental health has intensified in recent months. While research published in Psychiatric Services found that leading AI models, including ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude, often adhered to best practices when addressing high-risk suicide queries, they were inconsistent when responding to less extreme but still concerning questions.

OpenAI said last week that it would introduce additional safeguards for vulnerable users as part of a broader safety initiative. The company framed the parental control rollout as part of its commitment to responsible AI use, especially as chatbots increasingly serve as companions or substitutes for professional advice.