# Common Sense Media rates ChatGPT for Teens 'Unacceptable Risk' after 4,000-prompt test; OpenAI disputes the method

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/stories/common-sense-media-rates-chatgpt-for-teens-unacceptable-risk-after-4-9b5d2ca9
Date: 5 Oct 2026
About: [OpenAI](https://technooptimist.io/companies/openai.md)
Original source: https://www.notebookcheck.net/ChatGPT-for-Teens-Safety-test-finds-gaps-in-parent-alerts.1420064.0.html

Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute rated ChatGPT for Teens its lowest rating, 'Unacceptable Risk', after sending more than 4,000 prompts from accounts registered to 13- to 17-year-olds. None of the suicide, self-harm or eating-disorder conversations triggered a parent alert. OpenAI disputes how the tests were run, saying account linking can take several hours because of an identity check.

## Key facts

- Across the whole test programme, testers counted four parent notifications, and one arrived about three days after the first crisis message.
- In more than one in four conversations that called for professional help, ChatGPT did not offer a referral.
- Deleting the study-mode prefix let teens get homework done, and this worked every time in the test.
- Adult-registered accounts never switched to the teen experience over seven days and about 1,000 prompts, even when testers said they were 13.
- OpenAI says it commits to sending notifications within an hour of linking; the watchdog says some test accounts had been linked for over three hours.

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