OpenAI supports California’s bill to advance youth AI safety

By Ann O’Leary, VP, Global Policy OpenAI supports California Senate Bill 1119, legislation that establishes meaningful safeguards for how young people use AI while preserving their access to tools that can help them learn, create, and prepare for the future. This support builds off the commitment Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, made last year when outlining the company’s principles on teens. In the absence of federal action, California has an opportunity to set a strong standard for youth AI safety. In our letter to Governor Newsom⁠(opens in a new window), we commend him, along with Senator Steve Padilla, Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, and the California Legislature for their leadership on this important issue. SB 1119 builds on youth safety measures that OpenAI has supported through our products, global policy principles, advocacy in California, and work on the Parents & Kids Safe AI Act. We encourage Governor Newsom to sign the bill into law. Teens are the first generation growing up with AI. Nearly nine in ten teens who use ChatGPT turn to it for learning, information, skill-building, or productivity in a given week. That opportunity comes with a clear responsibility: teens should have experiences designed around their distinct developmental needs, with strong default protections and appropriate opportunities to learn, create, and explore. Our newly launched ChatGPT for Teens reflects that approach.

It is designed to help users under 18 learn, think critically, and build while promoting healthy use, providing built-in safeguards, and giving parents additional controls. If our system estimates someone is under 18 or they state their age is between 13 and 17, they are automatically placed into ChatGPT for Teens. Those protections are part of the baseline experience, not optional settings that users can turn off. More broadly, we believe that teens can benefit from AI without sacrificing safety, a goal that is at the heart of SB 1119. A strong framework for age-appropriate AI SB 1119 pairs strong protections with continued access to useful AI tools.