tech
January 26, 2026
Why chatbots are starting to check your age
Confirming which users are kids is politically fraught and a technical nightmare. Here’s what moves from OpenAI and the FTC tell us.
TL;DR
- AI chatbots pose new dangers to children, prompting urgent discussions about age verification and content moderation.
- Various states and the US President are proposing different approaches to AI regulation and child protection.
- OpenAI is implementing automatic age prediction for ChatGPT to filter content for younger users.
- Concerns exist regarding the accuracy of age prediction systems and the privacy implications of selfie or ID verification.
- Experts advocate for device-level verification managed by parents as a more private alternative.
- Apple's CEO is lobbying for device-level verification to avoid liability.
- The Federal Trade Commission is holding a workshop on age verification, with participation from tech companies and child safety advocates.
- The debate involves conflicting stances on privacy, politics, free expression, and surveillance.
- Issues like child sexual abuse material, self-harm following chatbot conversations, and children forming attachments to AI are critical concerns.