OpenAI on Tuesday unveiled ChatGPT for Teens, a dedicated chatbot experience for users under 18 that the company said comes with “stronger built-in safety protections.”

The teen-focused version builds on several features introduced by OpenAI over the past year, including Study Mode, which helps students work through problems step by step, as well as age prediction technology and various parental controls.

ChatGPT for Teens also offers educational tools such as homework reminders, quizzes, learning visualisations and Study Hours, which allow parents or teenagers to set specific periods when Study Mode is automatically enabled.

OpenAI said ChatGPT for Teens also includes age-appropriate safeguards designed to limit teenagers’ exposure to harmful or developmentally inappropriate content.

“Teens should be able to use AI to learn, create, and explore,” OpenAI said in a release. “But that access should come with protections that reflect their developmental stage, reinforce real-world relationships, and support healthy use over time.”

The launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens comes as Meta faces a high-stakes trial over allegations that it encouraged addictive behaviour among teenagers and children.

The case, brought in 2023 by a coalition of attorneys general from 29 US states, could expose Meta to hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.

OpenAI has also come under scrutiny over its safety practices.

In June, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that the company knowingly released an unsafe product that could potentially harm users.