OpenAI has unveiled a plan aimed at strengthening child safety in an era of widespread artificial intelligence and technology misuse.
The initiative focuses on three key priorities:
- updating legislation to address child exploitation and abuse facilitated or altered by AI;
- enhancing accountability and coordination among service providers to support more effective investigations;
- integrating safety measures directly into AI systems during the design phase to prevent and detect abuse.
“We cannot solve this issue with piecemeal interventions. This concept combines legal, operational, and technical approaches for more effective risk identification, faster response, and accountability, while ensuring law enforcement has the necessary tools,” OpenAI stated.
According to company representatives, these steps will enable the industry to address safety concerns at earlier stages.
The plan incorporates feedback from several leading American organizations and experts in child protection, including NCMEC and various jurisdictional prosecutors.
“Child sexual exploitation is one of the most pressing issues of the digital age. AI is rapidly changing both the ways these crimes emerge in the industry and the methods for combating them nationwide,” the company emphasized.
Starting in mid-2025, OpenAI will take steps in this direction. The startup has already implemented parental control measures that monitor and alert about concerning signals in children's behavior.
The company has also introduced new usage policies that prohibit the exploitation of children's images.
In September, the FTC launched investigations into seven tech firms producing chatbots for minors, including Alphabet, Character.AI, Instagram, Meta, OpenAI, Snap, and xAI.