OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT for Teens with a feature that reminds kids to take a break. The company apparently believes a pop-up notification will succeed where every parent, teacher, and screen time limit has failed spectacularly.
The expert quoted in the headline asks if any of this works. The answer is no. It doesn't work. A teenager who ignores seventeen text messages from mom will definitely ignore a chatbot suggesting they go outside.
Various learning tools were also included. OpenAI did not specify what makes these tools different from the regular ChatGPT that teens have been using without permission for two years. The distinction appears to be marketing.
The break reminder is the star here. Picture the engineering meetings. Dozens of PhDs sat in a room and decided the solution to teen screen addiction was a gentle nudge from the same AI they're addicted to. Like asking a slot machine to remind you about your 401(k).
This is safety theater. OpenAI gets to say they care about teens. Parents get to feel like someone else is handling it. Teens get another notification to swipe away in 0.3 seconds.
The expert's question about effectiveness is rhetorical. They know it doesn't work. You know it doesn't work. OpenAI definitely knows it doesn't work. But they shipped it anyway because doing something looks better than doing nothing, even when that something is f*cking useless.
Next quarter they'll add a hydration reminder and claim another victory for digital wellness.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
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