OpenAI launches a teen ChatGPT with Study Mode on by default and parental controls

Announced 18 August 2026, ChatGPT for Teens turns age-appropriate protections on by default under the OpenAI Under-18 Principles and centres a Study Mode that answers with guiding questions and step-by-step support rather than finished answers. It adds quizzes and learning visualisations, and a homework check that redirects a teen who appears to be copying back into Study Mode. Parents can set whether Study Mode is on by default and manage the family controls. The launch follows lawsuits over chatbot safety failures involving teenagers, and arrives after ChatGPT had already reached roughly 900 million users.

What it means Study Mode is the tutoring pattern — withhold the answer, ask the guiding question — shipped as a consumer default to a teenage user base, which sets the baseline any education product is now compared against.