OpenAI will introduce new protections for children using ChatGPT next month, including alerts for parents if their teenagers show acute distress. This follows a lawsuit from a family whose son took his own life after allegedly receiving encouragement from the system.

Other new safeguards allow parents to link accounts with their teens and control AI responses with age-appropriate rules. However, internet safety advocates argue these measures are insufficient and AI chatbots should be proven safe for young people before release.

Andy Burrows, The Molly Rose Foundation chief executive, said: ‘Once again we’ve seen tragedy and media pressure force tech companies to act – but not go far enough. Ofcom should be ready to investigate any breaches ChatGPT has made since the Online Safety Act came into force and hold the company to account until it is fundamentally safe for its users.’

In other AI news – Fake celebrity chatbots among those sending harmful content to children ‘every five minutes’