ChatGPT for Teens is live. Here's how famed parenting expert Emily Oster says parents should approach it.

• OpenAI launched "ChatGPT for Teens" in August, aimed at users ages 13 to 17.
• It includes study-help features and content guardrails, with the goal of making AI safer for teens.
• Emily Oster, founder of ParentData, shared how parents can navigate their teens using AI.

OpenAI seems to have solved the problem of adolescents lying about their age: if they type like they're under 18, it automatically assumes that they are — and restricts them to a teen version of ChatGPT.

It's one of the main features boasted by OpenAI's "ChatGPT for Teens," which officially launched in August and was the subject of a parent forum in New York City on October 7.

But even with those protections, parents face the harder question of how their kids should actually use AI.

"If I had to pick a word for how people are feeling about this moment, it's probably confused and anxious, which is not how we want parents to feel," Emily Oster, the founder of ParentData, a data-driven parenting and pregnancy resource, said at the ChatGPT for Teens Parent Forum.

OpenAI is trying to address these concerns with ChatGPT for Teens. Besides its age-estimation feature, which analyzes a user's language patterns, the questions they ask, and the time of day they use ChatGPT, ChatGPT for Teens also has a "study mode" to break down math problems into steps or create custom flashcards.

It also includes guardrails such as a more neutral tone of voice (to avoid ChatGPT sounding too friendly or romanticized), content restrictions, and notification tools to inform parents with linked accounts if their teens are asking about topics such as self-harm or eating disorders.

The goal, according to Allison Mishkin, head of child development at OpenAI, is to create a version of ChatGPT that is not only safer but also more age-appropriate for teens, but that also includes features that will directly benefit teens who need extra homework help or have a genuine interest in using AI tools.

So far, the roll-out has had some mixed feedback. A Common Sense Media report published on October 7 that analyzed 4,000 prompts found that the platform failed to alert parents after talks of suicidal ideation, was inconsistent in identifying teen users, and could still be used to provide answers to homework.

For many parents, AI feels like an inevitable part of their teens' future, and something that's increasingly difficult to avoid. Oster spoke to Business Insider about three ways they can manage their teens' AI use.

You should already be mindful about screen time

Over the past few years, parents have expressed concerns about their teens' relationships to their screens. AI adds another dimension to the worry: what if it's yet another reason for their kids to remain glued to their devices?

Oster told Business Insider that the same advice for navigating a teen's social media use exists for AI: good parenting starts with actually knowing what your teen is doing online and their relationship to these platforms.

If it remains a complete mystery, Oster encouraged asking open-ended questions. "I would urge parents to come into that conversation without an aim to come out of it with some rules or controls," she said, which can hopefully get teens to share what they use AI for more freely.

Ultimately, she said it's "incredibly important" for parents to think about how all screen use — AI included — fits into their kids' lives.

"How do we give kids enough time to do the things that are really important — to do their homework, to sleep enough, to spend time with their families, to be outside?" she said. "I would encourage parents to think about that time displacement regardless of what your kid is doing on their computer."

Take advantage of the best tools, like customized tutoring

One of the biggest controversies around AI is students using it to either outwardly cheat on assignments or do most of the thinking for them.

It's a tension, Oster said, that researchers are still exploring.

"I do think that the struggle piece is a huge part of learning," she said. "We do see when kids are using AI to answer all their homework questions, then they can't do the tests. So that's not good."

At the same time, she said everyone learns differently, and some might benefit from having the material repeated or explained in a different way. One father in California previously told Business Insider that he programmed ChatGPT to quiz his two daughters on their classroom materials until they're confident enough to pass their tests.

Oster is also excited about the platform's new college planner feature, announced in October, which she said can "make it easier for kids without access to a good college counselor to access information" about specific schools and admission processes.

Just as it is for adults, AI is what you make of it. It's on parents to instill the right values in their kids and encourage them to use it as a helpful tool rather than a cheat code.

"If your kid hears 'getting 100 on everything is the most important thing in the world,' that changes how they're going to be interacting with a tool that can help them get 100 on their homework every time," Oster said at the forum. "On the other hand, if you ask, 'really, what is school for?' Well, school is for learning how to learn."

Be cautious, but not fearful

Considering all the troubling AI headlines in the news, it's no shock that some parents are wary of the future.

"I think there's so much fear, and I really understand that as a parent, I really understand the fear and anxiety, but there's also so much promise," Oster told Business Insider.

While navigating teen AI use can feel like a unique, of-the-times conundrum, Oster believes it ties into the constant, "core question" of parenting: "How do I make good decisions under uncertainty?" she said at the forum.

She said the best thing a parent can do in any scenario is to do their research, make the decision, and set boundaries they feel are appropriate. " We can never be sure that we made the right decision," she said. "We can never live the other path."

Her advice is to take necessary precautions, like talking to your teen, but also to keep an open mind about where AI can be helpful. She shared that her own teenage daughter wanted to build something to connect kids to volunteer opportunities, which she built using AI.

"We can communicate with them: there's a lot of stuff you want to be careful of here," she said. "There's also a lot of opportunity to take the really cool stuff that's in your head and make it real. I don't want to lose the wonder of how neat this is."