ChatGPT's parental controls take about ten minutes to set up, they are worth it, and they cover less than the name suggests. As of August 2026 they let you link your teenager's account to yours, set quiet hours, switch off voice, memory and image generation, keep their chats out of model training, turn Study Mode on by default, and get an alert if the system spots signs of serious distress. They do not let you read a single conversation, and they only work while your child is logged in to the account you linked.
I use these tools every day, I have advised the UK Department for Education and KHDA in Dubai on AI in education, and I would still not describe any of this as "control". Think of it as a seatbelt. Here is how to fit it, and what it will not stop.
What do ChatGPT's parental controls actually do?
OpenAI introduced parental controls on 29 September 2025 and expanded them on 13 July 2026, and its help centre lists the settings a parent with a linked account can manage. As of August 2026 they are: reduce sensitive content (on by default for teens), stop the teen's chats being used to improve the model, switch off saved memories, switch off voice mode, switch off image generation, turn off web browsing and coding tools, turn Study Mode on, set study hours in which new chats start in Study Mode, and set quiet hours in which the teen cannot use ChatGPT at all.
Then, on 18 August 2026, OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens. Any account the company believes belongs to someone under 18, whether from the date of birth given or from its age-prediction system, is moved into it automatically, whether or not a parent is linked. It brings stricter content filters, break reminders, homework reminders that steer a request back towards working it through, and rules against romantic role-play and language that encourages dependence. An adult who is wrongly placed in it can verify their age to leave.
The minimum age has not moved. OpenAI's terms of use, effective 1 January 2026, say users must be at least 13 and that anyone under 18 must have a parent's permission. A child under 13 should not have a ChatGPT account at all.
How do I set up ChatGPT parental controls?
Both of you need a ChatGPT account. In your account go to Settings, then Parental controls, then Add family member, and send the invitation by phone number or email. Your teenager accepts it, and the link appears in both accounts. A teen can also send the invitation from their side (Settings, Parental controls, Invite a parent), which is a good sign if they do it unprompted. Once linked, the settings above appear under your child's name, and every change takes effect on their account.
Two settings are worth making on the first day: quiet hours (I would start with bedtime to breakfast), and study hours across the homework window, so that when they open a new chat to "help" with an essay it asks them questions rather than writing it. The Internet Matters guide, updated 20 August 2026, walks through the same steps with screenshots.
Can I see my child's ChatGPT conversations?
No. OpenAI's help centre says plainly that parental controls "do not provide access to a teen's conversations, chat history, or real-time activity". What you get instead is a safety notification, by email, text and app alert, if a trained reviewer judges that a conversation shows signs of serious self-harm risk, or, since July 2026, if your teen's account has been closed for conversations about violence. OpenAI itself adds that notifications "may not identify every concern".
I think that is the right design, and I know it is not what many parents want to hear. A sixteen year old who knows every word is read will use a different app. A sixteen year old who knows you will hear if something serious happens, and nothing else, may keep using the one with the seatbelt.
What can the controls not do?
They cannot see a logged-out browser. Internet Matters puts it in one line: "children can use the chatbot without logging in, which will allow them to avoid any controls you have set." ChatGPT answers without an account, on any browser, on any device. The controls also cannot survive an unlink: either side can unlink at any time, you are notified when it happens, and that is the whole protection. They cannot reach a second account registered with a different date of birth, although the age-prediction system now catches some of those. And they do nothing about the AI in the apps your child already uses: Snapchat's My AI, the AI summaries at the top of every Google search, or the chatbot inside a game.
Google's arrangement is different and worth knowing. A parent can switch Gemini on for a child under 13 through a supervised Family Link account and gets an email the first time the child uses it, but, as of August 2026, Gemini is not available to supervised accounts at all in the UK, Switzerland or Europe. If you are in Britain and your ten year old says they use Gemini, it is not on a supervised account.
What Good Looks Like
The families who get this right think in three layers, and I give them that structure as a rule:
Controls work in three layers: the account, which is what the app allows; the device, which is what the phone allows; and the conversation, which is what your child tells you. Only the third layer covers the logged-out browser.
The account layer is ChatGPT's controls, done in ten minutes. The device layer is your phone's own screen-time and app settings, which can limit when any browser opens. The conversation layer is the ten minutes a week where you ask what they used it for and what it got wrong. Pew Research Center found in February 2026 that 64 per cent of US teens use AI chatbots while only 51 per cent of parents think their own teen does. That gap is not closed by a setting. It is closed by asking.
What to set, by age
Under 13. No ChatGPT account, by OpenAI's own rule. If they need to see what a chatbot is, they use yours, next to you. If you are outside the UK and Europe and want Gemini, use a supervised Family Link account and keep it switched off until you have watched them use it.
13 to 15. Link the accounts on day one, with quiet hours from bedtime and study hours across homework. Leave image generation off. You could say: "This isn't me reading your chats. I can't, and I've checked. It's me making sure it asks you questions instead of doing your homework, and that it switches off at night."
16 to 18. Link the accounts if they will let you, and accept it if they unlink at seventeen, because that is what the setting is for. Keep the conversation layer. You could say: "You'll be off to university or work soon and nobody will set this for you. Show me your settings, and tell me what you'd switch off for a younger sibling."
What to ask the school
Ask whether the school has spoken to parents about AI controls, and whether it has a recommended setup. Most have not, and it is a small thing that makes a big difference at parents' evening. If your child's school is working out where it stands on AI, this is the work I do with schools: an honest look at how ready the school is, including what parents have been told. It is worth sending to your head of year.
The settings will change again, probably before Christmas. My Sunday newsletter tracks what moved each week for more than 44,000 teachers and parents, without the panic.
Dan Fitzpatrick is a former teacher and assistant headteacher, a Forbes contributor, and the founder of The AI Educator. Read Dan's story.
