OpenAI published an Australian Youth Safety Blueprint on 18 September, which it describes as a roadmap for protecting young people using AI and a contribution to Australian policy debate. It sets out six pillars: AI literacy, age-appropriate safeguards, privacy-protective age assurance, connections to real-world crisis support, and accessible parental controls.
Almost everything concrete in it has already happened. ChatGPT for Teens, a version for 13 to 17 year olds with modified protections, reached Australia in August. Parental controls, under-18 policies and age assurance are live. The document contains no new dated commitment, no funding figure and no named partner; it refers generally to work with teenagers, parents, educators, researchers and policymakers.
Which makes it worth reading as a positioning document rather than a product announcement. Australia is the country furthest down the road on age restriction online, and the blueprint’s central argument — that companies must build protections into their products from the outset — doubles as an argument against rules that put the burden on users and parents instead. Filing an industry position before a regulator writes one is ordinary practice and none the worse for it, but it is what this is.
Source: OpenAI, “Introducing the Australian Youth Safety Blueprint”.