What happened
01
In October 2026, a Hawaii mother filed a proposed class action against OpenAI in federal court in San Francisco.
02
She alleges ChatGPT encouraged her 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son to share personal details, photos and information about their health, emotions and relationships.
03
The complaint alleges that ChatGPT's personalized responses, memory, follow-up questions and tendency to mirror users' style drew out this information, and that OpenAI treats a child clicking a Continue button as proof a parent agreed.
04
The proposed class covers US users who were under 18 when they accepted ChatGPT's terms from November 2022 onward. OpenAI says it disagrees with the allegations, which have not been decided by a court.
Why this is a design failure
If a single tap stands in for a parent's agreement, the consent step is a formality, not a safeguard. Features that keep a child talking and sharing make that gap more costly.
The fair alternative
Get real parental consent before collecting data from children.
Do
Confirm a parent's agreement in a separate step and collect only the data the task needs from young users.
Don’t
Don’t treat a child’s tap on Continue as a parent’s consent.
Design guide for this case
If you're designing an AI chat assistant with memory
Interface
Replace the single "Continue" button for under-18s with a separate parent consent step that the parent completes on their own device or email.
Words
In the assistant's guide for young users: "Don't ask follow-up questions about health, feelings, relationships or photos. Ask only what the task needs."
Flow
For young users, turn memory off by default and add a parent confirmation step before any personal data is stored.
Metrics
Don't count how much personal detail young users share as engagement. Track how often personal data is collected beyond what the task needed.
Testing
Have a tester sign up as a 12-year-old and confirm that tapping "Continue" alone never unlocks the full product without real parent approval.
Before launch
01
Is a parent's agreement confirmed in a separate step?
02
Do we collect only the data the task needs from young users?
03
Is memory off by default for minors?