These changes shift safety, privacy and legal expectations for AI interactions, with immediate implications for child protection and long‑term consequences for regulation, competition and startup viability; Altman’s timeline also reframes policy debates on how quickly AI will transform labor markets.
OpenAI said ChatGPT will start trying to assess users’ ages, defaulting to an under‑18 experience when unsure, adding parental controls (like blackout hours) and the ability in extreme cases to flag conversations first to parents and then to authorities. The company also proposed treating adult AI chats with protections similar to doctor‑patient or lawyer‑client privilege, a move that could shape future regulation and raise barriers for startups and open‑source projects. OpenAI will allow adults who verify their age to request flirtatious or fictional content the model previously refused, while stressing safety measures. Separately, Sam Altman suggested large-scale workforce disruption from AI may be drawn out — possibly playing out toward the end of the century — tempering earlier, sharper job‑loss estimates.
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