> We’re building an age-prediction system to estimate age based on how people use ChatGPT. If there is doubt, we’ll play it safe and default to the under-18 experience. In some cases or countries we may also ask for an ID

Yay, more unreliable AI that will misclassify users, either letting children access content they shouldn't, or ban adults until they give up their privacy and give their ID to the Big Brother.

> we will attempt to contact the users’ parents and if unable, will contact the authorities in case of imminent harm

Oh, even better, so if the AI misclassifies me it will automatically call the cops on me? And how long before this is expanded to other forms of wrongthink? Sure, let's normalize these kinds of systems where authorities are notified about what you're doing privately, definitely not a slippery slope that won't get people in power salivating about the new possibilities given by such a system.

> “Treat our adult users like adults” is how we talk about this internally

Suuure, maybe I would have believed it if ChatGPT wasn't so ridiculously censored already; this sounds like post-hoc rationalization to cover their asses and not something that they've always believed in. Their models were always incredibly patronizing and censored.

One fun anecdote I have: I still remember the day when I first got access to DALL-E and asked it to generate me an image in "soviet style", and got my request blocked and a big fat warning threatening me with a ban because apparently "soviet" is a naughty word. They always erred very strongly on the side of heavy-handed filtering and censorship; even their most recently released gpt-oss model has become a meme in the local LLM community due to how often it refuses.

>Yay, more unreliable AI that will misclassify users, either letting children access content they shouldn't, or ban adults until they give up their privacy and give their ID to the Big Brother.

Or maybe, deep in the terms and conditions, it will add you to Altman's shitcoin company[0]

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_(blockchain)

Just seeing those words, “safety”, “freedom”, “privacy”, being used by a company like OpenAI already rang every available alarm bell for me, and their announcement indeed fulfills every expectation of bad. They really are experts in making the world a worse place.

Gotta love the "if an under-18 user is having suicidal ideation, we will attempt to contact the users’ parents and if unable, will contact the authorities in case of imminent harm."

Oh brilliant. The same authorities around the world that regularly injure or kill the mentally ill? Or parents that might be abusing their child? What a wonderful initiative!

Maybe we don't have to worry about AI chatbots taking over because they will end up so censored/policed that no one will/can use them. Can't use AI if you're too young, too old, have any medical issues, have the wrong political beliefs, are religious, live in the wrong country, etc etc.

(By "can't use" I mean either you're explicitly banned, or the chance of being reported to the authorities is so high that no one risks it.)

> Oh, even better, so if the AI misclassifies me it will automatically call the cops on me?

How long will it take for someone to accidentally SWAT themselves?

I can't wait to hear Ed zittrons rant on this.

OpenAI just showed their hand. They have no path to profitability so they are going to the data broker well lol.

If you were honest in your critique the people you should be criticizing are the "think of the children" types, many of which also use hackernews (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45026886). There is immense societal pressure to de-anonymize the internet, I find the arguments from both sides compelling (for the deanonymization part I think it's compelling for at least parts of the internet).

is it privately when you're interacting with someone else's systems?