OpenAI bets on families while ChatGPT delves into families

More than three years after launching ChatGPT that brought generative AI into the mainstream, OpenAI is expanding its focus beyond individual users to families.

OpenAI is hiring a dedicated product manager in San Francisco to build experiences for families, caregivers, and seniors across its products. The role calls for experience building products for parents, families, and other trust-sensitive consumer experiences, according to the job posting.

The hiring comes as ChatGPT’s audience continues to expand beyond younger users. According to Sensor Tower estimates shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the share of ChatGPT users aged 35 or older globally rose to 31% in Q2 from 26% a year earlier, while the share of users aged 18 to 24 fell to 29% from 34%. In the United States, nearly one in four parent smartphone users used ChatGPT during the quarter, compared to 16% a year earlier, according to company estimates.

OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment about the job posting.

The role of the custom product focused on families suggests that OpenAI is starting to think of its products less as tools for individual productivity and more as technology designed for families, said Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies.

“This is similar to the path that Google, Apple, and eventually Meta took as their platforms became integrated into everyday life, but AI raises the stakes because the assistant is not limited to mediating content or devices,” he told TechCrunch.

This shift also brings new challenges related to trust and safety. The hiring reflects OpenAI’s maturity and growing recognition that AI products used by children and teens require different safeguards than those designed for adults, said Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute.

“I see this as security by redesign,” Balkam told TechCrunch. “You’re taking the initial product or service that was released… not really with kids in mind… so this is a much-needed reaction and response.”

The comments come as new research published by the Family Online Safety Institute this week found that parents underestimate how often their children use generative AI. While 27% of US parents said their children had used generative AI in the past week, 38% of children reported doing so themselves, according to the survey of more than 4,000 families in the US and Australia.

Belkam told TechCrunch that AI companies must build products differently for younger users, with stronger content controls, age-appropriate experiences, parental controls, and reminders to inform users that they are interacting with AI — not a human.

The hiring also comes amid growing scrutiny of how AI companies protect younger users. OpenAI has faced numerous lawsuits from parents who claimed that ChatGPT contributed to harm to their children, including cases involving suicide.

In response to some of these concerns, OpenAI has introduced a series of safety measures over the past year, including parental controls for teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to thought models designed to better handle signs of distress, and, most recently, an optional “Trusted Connect” feature that can alert a family member or caregiver in cases of potential self-harm.

AI companies have an opportunity to avoid mistakes made by social media platforms, which for years treated children like adults before adding stronger safeguards amid mounting public pressure and regulatory scrutiny, Belkam said.

The hiring also aligns with OpenAI’s broader efforts around families. In a recent workshop organized with the San Antonio Spurs Community Impact and Positive Coaching Alliance, the company said it aims to explore the role of artificial intelligence in learning, coaching and engaging youth.

However, the demographic shift is not limited to ChatGPT, although OpenAI’s audience is changing in some distinct ways.

Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25-34 represent 40% of global app audiences for Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, which matches ChatGPT, compared with 33% for Microsoft’s Copilot. However, Copilot tends to be aging, with 20% of its users aged 45 and over, compared to 14% for Cloud, 12% for Gemini, and 11% for ChatGPT.

Although ChatGPT is still relatively underpenetrated among older users, it is adding them faster than its competitors. The share of users ages 45 and older rose three percentage points year over year in the second quarter, compared with a two-point increase for Copilot and a decrease for Cloud and Gemini, according to Sensor Tower.

Among US smartphone users who are parents, Gemini had the broadest reach at 32% in Q2, followed by ChatGPT at 24%, Cloud at 4%, and Copilot at 2%.

For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a product manager focused on families signals the direction consumer AI is headed. As AI becomes a cross-generational technology, he expects companies to roll out family plans, child and teen profiles, caregiver tools, shared home memories, AI lessons, and stronger safety controls.