OpenAI Rolls Out Parental Controls and Faces Widespread ChatGPT Outage on September 3, 2025

San Francisco, September 3, 2025 - OpenAI today announced the imminent launch of new parental controls and safety measures for its ChatGPT chatbot, while users around the globe experienced a major service disruption early this morning.

The company stated that, beginning this fall, parents will be able to link their ChatGPT accounts with those of teenagers (aged 13 and up), set age-appropriate response rules, disable features like memory and chat history, and “receive notifications when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress”. These measures are part of a broader 120-day initiative in collaboration with mental health and youth development experts aimed at ensuring ChatGPT better handles sensitive conversations.

Simultaneously, ChatGPT encountered a significant outage starting around 1:27 AM UTC, with users reporting that the chatbot failed to display responses and was unreachable on Downdetector. OpenAI engineers acknowledged the issue and confirmed they are actively investigating the cause of the server disruption.

Key Developments

Parental Controls and Distress Alerts

  • Parents will link accounts via email invitation and manage which features-such as memory and chat history-are enabled for their teens.
  • The system will monitor conversations for indicators of “acute distress” and notify parents if detected.
  • Highly sensitive queries will be routed to more capable AI reasoning models to ensure safer, more thoughtful responses.

Global Outage Impact

  • Beginning at approximately 1:27 AM UTC, users worldwide reported ChatGPT was “not displaying responses correctly.”
  • Downdetector data showed a sharp spike in error reports, indicating a large-scale service interruption.
  • OpenAI confirmed the outage and is working to restore full functionality.

Context and Next Steps

OpenAI’s safety enhancements come in the wake of lawsuits alleging ChatGPT failed to identify and intervene in teen users’ suicidal ideation. The rollout of parental controls underscores the company’s commitment to addressing these concerns through both technical and expert-driven policy measures. Meanwhile, resolving today’s outage will be critical to regaining user trust and ensuring uninterrupted access to OpenAI’s widely used chatbot.