OpenAI publicly supports California Senate Bill 1119, which would establish mandatory safeguards for how young people use AI while preserving their access to learning, creation, and exploration tools.

The company’s VP of Global Policy, Ann O’Leary, announced the endorsement in a letter to Governor Newsom, noting that in the absence of federal action, California has an opportunity to set a strong standard for youth AI safety.

SB 1119 builds on OpenAI‘s own youth safety measures, including its recently launched ChatGPT for Teens, which automatically applies built-in protections to users under 18.

The bill requires platforms to determine a user’s age, identify and address safety risks before making products available to young people, undergo independent audits, protect young people from harmful content (self-harm, exploitative content, high-risk interactions), provide parental tools, connect users with crisis resources, and limit targeted advertising.

These protections would apply automatically to users aged 13–17.

OpenAI emphasizes that AI is not social media and that the bill preserves access to educational and safety-critical features, including responsible uses of ChatGPT’s memory feature.

The company describes its own efforts over the past year, including parental controls, age prediction, the Teen Safety Blueprint, and Under-18 Principles in its Model Spec, which prohibit romantic engagement, emotional dependence, and claims that ChatGPT is human or sentient.

OpenAI supports continued study and collaboration during implementation to refine provisions as technology evolves.