{
  "id": 19321257,
  "title": "ChatGPT’s Teen Mode could deprive teenagers of a fundamental need | Robin Kirman",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/10/chatgpts-teen-mode-could-deprive-teenagers-of-a-fundamental-need",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-10T11:00:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Technology",
    "slug": "guardian-technology",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/10/chatgpt-teen-mode-cognitive-skills"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Teen Mode, a version of ChatGPT designed for users under 18, has been introduced by OpenAI following a lawsuit that claimed the chatbot contributed to the suicide of a 16-year-old. While Teen Mode aims to prevent obvious harms, such as providing guardrails against destructive content and notifying parents of self-harm concerns, a deeper issue remains - the potential loss of a fundamental need for teenagers. Teen Mode's Socratic learning tool, Study Mode, is designed to guide students through a process of thinking rather than providing answers outright. However, this approach risks depriving teenagers of the opportunity to develop a reliable sense of their own minds. Psychoanalyst Robin Kirman argues that this reliance on Teen Mode, while beneficial at the surface level, can ultimately hinder the development of a teenager's sense of self. Winnicott's concept of the \"good-enough\" parent, who is present enough to provide a secure base but limited enough to encourage the child's independent thinking, is contrasted with the \"too-good\" parent, which could potentially stifle a teenager's growth and independence. Teen Mode, as a tireless interlocutor, may offer intellectual support that surpasses human resources, but it lacks the crucial human element that Winnicott believed was essential for a teenager's identity formation. The argument extends into adolescence, a period marked by the disengagement from authority and the discovery of one's own beliefs. By always being accompanied, guided, and met with a calibrated response, a teenager never gets the chance to become her own authority. While OpenAI's designers may see Teen Mode as a scaffold rather than a crutch, the assumption that a teenager will eventually let go of such support is questionable. As technology continues to advance, the dependency on AI is likely to increase, leaving those without the advantages of Teen Mode at a disadvantage. The loss, therefore, extends beyond cognitive skills to a fundamental need for a reliable sense of one's own mind.",
  "summary": "What young students stand to lose is more than cognitive skill: it’s a reliable sense of their own minds In August, OpenAI launched Teen Mode – a version of ChatGPT in which every user under 18 will automatically be enrolled – a year after a lawsuit alleged that ChatGPT had contributed to the suicide of a 16-year-old named Adam Raine. For years, the tech industry has contested any causal link…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}