By Gavin Boyle
As AI chatbot companies make major changes to their platform regulations for children, young users are finally being protected from the dangers of this technology, but some argue these updates come too late.
“We will be removing the ability for users under 18 to engage in open-ended chat with AI on our platform,” popular AI chatbot platform Character.ai announced at the end of October. “This change will take effect no later than November 25.”
“We’re making these changes to our under-18 platform in light of the evolving landscape around AI and teens,” the company continued. “We have seen recent news reports raising questions, and have received questions from regulators, about the content teens may encounter when chatting with AI…We do not take this step of removing open-ended Character chat lightly – but we do think that it’s the right thing to do given the questions that have been raised about how teens do, and should, interact with this new technology.”
This massive change to Character.ai comes after the platform has found itself embroiled in controversy due to how the site tends to push sexualized and self-harm content onto users, regardless of their age. In the past year, multiple lawsuits have been launched against the company by parents seeking justice for their children.
Related: Is It Okay for Kids to Use AI Chatbots?
Character.ai is not the only chatbot platform to introduce new safeguards for young users now that the public has started to question if kids should have access to AI chatbots in the first place. At the beginning of October, ChatGPT launched a parental control feature which allows parents to directly monitor how their children are using the site.
“Available to all ChatGPT users starting today, parental controls allow parents to link their account with their teen’s account and customize settings for a safe, age-appropriate experience,” OpenAI said.
Unfortunately, this change from OpenAI came just weeks before the company announced it will now be allowing erotic content on its platform – a decision that has many people worried about the implications for young users, including billionaire Mark Cuban.
“This is going to backfire. Hard. No parent is going to trust that their kids can’t get through your age gating. They will just push their kids to every other LLM. Why take the risk?” Cuban wrote on X after OpenAI made the erotica announcement. “Same for schools. Why take the risk? A few seniors in HS are 18 and decide it would be fun to show the hard core erotica they created to the 14 yr olds. What could go wrong?”
This is going to backfire. Hard. No parent is going to trust that their kids can’t get through your age gating. They will just push their kids to every other LLM.
Why take the risk ?
Same for schools. Why take the risk ? A few seniors in HS are 18 and decide it would be… https://t.co/ugSU7IXoOz
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 15, 2025
While it is encouraging to see that the AI chatbot companies are now being forced to take child safety seriously, their decisions make it clear that they are doing so for the sake of public opinion, rather than a care for its young users. These new guidelines are only implemented after hundreds of cases of kids being exposed to adult content, meanwhile, they are expanding their adult offerings. Hopefully these changes will help protect kids, but parents should still be extremely wary about allowing their children to use these chatbots without supervision.
Read Next: Are We Surprised? ChatGPT’s New Parental Controls Fail to Protect Kids
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