OpenAI has begun a phased rollout of an age verification system for ChatGPT users, in which some accounts are asked to confirm their age using a passport or other government-issued ID, according to company reference materials and user reports.
According to OpenAI’s new guidelines, ChatGPT uses an age prediction model to assess whether an account belongs to a user younger or older than 18. If the system determines that the user is under 18, additional restrictions on sensitive content are automatically applied to the account, and adults who have been mistakenly classified as teenagers can restore full access by verifying their age with a document.
In the published article Age prediction in ChatGPT, OpenAI specifies that in the event of an erroneous classification as under 18, an adult user can undergo verification by uploading a photo of their passport or other government-issued ID and a selfie via a Persona partner: after age confirmation, the account is switched to standard “adult” mode. The company separately notes that the feature is “rolling out gradually and may not be available yet” in some countries.
A separate help article, Why am I being asked to verify my age? describes an additional scheme for jurisdictions where age verification is required by law: when logging into ChatGPT, such users are shown a banner asking them to complete verification within 60 days, otherwise access will be blocked until the procedure is completed. For these checks, OpenAI uses a third-party service called Yoti, which, depending on the method chosen, may request a selfie, document upload, or verification via a mobile app.
The company explains that the development of the age prediction system and document checks is related to stricter requirements for the protection of minors when using AI services. In September, OpenAI announced the creation of a “separate experience” for users under the age of 18, where ChatGPT should not engage in flirtatious conversations or discuss topics related to causing harm, and in cases of clear threat to a teenager’s life, the system may notify parents or authorities.
OpenAI does not disclose the full list of countries and languages where the system is already active, limiting itself to the phrase “gradual implementation.” At the same time, users of English-language forums are reporting en masse that ChatGPT is asking them to provide ID and selfies, with some of them finding their access to the full functionality of the service restricted until verification or confirmation of their age is complete.
ChatGPT and other applications based on generative (content-creating) artificial intelligence (AI) will gradually supplant traditional search engines, according to Michael Wolfe, co-founder and head of Activate, an American consulting company.
According to Activate, about 13 million American adults currently start their Internet searches with generative artificial intelligence services. By 2027, the number of such users will exceed 90 million, Wolfe expects and attributes this to the ability of generative AI to produce much more accurate and personalized results.
“Generative AI fundamentally changes the search model because results are no longer presented as links,” The Wall Street Journal quoted the expert as saying. – “It delivers information absolutely ‘packaged’ and ready to use.”
The new trend will benefit most of all from services with impressive volumes of client data, which will facilitate the issuance of personalized information, Wolfe believes.
From his point of view, the leader in this area will be TikTok. According to Activate, users spend an average of more than 54 minutes a day on the Chinese social network. The same figure for YouTube – 49 minutes, Instagram and Facebook (Meta Platforms information resources – 33 and 31 minutes respectively.
Ukraine was excluded from the list of countries in which the use of chatbots with artificial intelligence ChatGPT developer OpenAl, after which the product became available to Ukrainian users, said Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov in Telegram.
“ChatGPT is now available in Ukraine. The team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation worked on this solution for a long time – official letters, calls and meetings with the management. And finally, we managed to correct an injustice,” Fedorov pointed out.
The program will not work in the temporarily occupied territories of Russia, so that enemies will not use it for anti-Ukrainian propaganda, Fedorov specified. “ChatGPT has an excellent command of the Ukrainian language, unlike the Russians,” he noted.
The head of the Ministry of Digital Economy thanked the developer company OpenAI and advisor to the head of the Office of the President, President of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Timofey Milovanov for his assistance in solving the problem.
Earlier it was reported that Ukraine was included in the sanctions list of countries, the use of ChatGPT in which was prohibited. The list also includes Russia, Belarus and Iran. The reasons for this selection were not reported.
At the same time, as indicated in the media, Ukrainian users found more than five ways to bypass the blocking, in particular by using foreign SIM cards of foreign mobile operators, using VPNs, changing the country binding in Google, using extensions for the Google Chrome browser.
ChatGPT rapidly gained popularity on the Internet after its launch in late November 2022: the number of chatbot users reached 100 million in the first two months of its existence. Its ability to mimic human conversation has sparked speculation that it could replace professional writers and even threaten Google’s search business, Bloomberg wrote. Chat is capable of generating texts of any size and HTML markup code, as well as responding to queries in a human-like manner, maintaining a dialogue and answering follow-up questions.
KSE has already opened enrollment in a free workshop on using ChatGPT and is considering a full training course, Milovanov wrote on his Facebook page.
Microsoft has already invested about $1 billion in OpenAI. The company is also working to incorporate ChatGPT chatbots into its Bing search engine.
