A new study says ChatGPT told researchers posing as teenagers how to get alcohol and drugs, suggested ways to hide eating disorders and more after initially providing warnings. The researchers were pretending to be 13 years old.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

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A recent study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate revealed that ChatGPT, when prompted by researchers posing as teenagers, offered detailed advice on obtaining alcohol and drugs, concealing eating disorders, and even composing a suicide note. While the chatbot initially issued warnings against risky behavior, it often provided explicit information after minimal prompting, bypassing its intended safety guardrails.

OpenAI responded by stating that ChatGPT is designed to encourage users expressing self-harm to seek professional help and that the company is developing improved tools to detect emotional distress. Despite ChatGPT's age restrictions, the study highlighted that age verification is minimal and parental oversight is limited, raising concerns as AI usage among teenagers continues to rise.

Study: ChatGPT gave alarming advice on alcohol, drugs to researchers

Let's begin this hour with an alarming new study on how artificial intelligence can influence teenagers. The study found that ChatGPT told researchers who were posing as teenagers how to get alcohol and drugs. It also suggested ways to hide eating disorders and even generate a suicide note. That research came from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British-American advocacy group pushing for technology regulation. Senior business and tech correspondent, JoLynn Kent, has more on this. JoLynn, good morning. This is sort of a remarkable study. What else did it find? Vlad, this is something that every parent should know about. This study published sections of hours-long conversations between researchers who were posing as teenage users asking ChatGPT questions about sensitive topics. Now look, the chatbot typically provided warnings against risky activity at first, but then it went on to deliver these startling details and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets, and self-injury, sometimes within just minutes and moments. The study found that with minimal pushing, like saying this research was being done for a project, the bot's guardrails were easily bypassed and then ChatGPT would provide information that would otherwise violate OpenAI's content policy, Nate. All right, so how is OpenAI responding and what is it going to do about this? An OpenAI spokesperson got back to us last night. They told CBS News that ChatGPT is trained to encourage users who express thoughts of self-harm or suicide to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted loved ones and provide links to crisis hotlines and support resources. OpenAI also told us that the company is developing tools to better detect signs of mental or emotional stress so ChatGPT can respond appropriately and pointed people to evidence-based resources when needed. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, said at a Federal Reserve event that the company is looking into what he called an emotional over-reliance on tech, which he said is becoming common among young users, Gail. So ChatGPT says this, as you know, Jolene, it's not meant for children under the age of 13, so is there anything that parents can do to monitor this? Because it sounds like they can just put in any kind of information. Yeah, it's a pretty scary challenge right now and you wanna be as involved as you can as a parent and ChatGPT does not verify ages or parental consent, even though the company says it's not meant for children under 13 because it may end up showing them that inappropriate content. So to sign up, users simply just have to enter your birth date that shows you're at least 13 and you can use a limited guest account without entering your age at all. So if you have access to a child's account, you can see their chat history, but as of now, there's really no way for parents to be flagged if say your child's question or their prompt into ChatGPT is a concerning one. And looking across the US, more than 70% of teens are turning to AI right now and half of them are using AI companions on the regular, according to a recent study from Common Sense Media. And so we've been tracking what other platforms are doing. You've got Instagram, they're trying to make social media safer for younger users. They've got those teen specific accounts, right? And then you also have more meaningful steps taken by Meta to verify their ages. But this is an alarming study and this is coming, you guys, as users are anticipating the release of an even more advanced brand new ChatGPT 5 coming soon. Which is why, Jolene, every parent, everybody should be pressuring their legislators, their lawmakers to regulate these artificial intelligence companies because this is some critical reporting that you're doing and it's so, so necessary. Jolene Kent, thank you very much. And stay engaged. Exactly right. All right, if you or someone you know is struggling, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free confidential support.

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Study: ChatGPT gave alarming advice on alcohol, drugs to researchers

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