OpenAI · Terms of Use (ROW)

Age Restriction and Parental Consent

High severity
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Why it matters (compliance & risk perspective)

OpenAI's age restriction mechanism relies on user self-attestation without robust verification, which creates COPPA compliance risk and may expose minors to AI-generated content without adequate parental oversight.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

OpenAI's Terms of Use require all users to resolve disputes through binding individual arbitration, waiving their right to join class action lawsuits — a significant restriction on legal recourse in the event of harm. Users also grant OpenAI a broad license to use their inputs and conversations to improve and train AI models, which has privacy implications for anything shared during interactions. You can opt out of having your conversations used to train OpenAI's models by navigating to Settings > Data Controls in your ChatGPT account and disabling 'Improve the model for everyone'.

How other platforms handle this

Anthropic Medium

Impersonate a human by presenting results as human-generated, or using results in a manner intended to convince a natural person that they are communicating with a natural person when they are not

Shopify Medium

We also don't tolerate anyone defrauding Shopify, other merchants, or buyers, using Shopify as a platform to send spam, or for other malicious practices.

Anthropic Medium

This includes using our products or services to: Impersonate a human by presenting results as human-generated, or using results in a manner intended to convince a natural person that they are communicating with a natural person when they are not.

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View original clause language
You must be at least 13 years old or the minimum age required in your country to consent to use online services. If you are under 18, you must have your parent or guardian's permission to use our Services. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child has created an account without your consent, you can request deletion of that account by contacting us.

Applicable regulations

CFAA
United States Federal
DMCA
United States Federal
DSA
European Union

Provision details

Document information
Document
Terms of Use (ROW)
Entity
OpenAI
Document last updated
March 5, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
March 10, 2026
Last verified
April 27, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-002444
Document ID
CA-D-00007
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
3a064f11bc2cb0f491e5ad76938f2712026c1d020c9f8b50528f8c7b639a4f7f
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: OpenAI | Document: Terms of Use (ROW) | Record: CA-P-002444
Captured: 2026-03-10 03:31:52 UTC | SHA-256: 3a064f11bc2cb0f4…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/openai/terms-of-use-row/age-restriction-and-parental-consent/
Accessed: May 4, 2026
Classification
Severity
High
Categories

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does OpenAI's Age Restriction and Parental Consent clause do?

OpenAI's age restriction mechanism relies on user self-attestation without robust verification, which creates COPPA compliance risk and may expose minors to AI-generated content without adequate parental oversight.

How many platforms have this type of clause?

ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 3 platforms. See the full comparison.

Is ConductAtlas affiliated with OpenAI?

No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenAI.