More than three years after the launch of ChatGPT, which brought generative AI to the mainstream, OpenAI is now expanding its focus beyond individual users to families.
OpenAI is hiring a dedicated product manager in San Francisco to help build experiences for families, caregivers, and seniors across its products. According to the job posting, the position requires experience building products for parents and families and other trust-sensitive customer experiences.
The hire comes at a time when ChatGPT’s user base continues to expand beyond younger users. According to Sensor Tower estimates, which were shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the percentage of ChatGPT users aged 35 and older worldwide increased to 31% in the second quarter (Q2) from 26% a year earlier, while the percentage of users aged 18 to 24 fell to 29% from 34%. The company estimates that nearly one in four smartphone users in the U.S. who are parents used ChatGPT this quarter, up from 16% a year ago.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment on the job posting.
The launch of a dedicated product line focused on families signals that OpenAI is starting to think of its products less as personal productivity tools and more as technology designed for families, said Ben Bazarin, CEO of technology consultancy Creative Strategies.
“It’s a lot like the path that Google, Apple and Meta took when their platforms became integral parts of everyday life. But AI has increased the risk in this case, because this assistant is not just a mediator between content or devices.”
The shift also brings new trust and security challenges. Stephen Balcum, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hiring reflects OpenAI’s maturity and the growing realization that AI products used by children and teens require different safeguards than products designed for adults. “I see this as safety by design,” Balcum told TechCrunch. “If you take the first product or service that was released… that wasn’t really designed with children in mind… so this is a much-needed response and solution.”
The comments come as a new study released this week by the Family Online Safety Institute found that parents are underestimating how often their children use generative AI. According to the survey of more than 4,000 families in the United States and Australia, while 27% of U.S. parents said their child had used generative AI in the past week, 38% of children reported using it themselves.
Balcom told TechCrunch that AI companies should build products differently for younger users, with stronger content controls, age-appropriate experiences, parental controls, and reminders to remind users that they’re talking to an AI—not a human.
The hiring also comes at a time when scrutiny is growing over how AI companies protect younger users. OpenAI has faced multiple lawsuits from parents alleging that ChatGPT has caused harm to their children, including suicide.
In response to some of these concerns, OpenAI has rolled out a number of safety measures over the past year. These include parental controls for teen accounts, sending sensitive conversations to reasoning models designed to better address signs of emotional distress, and most recently, an optional “Trusted Contact” feature that can alert a family member or caregiver in the event of potential self-harm.
Balkum said AI companies have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media platforms. For years, these platforms have treated children much like adults, but have added stronger safeguards in the face of growing public pressure and increased regulatory scrutiny.
The hire also aligns with OpenAI’s broader efforts to focus on families. At a recent workshop with the San Antonio Spurs Community Impact Organization and the Positive Coaching Alliance, the company said it aims to explore the role of AI in education, coaching, and engaging young people.
However, this demographic shift is not unique to ChatGPT, although OpenAI’s user base is changing in some distinct ways.
Sensor Tower estimates that 40% of global app users for Anthropic’s Cloud and Google’s Gemini are between the ages of 25 and 34, similar to ChatGPT. In comparison, Microsoft’s CoPilot has a 33% user base. However, CoPilot has a higher proportion of older users; 20% of its users are 45 or older compared to 14% of Cloud users, according to the company.
This new move by OpenAI is not just a simple recruitment exercise, but it signals a major strategic shift in the global technology market. When ChatGPT first came to the market, it was mainly known as a tool for coders, writers, students, and corporate professionals to speed up their personal work. But with time, the acceptance and need for this technology has started to penetrate the pores of society. Now, in addition to the changes mentioned above, there are several other important aspects, which help to understand this whole scenario more deeply.
1. Transformation and new challenges of AI in education
One of the major reasons behind the creation of family-oriented AI products is its increasing use in education. School and college students are now constantly taking the help of generative AI to do homework, solve complex math problems, or understand any historical event. But this has created major concerns in the minds of teachers. OpenAI is now trying to create a framework where parents can know how their children are using ChatGPT for their studies. At the same time, they are looking for ways to use AI positively in sports and youth mental development by joining various organizations such as the Positive Coaching Alliance.
2. Risks to mental health and sensitivity
A large proportion of teenagers now chat with chatbots to overcome loneliness or depression, which can sometimes take a serious form. Since AI cannot feel emotions like humans, any mechanical or incorrect advice it gives can push an emotional minor user into great danger. To prevent the repetition of some tragic incidents that have occurred in the past, OpenAI is adding filters to their new reasoning model that will immediately alert if the user shows signs of mental distress (such as depression or suicidal thoughts) and will provide sensitive or safe responses according to the situation.
3. Inclusion of seniors in the family and technological complexity
Elderly people often fall behind in this tide of technology. But current statistics show that the trend of using ChatGPT is increasing even among those aged 45 and above. One of the main tasks of OpenAI’s new Family Product Manager will be to simplify the experience so that older people can easily, without any complicated interface, set reminders to take medication using voice commands (voice), talk to overcome loneliness, or look up general daily information.
4. Commercial competition and family subscription model
From a business perspective, AI companies like Netflix, Spotify, or YouTube have now realized that it is much more profitable to bring the entire family under one subscription than a single user. While Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot are trying to capture a large part of the family market, OpenAI does not want to be left behind. It is expected that ChatGPT will soon come up with an attractive ‘family plan’, where all family members can create separate profiles and use it for a fixed cost.
5. Learning from social media mistakes
A decade ago, when social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok were rapidly gaining popularity, they ignored the issue of child protection. Later, the companies faced intense public outrage and legal penalties for cyberbullying, addiction, and privacy violations. OpenAI does not want to repeat the same mistake. They want to make their platform completely safe and reliable for families before the strict supervision of governments and various safety institutes.
In short, ChatGPT is now not just a smart assistant in your pocket, but it is preparing to become a family member in the living room.