More than three years after ChatGPT to turn on Bringing generative artificial intelligence into the mainstream, OpenAI is expanding its focus beyond individual users to include families.
It is OpenAI employment dedicated product manager in San Francisco to create experiences for families, caregivers and older adults across its products. According to the job posting, the role requires experience creating products for parents and families and other trust-sensitive consumer experiences.
The recruitment comes as ChatGPT’s audience continues to expand beyond younger users. According to Sensor Tower estimates shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the share of ChatGPT users 35 and older globally rose to 31% in the second quarter from 26% a year ago, while the share of users aged 18-24 fell from 34% to 29%. The firm estimates that nearly one in four U.S. smartphone users who are parents used ChatGPT during the quarter, up from 16% a year ago.
OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment on the job posting.
Ben Bajarin, chief executive officer of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies, said the role of a niche product aimed at families shows that OpenAI is starting to think of its products more as tools for personal productivity and more as technology for households.
“This is similar to the path that Google, Apple and Meta will eventually follow as their platforms enter everyday life, but AI raises the stakes because the assistant does not just mediate content or devices,” TechCrunch said.
This change also brings new trust and security challenges. Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hiring reflects both the maturation of OpenAI and the growing recognition that AI products used by children and teenagers require different safeguards than those intended for adults.
“I see it as security with a redesign,” Balkam told TechCrunch. “You’re taking away the original product or service that was released … without really considering the kids … so it’s a much-needed reaction and response.”
The comments come as new research was published this week by the Institute for Family Online Safety found parents underestimate how often their children use generative AI. According to a survey of more than 4,000 families in the US and Australia, 27% of US parents reported that their child had used generative AI in the past week, while 38% of children said they had done so themselves.
Balkam told TechCrunch that AI companies should build products differently for younger users, with stronger content controls, age-appropriate experiences, parental controls and reminders to let users know they’re interacting with AI, not a human.
The hiring also comes amid growing scrutiny of how AI companies protect young users. Met with OpenAI numerous lawsuits from parents claim that ChatGPT caused damage including cases where their children suffer about suicide.
OpenAI has an answer to some of these concerns implemented a number of security measures including during the past year parental controls for teen accountsand more recently, guiding sensitive conversations into reasoning models designed to better manage symptoms of distress optional “Trusted Connection” feature can alert a family member or caregiver in cases of potential self-harm.
According to Balkam, AI companies have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media platforms that treated children as adults for years before adding stronger security measures amid increasing public pressure and regulatory scrutiny.
The hiring also fits into OpenAI’s broader efforts around families. The company at a recent workshop held in partnership with the San Antonio Spurs Community Impact organization and the Positive Coaching Alliance he said it aimed to explore the role of artificial intelligence in learning, training and youth engagement.
However, demographic change is not unique to ChatGPT, although OpenAI’s audience is changing in some distinct ways.
Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25-34 make up 40% of the global app audience for ChatGPT-compatible Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, compared to 33% for Microsoft’s Copilot. However, Copilot is older, with 20% of its users aged 45 and over, compared to 14% for Claude, 12% for Gemini and 11% for ChatGPT.
Although ChatGPT is relatively weak among older users, it is adding them faster than its competitors. According to Sensor Tower, the share of users 45 and older grew three percentage points year-over-year in the second quarter, compared to a two-point increase for Copilot and a decline for Claude and Gemini.
Among parent US smartphone users, Gemini had the largest reach in Q2 with 32%, followed by ChatGPT with 24%, Claude with 4% and Copilot with 2%.
For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a family-focused product manager shows where consumer AI is headed. As AI becomes a shared technology across generations, it expects companies to implement family plans, child and teen profiles, caregiver tools, shared household storage, AI tutoring and stronger security controls.
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