OpenAI is throwing its weight behind California Senate Bill 1119, a piece of legislation that would force AI companies to verify user ages, run independent safety audits, and block harmful content from reaching minors. Ann O’Leary, OpenAI’s VP of Global Policy, made the announcement in a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, urging him to sign the bill into law. The move builds on commitments Sam Altman made last year about how the company handles teen users.
The timing isn’t coincidental. OpenAI just launched ChatGPT for Teens, a version of its chatbot that automatically kicks in when the system estimates a user is under 18 or they state their age as 13 to 17. The company claims nearly nine in ten teens who use ChatGPT turn to it weekly for learning, information, or skill-building. That stat does a lot of work here—it frames AI as an educational tool rather than a social media-style risk, which is exactly the distinction SB 1119 tries to draw. The bill explicitly treats AI differently from social media, preserving access to features like ChatGPT’s memory while mandating protections against self-harm content, sexually exploitative material, and targeted advertising aimed at minors.
OpenAI has spent the past year layering on its own safeguards: parental controls, age prediction, a Teen Safety Blueprint, and rules baked into its Model Spec that prohibit romantic engagement or claims that ChatGPT is human. SB 1119 would essentially codify those voluntary measures into law for every company operating in California. O’Leary’s letter names Senator Steve Padilla and Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan as key architects of the bill.
What’s notable here is the absence of federal action. OpenAI is effectively saying California should set the national standard, much like the state did with data privacy through the CCPA. The bill still needs Newsom’s signature, and implementation details remain fuzzy—the letter itself acknowledges that continued study and collaboration will be needed. But for a company that has faced criticism over teen safety, publicly backing binding regulation is a strategic move. It positions OpenAI as the responsible incumbent while smaller competitors scramble to comply with age verification and audit requirements they may not have built for yet.
