OpenAI is betting on families as ChatGPT moves deeper into homes

More than three years after the launch of ChatGPT brought productive AI into the mainstream, OpenAI is expanding its focus beyond individual users to families.

OpenAI is hiring a dedicated product manager in San Francisco to build experiences for families, caregivers, and older adults across its products. The role requires products to build information for parents and families, as well as other consumer experiences that are sensitive to loyalty, according to the job posting.

The hiring comes as ChatGPT’s audience continues to expand beyond young users. According to Sensor Tower estimates shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the share of ChatGPT users aged 35 and over increased to 31% in Q2 from 26% last year, while the share of users aged 18 to 24 fell to 29% from 34%. In the US, nearly one in four smartphone users who are parents used ChatGPT during the quarter, up from 16% a year earlier, the firm estimates.

OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment about the job posting.

The dedicated family-focused product role shows signs that OpenAI is starting to think of its products less as personal productivity tools and more as technology designed for homes, said Ben Bajarin, chief executive of technology consultancy Creative Strategies.

“This is similar to the way that Google, Apple, and Meta eventually followed as their platforms are embedded in everyday life, but AI raises the stakes because the assistant does not just mediate content or devices,” he told TechCrunch.

That change also brings new trust and security challenges. Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hiring reflects both the maturity of OpenAI and the growing recognition that AI products used by children and teenagers need different protections than those designed for adults.

“I see this as safety by redesign,” Balkam told TechCrunch. “You’re taking the first product or service out … not really thinking about the kids … so this is a reaction and a much-needed response.”

The comments come as new research published this week by the Family Online Safety Institute found that parents underestimate how often their children use artificial intelligence. While 27% of US parents say their child used reproductive AI in the past week, 38% of children reported doing so themselves, according to a survey of more than 4,000 families in the United States and Australia.

Balkam told TechCrunch that AI companies should build products for younger users differently, 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. OpenAI has faced numerous lawsuits from parents who claim that ChatGPT has contributed to the harm their children have suffered, including cases involving suicide.

In response to some of those concerns, OpenAI has introduced a series of safety measures over the past year, including parental controls for new accounts, moving sensitive conversations to cognitive models designed to better manage stress symptoms, and, most recently, a “Trusted Contact” feature that can alert a family member or caregiver to self-harm situations.

AI companies, Balkam said, have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media, which for years treated children like adults before adding stronger protections amid growing public pressure and regulatory scrutiny.

The hiring also aligns with OpenAI’s broader efforts around families. At a recent conference organized by the San Antonio Spurs Community Impact and Positive Coaching Alliance, the company said it aims to explore the role of AI in learning, training and engaging youth.

That said, demographics are not unique to ChatGPT, although OpenAI’s audience is changing in some unique ways.

Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25 to 34 make up 40% of the global app audience for Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, similar to ChatGPT, compared to 33% for Microsoft’s Copilot. Copilot, however, makes an old mistake, with 20% of users aged 45 and over, compared to 14% for Claude, 12% for Gemini, and 11% for ChatGPT.

Although ChatGPT still has low penetration among older users, it is adding them faster than its competitors. The share of users 45 and older rose 3 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, compared to a two-point increase for Copilot and a decrease for Claude and Gemini, according to Sensor Tower.

Among US smartphone users who are parents, Gemini had the widest reach at 32% in Q2, followed by ChatGPT at 24%, Claude at 4%, and Copilot at 2%.

For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a product manager focused on family signals where consumer AI is headed. As AI becomes a shared technology across generations, expect companies to roll out family plans, child and youth profiles, caregiver tools, shared home memory, AI tutoring, and stronger security controls.