More than three years after the launch of ChatGPIT brought generic 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. According to the job posting, the role requires experiences building products and other trust-sensitive consumer experiences for parents and families.
The appointment comes as ChatGPT’s audience expands beyond younger users. Globally, the share of ChatGate users aged 35 and older rose to 31% in the second quarter from 26% a year earlier, while the share of users aged 18 to 24 fell from 34% to 29%, according to Sensor Tower estimates shared exclusively with TechCrunch. The firm estimates that in the US, about one in four smartphone users who are parents used ChatGPT during the quarter, up from 16% from a year earlier.
OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment about the job posting.
Ben Bajarin, chief executive of technology consultancy Creative Strategies, said a dedicated product role focused on families signals that OpenAI is beginning to think of its products less as tools for personal productivity and more as technology designed for homes.
“It’s similar to the path that Google, Apple, and Meta ultimately followed as their platforms became embedded in everyday life, but AI has raised the stakes because the assistant isn’t just mediating content or devices,” he told TechCrunch.
This change also brings new trust and security challenges. Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the appointment reflected both the maturity of OpenAI and the growing recognition that AI products used by children and teens require different safeguards than AI products designed for adults.
“I see it as security by redesign,” Balkam told TechCrunch. “You take the initial product or service that was released… not really with kids in mind… so this is a much needed response and reaction.”
The comments come as new research published 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 American parents said their child had used generative AI in the past week, 38% of children themselves reported doing so.
Balkam told TechCrunch that AI companies should create products differently for younger users, with stronger content controls, age-appropriate experiences, parental monitoring, and reminders to inform users that they are interacting with an AI — not a human.
The appointment also comes amid growing scrutiny over how AI companies protect young users. OpenAI has faced several lawsuits from parents alleging that ChatGPT has contributed to harm to their children, including cases involving suicide.
In response to some of those concerns, OpenAI has introduced a series of safety measures in the last year, including parental controls for teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to logic models designed to better handle signs of distress, and most recently, an optional “trusted contact” feature that can alert a family member or caregiver in cases of potential self-harm.
AI companies have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media platforms, which treated children like adults for years before adding stronger safeguards amid growing public pressure and regulatory scrutiny, Balkam said.
The appointment is also in line with OpenAI’s broader efforts around families. At a recent workshop held 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 learning, coaching and youth engagement.
That said, the demographic shift is not unique to ChatGPT, although OpenAI’s audience is changing in a few different ways.
Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25 to 34 account for 40% of the global app audience for Anthropic’s Cloud and Google’s Gemini, which ChatGPT matches, compared to 33% for Microsoft’s Copilot. However, Copilot is younger, with 20% of its users aged 45 and older, compared to 14% for Cloud, 12% for Gemini, and 11% for ChatGPT.
While ChatGPT has relatively low penetration among older users, it is adding them faster than its competitors. According to Sensor Tower, the share of users aged 45 and older grew three percentage points year over year in the second quarter, compared with a two-point increase for Copilot and a decline for Cloud and Gemini.
Among US smartphone users who are parents, Gemini had the highest penetration in the second quarter at 32%, followed by ChatGPAT at 24%, Cloud at 4% and Copilot at 2%.
For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a product manager focuses on the family’s signals of where consumer AI is headed. As AI becomes a technology shared across generations, he expects companies to implement family plans, child and teen profiles, caregiving tools, shared home memory, AI tutoring, and stronger security controls.
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