OpenAI bets on families as ChatGPT goes deeper into households
OpenAI bets on families as ChatGPT goes deeper into households
OpenAI 押注家庭市场，ChatGPT 深入千家万户
More than three years after ChatGPT’s launch brought generative AI into the mainstream, OpenAI is broadening 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 calls for experience building products for parents and families, and other trust-sensitive consumer experiences, according to the job posting.
在 ChatGPT 的发布将生成式 AI 带入主流视野三年多后，OpenAI 正在将其关注点从个人用户扩展至家庭。OpenAI 正在旧金山招聘一名专门的产品经理，旨在为其全线产品构建面向家庭、看护者及老年人的体验。根据招聘启事，该职位要求具备为家长和家庭开发产品，以及处理其他对信任度要求较高的消费者体验的经验。
The hiring comes as ChatGPT’s audience continues to broaden beyond younger users. According to Sensor Tower estimates shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the share of ChatGPT users aged 35 and older globally rose to 31% in Q2 from 26% a year earlier, while the share of users aged 18 to 24 fell to 29% from 34%. In the U.S., 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.
此次招聘正值 ChatGPT 的用户群体持续超越年轻用户范畴之际。根据 Sensor Tower 独家提供给 TechCrunch 的估算数据，全球 35 岁及以上 ChatGPT 用户的占比已从一年前的 26% 上升至第二季度的 31%，而 18 至 24 岁用户的占比则从 34% 下降至 29%。据该机构估算，在美国，每四个身为家长的智能手机用户中，就有一人在该季度使用过 ChatGPT，高于一年前的 16%。OpenAI 未就此招聘启事回应置评请求。
A dedicated product role focused on families signals that OpenAI is beginning to think about its products less as tools for individual productivity and more as technology designed for households, said Ben Bajarin, chief executive of technology consultancy Creative Strategies. “This is similar to the path Google, Apple, and Meta eventually followed as their platforms became embedded in everyday life, but AI raises the stakes because the assistant is not just mediating content or devices,” he told TechCrunch.
科技咨询公司 Creative Strategies 的首席执行官 Ben Bajarin 表示，设立专注于家庭的产品职位，标志着 OpenAI 开始将产品定位从“个人生产力工具”转向“为家庭设计的技术”。他告诉 TechCrunch：“这与谷歌、苹果和 Meta 在其平台融入日常生活后所走的路径相似，但 AI 提高了门槛，因为这种助手不仅仅是中介内容或设备。”
That shift also brings new trust and safety challenges. Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hiring reflects both the maturation of OpenAI and a growing recognition that AI products used by children and teenagers require different safeguards than those designed for adults. “I see this as safety 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 reaction and response.”
这种转变也带来了新的信任与安全挑战。家庭在线安全研究所（Family Online Safety Institute）首席执行官 Stephen Balkam 表示，此次招聘既反映了 OpenAI 的成熟，也体现了其日益认识到：儿童和青少年使用的 AI 产品需要与成人产品不同的安全保障措施。“我认为这是‘通过重新设计来实现安全’，”Balkam 告诉 TechCrunch，“你拿出的最初产品或服务……在发布时并未真正考虑到儿童……所以这是一种非常必要的反应和应对。”
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. While 27% of U.S. parents said their child had used generative AI in the past week, 38% of children reported doing so themselves, according to the survey of more than 4,000 families in the United States and Australia. Balkam told TechCrunch that AI companies should build products differently for younger users, with stronger content controls, age-appropriate experiences, parental oversight, and reminders to inform users that they are interacting with an AI — and not a human.
上述评论发布之际，家庭在线安全研究所本周公布的一项新研究发现，家长们低估了孩子使用生成式 AI 的频率。根据对美国和澳大利亚 4000 多个家庭的调查，虽然 27% 的美国家长表示他们的孩子在过去一周内使用过生成式 AI，但有 38% 的孩子表示自己使用过。Balkam 告诉 TechCrunch，AI 公司应该为年轻用户构建不同的产品，提供更强的内容控制、适合年龄的体验、家长监管，以及提醒用户他们正在与 AI 而非人类互动的提示。
The hiring also comes amid growing scrutiny of how AI companies protect younger users. OpenAI has faced multiple lawsuits from parents alleging that ChatGPT contributed to harm suffered by their children, including in 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 teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to reasoning models designed to better handle signs of distress, and, more recently, an optional “Trusted Contact” feature that can alert a family member or caregiver in cases of potential self-harm.
此次招聘正值 AI 公司如何保护年轻用户受到日益严格的审查之际。OpenAI 面临多起家长提起的诉讼，指控 ChatGPT 对其子女造成的伤害，包括涉及自杀的案例。为了回应这些担忧，OpenAI 在过去一年中推出了一系列安全措施，包括针对青少年账户的家长控制功能、将敏感对话引导至旨在更好地处理心理困扰信号的推理模型，以及最近推出的可选“受信任联系人”功能，该功能可在潜在自残情况下提醒家庭成员或看护者。
AI companies, Balkam said, have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media platforms, which for years treated children much like adults before adding stronger safeguards amid mounting public pressure and regulatory scrutiny. The hiring also aligns with OpenAI’s broader efforts around families. In a recent workshop organized with the San Antonio Spurs Community Impact organization and the Positive Coaching Alliance, the company said it aimed to explore AI’s role in learning, coaching, and youth engagement.
Balkam 表示，AI 公司有机会避免社交媒体平台曾经犯下的错误——这些平台多年来将儿童视为成人对待，直到在巨大的公众压力和监管审查下才增加了更强的保障措施。此次招聘也与 OpenAI 在家庭领域更广泛的努力相一致。在最近与圣安东尼奥马刺队社区影响组织（San Antonio Spurs Community Impact）及积极教练联盟（Positive Coaching Alliance）共同举办的研讨会上，该公司表示旨在探索 AI 在学习、辅导和青少年参与方面的作用。
That said, the demographic shift is not unique to ChatGPT, though OpenAI’s audience is changing in some distinct ways. Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25 to 34 account for 40% of the global app audiences for Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, matching ChatGPT, compared with 33% for Microsoft’s Copilot. Copilot, however, skews older, with 20% of its users aged 45 and above, compared with 14% for Claude, 12% for Gemini, and 11% for ChatGPT.
话虽如此，这种人口结构的变化并非 ChatGPT 所独有，尽管 OpenAI 的用户群体正在以一些独特的方式发生改变。Sensor Tower 估算，25 至 34 岁的用户占 Anthropic 的 Claude 和谷歌 Gemini 全球应用受众的 40%，与 ChatGPT 持平，而微软 Copilot 的这一比例为 33%。然而，Copilot 的用户年龄偏大，其 45 岁及以上用户占比为 20%，相比之下 Claude 为 14%，Gemini 为 12%，ChatGPT 为 11%。
While ChatGPT remains relatively underpenetrated among older users, it is adding them faster than its rivals. The share of users aged 45 and above rose three percentage points year-over-year in the second quarter, compared with a two-point increase for Copilot and declines for Claude and Gemini, according to Sensor Tower. Among U.S. 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%.
虽然 ChatGPT 在老年用户中的渗透率仍然相对较低，但其增长速度超过了竞争对手。根据 Sensor Tower 的数据，第二季度 45 岁及以上用户占比同比上升了 3 个百分点，而 Copilot 上升了 2 个百分点，Claude 和 Gemini 则出现下滑。在美国身为家长的智能手机用户中，Gemini 在第二季度的覆盖率最广，达到 32%，其次是 ChatGPT（24%）、Claude（4%）和 Copilot（2%）。
For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a product manager focused on families signals where consumer AI is headed. As AI becomes a technology shared across generations, he expects companies to roll out family plans, child and teen profiles, caregiver tools, shared household memory, AI tutoring, and stronger safety controls.
对于 Bajarin 而言，OpenAI 决定招聘一名专注于家庭的产品经理，预示了消费级 AI 的发展方向。随着 AI 成为跨代共享的技术，他预计各公司将推出家庭套餐、儿童和青少年档案、看护者工具、共享家庭记忆、AI 辅导以及更强的安全控制功能。