More than three years after ChatGPT’s debut brought generative AI into public awareness, OpenAI is shifting some of its product attention from individual users to households. The company is recruiting a dedicated product manager in San Francisco to create experiences aimed at families, caregivers and older adults across its suite of products.
The job posting specifies that candidates should have experience building products for parents and families and other trust-sensitive consumer experiences.
Demographic shifts and rising parental use
This hiring move coincides with ChatGPT’s audience widening beyond younger users. Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch show that the share of ChatGPT users aged 35 and older worldwide rose to 31% in Q2 from 26% a year earlier, while users aged 18–24 fell from 34% to 29%. In the U.S., Sensor Tower estimates that nearly one in four smartphone users who are parents used ChatGPT in the quarter, up from 16% a year earlier.
OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment about the job listing.
Why a family-focused role matters
Ben Bajarin, chief executive of technology consultancy Creative Strategies, said a dedicated product role for families signals that OpenAI is beginning to treat its products as household technology rather than solely individual productivity tools. He noted this mirrors the path taken by Google, Apple and Meta as their platforms became embedded in daily life, but added that the stakes are higher for AI because the assistant mediates more than content or devices.
The shift also raises new trust and safety questions. Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hire reflects both OpenAI’s maturation and greater recognition that AI products used by children and teens need different safeguards than those designed for adults.
Balkam described the move as “safety by redesign”: the initial product was not built with kids in mind, so redesign and specific protections are a necessary response.
Parents underestimate children’s AI use
Research released this week by the Family Online Safety Institute found that parents are underestimating how often their children use generative AI. In the U.S., 27% of parents said their child had used generative AI in the past week, while 38% of children reported using it themselves; the survey covered 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 clear reminders that users are interacting with an AI rather than a human.
Legal and safety pressure
The hiring also comes amid increased scrutiny over how AI companies protect younger users. OpenAI has faced multiple lawsuits from parents alleging that ChatGPT contributed to harm to their children, including cases involving suicide.
In response, OpenAI has rolled out several safety measures over the past year: parental controls for teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to reasoning models designed to better handle signs of distress, and an optional “Trusted Contact” feature that can notify a family member or caregiver in potential self-harm cases.
Balkam said AI firms have an opportunity to avoid mistakes made by social media companies, which treated children similarly to adults for years before adding stronger protections under public and regulatory pressure.
Related efforts and how rivals compare
The family-focused hiring aligns with other OpenAI efforts involving families. In a recent workshop organized with the San Antonio Spurs Community Impact organization and the Positive Coaching Alliance, OpenAI said it planned to explore AI’s role in learning, coaching and youth engagement.
The demographic shift is not unique to ChatGPT. Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25–34 make up 40% of the global app audiences for Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini—matching ChatGPT—compared with 33% for Microsoft’s Copilot. Copilot skews older: 20% of its users are aged 45 and above, versus 14% for Claude, 12% for Gemini and 11% for ChatGPT.
Although ChatGPT remains relatively underpenetrated among older users, it is adding them faster than rivals: the share of users aged 45+ rose three percentage points year-over-year in Q2, compared with a two-point increase for Copilot and declines for Claude and Gemini.
Among U.S. smartphone users who are parents, Gemini had the widest reach in Q2 at 32%, followed by ChatGPT at 24%, Claude at 4%, and Copilot at 2%.
What this might lead to
Ben Bajarin expects that as AI becomes a cross-generational technology, companies will introduce family plans, child and teen profiles, caregiver tools, shared household memory, AI tutoring, and stronger safety controls. OpenAI’s hiring and the demographic data both suggest the company may increasingly prioritize family needs and protections for younger, more vulnerable users.
