OpenAI Adds Break Reminders and Mental Health Features to ChatGPT

OpenAI is making several changes to the way that ChatGPT works, with the aim of helping people use the chatbot in a healthier way.

Starting today, ChatGPT will provide users with "gentle reminders" about how long they've been using the service, with suggestions for breaks. OpenAI says that it isn't measuring success by time spent on ChatGPT, but by ensuring that people leave the product after finishing what they came for.

We build ChatGPT to help you thrive in all the ways you want. To make progress, learn something new, or solve a problem -- and then get back to your life. Our goal isn't to hold your attention, but to help you use it well.

OpenAI is working to improve ChatGPT's responses to certain kinds of questions. Rather than providing a direct answer to a high-stakes, sensitive question, ChatGPT should help users weigh pros and cons and think it through. OpenAI is updating ChatGPT's behavior for important personal decisions soon, so users will see more helpful responses for questions like "Should I break up with my boyfriend?"

OpenAI is still improving its models to better detect signs of mental or emotional distress, to ensure that ChatGPT does not feed into signs of delusion or emotional dependency and can direct users to helpful, evidence-based resources.

The company says that it has worked with more than 90 physicians across 30 countries to build custom rubrics for complex, multi-turn conversations. Human-computer interaction researchers have been recruited to give feedback on how ChatGPT has identified concerning behaviors and to stress-test product safeguards, plus OpenAI is putting together an advisory group of experts in mental health, youth development, and human-computer interaction.