OpenAI Partners With APA on Youth Mental Health and AI

OpenAI has announced a collaboration with the American Psychological Association (APA) to bring psychological science into how it develops and governs AI products used by young people. The company disclosed the partnership in a blog post describing a multi-track effort spanning product safeguards, family resources, and clinical guidance.

The stakes are considerable. Teens already use AI tools to learn, create, ask questions, and seek advice, and OpenAI itself acknowledges that as that use grows, "families, schools, clinicians, and communities need clearer evidence, better resources, and stronger safeguards." The APA, the leading scientific and professional organization for psychology in the United States, will supply evidence-grounded input on what is known, what remains uncertain, and what responsible AI for minors should look like as the technology evolves.

What OpenAI is saying

Dr. Sara Johansen, head of mental health and well-being product policy at OpenAI, framed the partnership as a continuation of expert engagement rather than a new direction.

"Technology is part of teens' lives, and our responsibility is to meet that reality with experiences that are safe, age-appropriate, and designed with families in mind. AI should strengthen—not replace—the real-world relationships and care young people rely on," Johansen said. "This work builds on our ongoing efforts with experts. By working with the APA and other leading experts, we're continuing to ground our approach in evidence and develop practical safeguards that put teens' well-being first."

That framing matters because it positions AI as an adjunct to human care, not a substitute. OpenAI states plainly that "young people's well-being depends on strong human relationships and trustworthy support," and that its goal is helping AI "find information and navigate systems earlier."

What the work will cover

The partnership builds on a convening OpenAI co-hosted with the APA earlier this year. That gathering brought together leaders from mental health organizations, researchers, clinicians, educators, and youth representatives to identify where young people face gaps in support and where AI may responsibly help people find information and connect to real-world help.

OpenAI expects the collaboration to span several areas:

• How AI can support young people in moments of distress
• How AI systems can be designed to be more developmentally appropriate and useful
• How parents, caregivers, and clinicians can be better equipped to guide young people's AI use

The company says the effort will be grounded in the science of human behavior and in the voices and lived experiences of parents, caregivers, teachers, and young people themselves. Over time, OpenAI says, the work can inform stronger safeguards and evidence-informed approaches to how AI appears in young people's lives.

Resources for parents and caregivers

One early focus is giving parents and caregivers practical tools for navigating AI use at home, particularly as teenagers begin using these tools. Working with the APA, OpenAI plans to develop family-facing resources to help parents support healthy use, recognize when adult intervention may be appropriate, and reinforce AI as a tool rather than a replacement for people or care. The company intends to make this guidance broadly accessible across school communities.

Support for clinicians and school psychologists

The partnership also targets practitioners who are increasingly fielding questions about AI from families and students. Planned resources for clinicians and school psychologists will focus on promoting healthy AI usage, recognizing overreliance, and intervening in unhealthy use patterns. OpenAI says it will also continue convening leaders across healthcare, education, research, policy, technology, and youth advocacy to translate emerging lessons into practical guidance for the broader field.

Listening to youth

OpenAI says the effort must be grounded in lived experience rather than assumptions. The company will work with the APA to convene teens, families, clinicians, school psychologists, and others to understand how young people actually use AI, how AI-related questions surface in schools, therapy, and family settings, where current systems fall short, and where AI may responsibly help with access, education, or navigation.

Existing safety infrastructure

The APA collaboration builds on safety work OpenAI has already shipped. The company works with more than 260 mental health experts to help ChatGPT better recognize signs of distress, respond with care, and guide people toward real-world support. OpenAI has also expanded access to localized crisis resources and one-click hotlines, added reminders to take a break, and introduced additional protections for younger users. Those protections include parental controls, notifications to parents about safety concerns, under-18 principles in OpenAI's Model Spec, and an age-prediction model that helps apply the right experience and safeguards to the right users.

Why it matters

The partnership lands amid growing scrutiny of how AI systems interact with minors, including questions about chatbot companionship, distress-related conversations, and disclosure to parents. By anchoring its youth strategy in an external scientific body rather than purely internal policy, OpenAI is betting that APA-backed evidence can both improve product safeguards and lend credibility to its approach with regulators, schools, and clinicians.

No timeline or deliverable dates accompanied the announcement, and OpenAI has not said whether the family-facing resources will ship as product features, standalone documents, or both. What is clear is the direction: more expert-grounded guardrails around teenage use, positioned explicitly as support for human relationships rather than a replacement for them.