OpenAI introduces new ‘Trusted Contact’ safeguard for cases of possible self-harm
The company is expanding its efforts to protect ChatGPT users in cases where conversations may turn to self-harm.
InfoWorld AI·

Generative AI has revolutionized the space of software development in such a way that developers can now write code at an unprecedented speed. Various tools such as GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer and ChatGPT have become a normal part of how engineers carry out their work nowadays. I have experienced this firsthand, in my roles from leading engineering teams at Amazon to working on large-scale platforms for invoicing and compliance, both the huge boosts in productivity and the equally great risks that come with GenAI-assisted development. With GenAI, the promise of productivity is very compelling. Developers who use AI coding assistants talk about their productivity going up by 15% to 55%. But most of the time, this speed comes with hidden dangers. To name a few, AI-generated software without good guardrails could open up security issues, lead to technical debt and introduce bugs that are difficult to detect through traditional code reviews. According to McKinsey research, while G
Read full articleThe company is expanding its efforts to protect ChatGPT users in cases where conversations may turn to self-harm.
The week leading up to Thanksgiving 2023 was the AI industry's biggest soap opera moment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from his role at the ChatGPT-maker. The explanation? That Altman was "not consistently candid in his communications with the board." Now, via witness testimony and trial exhibits in Musk v. Altman, the public is getting a concrete look behind the scenes of that dramatic weekend for the first time, much of it centered on former CTO Mira Murati. It was a unique situation in that the rollercoaster of a power play - which seemed to change every hour - took place, in many ways, publicly. The board's strikingly vague … Read the full story at The Verge.
OpenAI is launching an optional safety feature for ChatGPT that allows adult users to assign an emergency contact for mental health and safety concerns. Friends, family members, or caregivers designated as a "Trusted Contact" will be notified if OpenAI detects that a person may have discussed topics like self-harm or suicide with the chatbot. "Trusted Contact is designed around a simple, expert-validated premise: when someone may be in crisis, connecting with someone they know and trust can make a meaningful difference," OpenAI said in its announcement. "It offers another layer of support alongside the localized helplines already available … Read the full story at The Verge.
OpenAI's chatbot has some weird linguistic tics in Chinese that are driving users crazy.
AI technology is leapfrogging, yet that doesn’t mean we always want a revolutionary feature out of it. What most users would want more of are simple capabilities within AI that can help with their everyday tasks, whether in the office, at home, or anywhere else. On those lines, OpenAI may have just come up with […] The post ChatGPT is Now Inside Excel and Google Sheets: Here is How to Use it appeared first on Analytics Vidhya.
Writing code has always been the most time- and resource-intensive task in software development. AI is changing that, and faster than most engineering organizations are prepared for. Tools like Claude Code and Cursor are already handling significant parts of code construction, freeing developers to spend more time on requirements, architecture, and design. But that shift creates a new challenge nobody is talking about enough. As AI takes on the heavy lifting, the skills that matter most are moving upstream: how to provide the right context for a prompt, how to evaluate what the model produces, and how to understand a problem deeply enough that you can’t be fooled by a confident but wrong answer. This piece explores those three skills and why developers who master them will have a significant edge over those who don’t. Beyond coding: Mastering the art of the prompt Software translation tools such as compilers and assemblers map a high-level description of code to a lower-level represent
Introducing Trusted Contact in ChatGPT, an optional safety feature that notifies someone you trust if serious self-harm concerns are detected.
OpenAI begins testing ads in ChatGPT to support free access, with clear labeling, answer independence, strong privacy protections, and user control.