{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T07:52:52.442Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"age-verification","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":1,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-norway-barnevakten-chatgpt-teen-mode-applied-to-adult","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'En av Barnevaktens medarbeidere fikk plutselig beskjed fra Chatgpt om at kontoen nå var i tenåringsmodus.'; 'Systemet skrur det på hvis oppførselen til brukeren indikerer at alderen er under 18 år.'; 'Denne gangen var det altså en voksen person som opplevde at tenåringsmodus ble slått på uten å ha bedt om det.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"One of Barnevakten's staff members, an adult, was suddenly told by ChatGPT that their account was now in teen mode, which the system switches on when a user's behaviour indicates an age under 18 and which reduces sensitive content; the switch happened without a request because age is estimated afterwards from conversation topics and times of use.","causal_attribution":"Organisation's own account of a colleague's experience; the age-estimation mechanism is the organisation's description of the provider's pages."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Hvis voksne opplever å havne i tenåringsmodus som de ikke ønsker, kan de gå gjennom en alderskontroll for å bevise at de er over 18 år.'; 'Chatgpt benytter selskapet Persona til å bekrefte alderen din.'; 'Opp til tre år nevnes som en mulighet.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The described way out of teen mode is an age check run by Persona that, depending on the country, asks for a real-time selfie and a government-issued ID; Barnevakten considers the process's privacy protections unclear, noting Persona's terms mention retention of up to three years.","causal_attribution":"Organisation's account and assessment; Persona's terms were not inspected."}],"effects":[{"label":"an adult's ChatGPT account was switched into teen mode by an automated age estimate, restricting content, with an identity check through a third-party verifier as the described way out","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.barnevakten.no/chatgpt-skrudde-pa-tenaringsfilter-for-en-voksen-person/","kind":"other","access":"read","language":"nb-NO","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-24 (Barnevakten, published 23 September 2026, categories Alderskontroll, KI, Sosial på nett; html lang=nb-NO). Norwegian; passages quoted in the original and paraphrased in English by the reviewer.","independence_group":"barnevakten"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","privacy"],"unknowns":["Whether the staff member completed the identity check or remained in teen mode, and for how long.","What the account holder had discussed that triggered the estimate.","Whether the switch caused any concrete loss beyond the content restriction.","Where the staff member lives or was when the account was switched (not stated; the organisation's country is not used).","When the account was switched into teen mode; the article of 23 September 2026 gives no date."],"geography":{"basis":"Unknown after review. The account is published by Barnevakten, a Norwegian organisation, about one of its own staff members, but the article states neither where the staff member lives nor where they were when the account was switched. The organisation's country is not used as the event or residence location. No proceeding.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a low-severity everyday-assistance case in which an AI product made a decision about a person: an automated age estimate placed an adult in a restricted mode and the route out required an identity check. Single organisational source (the publisher's own account of its staff member), claims recorded as reported; the staff member is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-24"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The account reports ChatGPT's own message that the account was now in teen mode, and describes the provider's stated behaviour-based age estimation; the message and the mode are the product's own actions as described by the account holder's organisation.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about","communicated_with"]},"name":"A Norwegian child-safety organisation reports that ChatGPT's behaviour-based age estimation switched an adult staff member's account into teen mode without a request, restricting content and offering an identity check through a third-party verifier as the way out (Barnevakten, 23 September 2026)","summary":"Barnevakten, a Norwegian child-safety organisation, reported on 23 September 2026 that one of its staff members was suddenly told by ChatGPT that their account was now in teen mode. ChatGPT's own pages, as described by Barnevakten, say the system turns the filter on when a user's behaviour indicates an age under 18, reducing sensitive or potentially harmful content (graphic violence, viral challenges, sexual or violent role-play, extreme beauty ideals) and offering parental controls and a study mode. Because there is no age check at sign-up, the system estimates age afterwards from conversation topics and times of use, and Barnevakten notes that such guesses can be wrong. An adult who wants out of teen mode can go through an age check run by the company Persona, which depending on the country asks for a real-time selfie and a government ID; Barnevakten questions whether that process is privacy-safe (Persona's terms mention retention of up to three years) and advises using only age checks one trusts. The account's own experience is limited to the unexpected switch and the verification route; no further consequence is described.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-09-23","aiSystem":"ChatGPT: behaviour-based age estimation and teen-mode content restrictions; age verification through Persona","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"An adult's ChatGPT account was placed in a restricted teen mode by an automated age estimate the account holder had not asked for, and the described route back to full access was an identity check with a third-party verifier which, depending on the country, asks for a real-time selfie and a government ID, whose data-retention terms the organisation considers unclear. The account describes no further consequence.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: 'En av Barnevaktens medarbeidere' (one of Barnevakten's staff members). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.barnevakten.no/chatgpt-skrudde-pa-tenaringsfilter-for-en-voksen-person/","primarySourceLabel":"Barnevakten, 23 September 2026: Chatgpt skrudde på tenåringsfilter for en voksen person","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-24T03:50:32.226789+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:47.10961+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["chatgpt","age-verification","teen-mode","norway","automated-decision","privacy","persona"]}]}