More than three years after ChatGPT’s launch brought generative AI into the mainstream, OpenAI is broadening its focus beyond individual users to families. The company is hiring a dedicated product manager in San Francisco to build experiences for families, caregivers, and older adults across its products, according to a job posting that calls for experience building products for parents and other trust-sensitive consumer experiences.
Demographic shift drives strategic pivot
The hiring comes as ChatGPT’s audience continues to broaden beyond younger users. According to Sensor Tower estimates shared exclusively with TechCrunch, the share of ChatGPT users aged 35 and older globally rose to 31% in Q2 from 26% a year earlier, while the share of users aged 18 to 24 fell to 29% from 34%. In the U.S., nearly one in four smartphone users who are parents used ChatGPT during the quarter, up from 16% a year earlier.
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Ben Bajarin, chief executive of technology consultancy Creative Strategies, told TechCrunch that a dedicated product role focused on families signals OpenAI is beginning to think about its products less as tools for individual productivity and more as technology designed for households. “This is similar to the path Google, Apple, and Meta eventually followed as their platforms became embedded in everyday life, but AI raises the stakes because the assistant is not just mediating content or devices,” he said.
Safety by redesign
That shift also brings new trust and safety challenges. Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hiring reflects both the maturation of OpenAI and a growing recognition that AI products used by children and teenagers require different safeguards than those designed for adults. “I see this as safety by redesign,” Balkam told TechCrunch. “You take the initial product or service that was released… not really with kids in mind… so this is a much-needed reaction and response.”
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New research published this week by the Family Online Safety Institute found that parents are underestimating how often their children use generative AI. While 27% of U.S. parents said their child had used generative AI in the past week, 38% of children reported doing so themselves, according to a survey of more than 4,000 families in the United States and Australia.
Legal and regulatory pressures mount
The hiring also comes amid growing scrutiny of how AI companies protect younger users. OpenAI has faced multiple lawsuits from parents alleging that ChatGPT contributed to harm suffered by their children, including in cases involving suicide. In response, OpenAI has introduced a series of safety measures over the past year, including parental controls for teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to reasoning models designed to better handle signs of distress, and, more recently, an optional “Trusted Contact” feature that can alert a family member or caregiver in cases of potential self-harm.
Balkam noted that AI companies have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media platforms, which for years treated children much like adults before adding stronger safeguards amid mounting public pressure and regulatory scrutiny.
Broader competitive environment
The demographic shift is not unique to ChatGPT, though OpenAI’s audience is changing in some distinct ways. Sensor Tower estimates that users aged 25 to 34 account for 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, with 20% of its users aged 45 and above, compared with 14% for Claude, 12% for Gemini, and 11% for ChatGPT.
While ChatGPT remains relatively underpenetrated among older users, it is adding them faster than its rivals. The share of users aged 45 and above rose three percentage points year-over-year in the second quarter, compared with a two-point increase for Copilot and declines for Claude and Gemini, according to Sensor Tower. Among U.S. smartphone users who are parents, Gemini had the widest reach at 32% in Q2, followed by ChatGPT at 24%, Claude at 4%, and Copilot at 2%.
For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a product manager focused on families signals where consumer AI is headed. As AI becomes a technology shared across generations, he expects companies to roll out family plans, child and teen profiles, caregiver tools, shared household memory, AI tutoring, and stronger safety controls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is OpenAI hiring a product manager for families?
OpenAI is hiring a product manager to build experiences for families, caregivers, and older adults, reflecting a strategic shift toward household AI adoption as ChatGPT’s user base ages and expands beyond younger users.
How is ChatGPT’s user demographic changing?
The share of ChatGPT users aged 35 and older rose to 31% in Q2 2025 from 26% a year earlier, while the share of users aged 18 to 24 fell to 29% from 34%, according to Sensor Tower estimates.
What safety measures has OpenAI introduced for younger users?
OpenAI has introduced parental controls for teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to reasoning models designed to handle signs of distress, and an optional ‘Trusted Contact’ feature that can alert a family member in cases of potential self-harm.
