Open AI is betting on the home market, Chat GPT is trying to enter thousands of households
More than three years after the launch of ChatGPT, which brought generative AI into the mainstream, OpenAI is broadening its focus from individual users to home users. OpenAI is hiring a dedicated product manager in San Francisco to build experiences for families, caregivers and seniors across its full line of products. According to the job posting, the position requires experience building products for parents and families, as well as other experience involving trust-sensitive consumer experiences. This recruitment comes at a time when ChatGPT’s user base continues to expand from young users. According to Sensor Tower estimates, the proportion of global ChatGPT users aged 35 and above has increased from 26% a year ago to 31% in the second quarter of 2026, while the proportion of users aged 18 to 24 has dropped from 34% to 29%. The company estimates that in the United States, nearly a quarter of parents who own smartphones used ChatGPT this quarter, up from 16% a year ago. OpenAI did not comment on the hiring. Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies, said that the establishment of a full-time product position focused on families shows that OpenAI is beginning to no longer regard its products as just personal efficiency tools, but is positioning them as technology for family scenarios. and Meta eventually followed a similar path as their platforms became integrated into daily life. But AI raises the stakes to a new level because assistants no longer just mediate content or devices," he said. This shift also brings new trust and security challenges. Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, said the hiring reflects both OpenAI's maturity and the growing recognition that AI products for use by children and teenagers require different protections than products for adults. "I think of it as 'safety by redesign,'" Balkam said. “When the original product or service was released... it wasn’t really with children in mind... so this was a very necessary reaction and response. " The comments come as a new study released this week by the Family Online Safety Institute found that parents underestimate how often their children use generative AI. According to a survey of more than 4,000 families in the United States and Australia, 27% of American parents said their children had used generative AI in the past week, but 38% of children themselves reported use. Balkam said AI companies should build products differently for younger users, with stronger content controls, age-appropriate experiences, parental supervision and reminders that users are interacting with AI rather than real people. The hiring also comes at a time when AI companies are coming under increasing scrutiny on how they protect young users. OpenAI has faced multiple lawsuits from parents alleging that ChatGPT caused harm to their children, including cases involving suicide. In response to some of these concerns, OpenAI has launched a series of safety measures over the past year, including parental controls for teen accounts, routing sensitive conversations to inference models specifically designed to better handle signs of distress, and most recently, an optional "Trusted Contacts" feature that can alert family members or caregivers in the event of possible self-harm. Balkam said AI companies have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes made by social media platforms, which for years treated children almost like adults before adding stronger protections amid public pressure and regulatory scrutiny. The hiring also aligns with OpenAI's broader efforts in the home space. In a recent workshop co-organized with San Antonio Spurs Community Impact and the Positive Coaching Alliance, the company said it aimed to explore the role of AI in learning, coaching and youth engagement.
Nonetheless, this demographic change is not unique to ChatGPT, but OpenAI’s user structure does present unique changes in some aspects. Sensor Tower estimates that Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini both account for 40% of the global app audience among users aged 25 to 34, which is the same as ChatGPT, while For Copilot, the ratio is 33%. However, Copilot’s users are older, with 20% of users aged 45 and above, compared with 14% of Claude, 12% of Gemini, and 11% of ChatGPT. Although ChatGPT's penetration rate among older users is still relatively low, it is growing faster than its competitors. According to Sensor Tower data, the proportion of users aged 45 and above increased by 3 percentage points year-on-year in the second quarter, while Copilot increased by 2 percentage points, and Claude and Gemini experienced decreases. Among parents among U.S. smartphone users, Gemini had the widest coverage in the second quarter at 32%, followed by ChatGPT at 24%, Claude at 4%, and Copilot at 2%. For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a family-focused product manager heralds the future direction of consumer AI. As AI becomes a technology shared across generations, he expects companies to roll out family planning, child and youth profiles, caregiver tools, shared family memories, AI coaching and stronger security controls.
Nonetheless, this demographic change is not unique to ChatGPT, but OpenAI’s user structure does present unique changes in some aspects. Sensor Tower estimates that Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini both account for 40% of the global app audience among users aged 25 to 34, which is the same as ChatGPT, while For Copilot, the ratio is 33%. However, Copilot’s users are older, with 20% of users aged 45 and above, compared with 14% of Claude, 12% of Gemini, and 11% of ChatGPT. Although ChatGPT's penetration rate among older users is still relatively low, it is growing faster than its competitors. According to Sensor Tower data, the proportion of users aged 45 and above increased by 3 percentage points year-on-year in the second quarter, while Copilot increased by 2 percentage points, and Claude and Gemini experienced decreases. Among parents among U.S. smartphone users, Gemini had the widest coverage in the second quarter at 32%, followed by ChatGPT at 24%, Claude at 4%, and Copilot at 2%. For Bajarin, OpenAI’s decision to hire a family-focused product manager heralds the future direction of consumer AI. As AI becomes a technology shared across generations, he expects companies to roll out family planning, child and youth profiles, caregiver tools, shared family memories, AI coaching and stronger security controls.