What is the minimum age to use ChatGPT in the UK?

As at 6 November 2026, OpenAI's Europe Terms of Use, which apply to residents of the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, set the minimum age at 13 (or the higher minimum age required in your country). They also say anyone under 18 must have a parent or legal guardian's permission to use the services. This is the age in the company's terms, not the app-store rating.

Can my child under 13 use Gemini through Family Link in the UK?

As at 6 November 2026, Google's help page says Gemini Apps are not available for supervised accounts in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Google's page for using Gemini with a personal or school Google Account sets the minimum age at 13 (or the applicable age in your country).

Can I read my teen's ChatGPT conversations if I link our accounts?

No. OpenAI says linking accounts does not give a parent or guardian access to a teen's conversations, chat history or real-time activity. A linked parent can instead receive safety notifications in some situations, such as when specially trained reviewers identify a serious self-harm concern. OpenAI says these are not real-time monitoring, may not identify every concern and do not replace professional care or emergency services.

Can under-18s use Character.AI in the UK?

As at 6 November 2026, Character.AI's Terms of Service (last updated 27 August 2025) say that anyone under 16 who is a citizen or resident of the UK or EEA is not authorised to use the services, so the UK minimum age is 16. Character.AI has also said it is removing open-ended chat for under-18 users, starting in the US on 24 November 2025 with other markets to follow. We have not found a UK-specific date. If a teen links a trusted adult, that adult sees only screentime, not messages.

Which AI chatbots are 18+ only?

As at 6 November 2026, the terms we read set a minimum age of 18 for Claude (UK Consumer Terms), Replika, Chai and PolyBuzz. Gemini Apps with a paid Google AI plan in the UK also require you to be 18 or older. Claude, Replika, Chai and PolyBuzz say under-18s are not permitted to use them. Each company decides how it checks age, and the methods differ.

Can I turn off Snapchat's My AI for my teen?

Yes, if you use Family Centre. Snapchat's UK help page says a parent enrolled in Family Centre can choose whether My AI replies to their teen, and when the setting is on My AI will not reply to the teen's messages or store or process their queries. Family Centre only works if both the parent and the teen opt in. Snap says parents can see whether their teen has chatted with My AI but cannot see the content of those chats.

Does Meta AI have parental controls for teens?

Partly. As at 6 November 2026, parents supervising a Teen Account in the UK can see the topics their teen has asked Meta AI about over the past week, but not the conversations, and can switch from the default 13+ setting to a stricter Limited Content setting in the Meta AI app. Separately, Meta said in January 2026 that it was temporarily pausing teens' access to existing AI characters worldwide. We found no Meta page saying that access has resumed.

Is Sora still available?

No. OpenAI's help centre says the Sora web and app experiences were discontinued on 26 April 2026 and the Sora API on 24 September 2026. OpenAI announced the closure on 24 March 2026. If your child used Sora, OpenAI says it will permanently delete data associated with their use of it once the export period, if any, has passed.

AI Chatbots and Under-18s in the UK: Age Limits and Parental Controls

What each AI chatbot's own terms say about children and teens, what parental controls exist, and what has changed recently.

As at 6 November 2026. AI chatbot policies change quickly, and we have only included what we could confirm from each company's own pages and regulator (Ofcom) pages. Where something is announced but not confirmed live, or we could not confirm it for the UK, we say so. The ages below are the minimum ages in each company's terms, not the app-store age rating, and the two can differ (see understanding age ratings).

Last reviewed: 2026-11-06Next review: 2026-12-06Reviewed against: Company terms, help centres and safety pages (see sources), Ofcom update on X and Grok (14 October 2026)

In short

Among the products we reviewed, ChatGPT, Gemini (18 for a paid Google AI plan in the UK), Copilot (sometimes older, depending on your country), Meta AI, Perplexity, Grok and Snapchat set 13 in their terms, Talkie sets 14, Character.AI sets 16 for UK users, and Claude, Replika, Chai and PolyBuzz are 18 and over. DeepSeek gives no stand-alone minimum age. Parental controls are documented for ChatGPT, Copilot and Snapchat My AI, in a limited form for Meta AI and Character.AI, and are not confirmed for the others. A minimum age in the terms is a rule the company sets; how strictly it is checked varies from product to product.

For how UK law applies to chatbots, see our round-up of UK online safety law changes in 2026 and our tracker on the under-16 social media ban. For a side-by-side look at the apps themselves, see our AI chatbot comparison, our guide to AI companion safety and your child's first AI chatbot.

Quick glance

Product	Minimum age in its terms	Parental controls
ChatGPT	13 (parent or guardian permission under 18)	Yes, optional linking
Google Gemini	13 (18 for a paid Google AI plan in the UK)	Not confirmed for UK teens; Family Link route not available in the UK
Microsoft Copilot	13, sometimes older by country	Yes, via Family Safety or device settings
Meta AI	13	Limited (topic insights and a stricter setting)
Snapchat My AI	13 (Snapchat)	Yes, via Family Centre (both must opt in)
Character.AI	16 in the UK	Limited (screentime only)
Grok	13, with parent permission for 13 to 17	No dedicated tool found
Claude	18	Not applicable (18+ only)
Perplexity	13 (parent or guardian must accept the terms for minors)	Not reviewed
DeepSeek	No stand-alone age; under 18 only with guardian consent	Not reviewed
Replika	18	Not applicable (adults only)
Talkie	14 (UK not on its higher-age list)	Not confirmed
Chai	18	Not applicable (adults only)
PolyBuzz	18	Not applicable (adults only)

“Not reviewed” and “Not confirmed” mean we have not confirmed a control from the company's own pages. It does not mean none exist.

Product by product

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Minimum age (terms): 13, or the higher minimum age required in your country. OpenAI's Europe Terms of Use, which apply to residents of the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, say anyone under 18 must have a parent or legal guardian's permission.
Parental controls: Yes, optional. Either the parent or the teen can send an invite, and the other person has to accept before the parent can manage settings. Parents can then set quiet hours and choose whether the teen can use voice mode, image generation and saved memories, and whether new chats start in study mode. Linking does not give a parent access to the teen's conversations or chat history, and either person can unlink at any time (the parent is told if the teen unlinks).
Teen protections: OpenAI says parents can be sent a safety notification when specially trained reviewers identify a serious self-harm concern or behaviour that may be linked to disordered eating. OpenAI says these are not real-time monitoring, may not identify every concern and do not replace professional care or emergency services. OpenAI also says it uses age prediction to estimate whether an account is likely to belong to someone under 18, and defaults to a safer experience when it is unsure. We have not confirmed that age prediction is live for UK accounts.
Recent change: On 13 July 2026 OpenAI said it was expanding parent safety notifications, including alerting parents when a linked teen's account is banned for violent activity. OpenAI's help page says these notifications are rolling out gradually and may not be available for a given teen's account yet.

Read our full ChatGPT safety guide

Google Gemini

Minimum age (terms): 13 (or the applicable age in your country) for a personal or school Google Account, and 18 for a work account. To use Gemini Apps with a paid Google AI plan in the UK, Google says you must be 18 or older. Google's UK Terms of Service say anyone under the age required to manage their own Google Account needs a parent or legal guardian's permission.
Parental controls: Google lets parents of children under 13 switch Gemini Apps on or off through Family Link, but its help page says Gemini Apps are not available for supervised accounts in the UK. We found no Google page describing parental controls specific to teen Gemini use, so we cannot confirm any for UK teens.
Teen protections: Google says there are added content filters for minors signed in to a Google Account, including filters meant to stop Gemini claiming to be a person or have human emotions, or role-playing as a harmful character. Google says these protections are not perfect. In March 2026 Google also said it has persona protections for younger users: no explicit claims of sentience, no simulated romantic relationships or flirtatious innuendo, and no role-playing as harmful characters.

Read our full Google Gemini safety guide

Microsoft Copilot

Minimum age (terms): At least 13, but sometimes older depending on your country's laws, and you need a Microsoft Account. Microsoft's current page for young people says the same. Under the UK Microsoft Services Agreement, creating a Microsoft account confirms that the user has reached the age of majority or that a parent or legal guardian agrees to the terms on their behalf.
Parental controls: Yes. Microsoft says parents can use Microsoft Family Safety or settings on the device (Google or Apple) to block Copilot, set limits on when it can be used, and choose which features are available, such as image generation, voice mode, group chat or AI companions. Some controls need the young person to be in the parent's family group.
Teen protections: Copilot's terms say Microsoft may turn off or limit some features for under-18s for legal or safety reasons. For young people, Microsoft says Copilot does not personalise results from conversation history or show personalised ads, but they may still see ads based on what they ask about in the chat.
Recent change: Microsoft released an updated Copilot app for web, desktop and mobile on 18 August 2026. Its older help article applies only to the older app, so check which version your child uses.

Read our full Microsoft Copilot safety guide

Meta AI (Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Meta AI app)

Minimum age (terms): 13. Meta AI's UK terms say you cannot access Meta's AIs if you are under 13 (or a greater age required in your country). Meta also requires everyone to be at least 13 for Instagram and Facebook.
Parental controls: Limited. Parents using supervision on Facebook, Messenger or Instagram can see the topics their teen has asked Meta AI about over the past week (not the conversations); this has been live for parents in the UK since 23 April 2026. Since 5 October 2026 supervision is also available in the standalone Meta AI app. Parents can switch a teen from the default 13+ setting to a stricter Limited Content setting, which makes Meta AI decline a broader range of prompts. We have not confirmed that parents can switch Meta AI off.
Teen protections: Teen Accounts are automatically placed in a 13+ content setting that also applies to Meta AI conversations. In it, Meta says Meta AI is designed to give age-appropriate responses and not comply with sensitive prompts. Parents using Instagram supervision in the UK are alerted if their teen's Meta AI chat suggests a risk of suicide or self-harm (live from 16 July 2026; Meta says flagged chats are manually reviewed before an alert is sent). On 29 October 2026 Meta said it was rolling these alerts out for Meta AI conversations on Facebook and Messenger.
AI characters: In January 2026 Meta said it was temporarily pausing teens' access to existing AI characters worldwide, across its apps, until an updated experience is ready. This covers accounts with a teen birthday and accounts Meta suspects belong to teens. Teens can still use Meta's AI assistant. Meta announced in October 2025 that parents would be able to turn off or block AI characters when they return, but we found no Meta page saying that access has resumed or that those controls are live.
WhatsApp: WhatsApp's help centre says its parental controls for teens, which can include Meta AI, are rolling out gradually and may not be available in every region. WhatsApp's blog says parents can choose between the default 13+ Meta AI setting and a stricter Limited Content option. We have not confirmed UK availability.

Snapchat My AI

Minimum age (terms): Snapchat's terms say you must be 13 (or older, depending on where you live) to use Snapchat. We did not find a separate, higher UK age on that page.
Parental controls: Yes, through Family Centre. Parents enrolled in Family Centre can switch My AI off for their teen; when the setting is on, My AI does not reply to the teen's messages or store or process their queries. Parents can see whether their teen has chatted with My AI but cannot see the content of those chats. Family Centre only works if both parent and teen opt in. Parents and caregivers must be 18 or over and teens must be 13 to 17.
Teen protections: Snap says My AI uses the account birthdate as an age signal, so the chatbot takes the user's age into account even if they never say it in conversation. This is an age-awareness feature, not age verification.
Good to know: Snap announced parental controls for My AI in January 2024. Snapchat's UK help page says you can unpin My AI or clear it from your Chat feed (another Snapchat page still mentions Snapchat+ for this), but this is a hide, not a parental control, and clearing the thread does not delete what was previously shared with My AI.

Read our full Snapchat safety guide

Character.AI

Minimum age (terms): 16 in the UK. Character.AI's Terms of Service (last updated 27 August 2025) say that if you are under 13, or under 16 and a citizen or resident of the EEA or the UK, you are not authorised to use the Services.
Parental controls: Limited. A teen can invite a trusted adult to link to their account; this is optional and either side can switch it off. The connected adult sees only the teen's screentime (how much time they have spent in the app and when), not messages or in-app content.
Teen protections: Character.AI says users under 18 are served a separate model designed to further reduce sensitive or suggestive content and can only access a narrower set of filtered Characters. It says it runs age assurance on all accounts using signals such as login information and activity, and offers a selfie check through Persona; it said in November 2025 that this had begun in the US and would continue globally. We have not found a UK start date.
Recent change: Character.AI announced on 29 October 2025 that it would remove open-ended chat for under-18 users. It said this would begin for under-18s in the US on 24 November 2025, with other markets to follow, and said similar changes for other countries would roll out over the coming months. We have not found a UK-specific date. It launched Stories, a guided interactive-fiction format for under-18s, on 25 November 2025.

Read our full Character.AI safety guide

Grok

Minimum age (terms): 13, or the minimum age required in your country (Grok terms last updated 27 October 2026). No higher UK age is stated. Teens aged 13 to 17 must have a parent or legal guardian's permission, and the parent must agree to the terms. This is a terms requirement, not a technical parental control.
Parental controls: We did not find a named teen mode or parental dashboard. The terms say the company applies controls and safeguards designed to support age-appropriate experiences for minors as required by applicable law, and encourage parents to be involved and to monitor their teenagers' use.
Recent change: Ofcom opened an Online Safety Act investigation into X on 12 January 2026 over the Grok account on X being used to create and share sexualised images. On 14 October 2026 Ofcom said it was focusing the rest of that investigation on illegal content and complaints and reporting duties. In the same update Ofcom said the company behind Grok had restricted its companion chatbots, including Ani, from sexually explicit conversations with UK users, and had restricted UK IP addresses from viewing, generating or sharing pornographic content made with standalone Grok's image generation.

Read our full Grok safety guide

Claude (Anthropic)

Minimum age (terms): 18. Anthropic's Consumer Terms for UK residents say you must be at least 18 to use Claude.ai, Claude Pro and its other consumer services.
Age checks: Anthropic's help page says users confirm they are 18 or over when setting up an account, that it will ask for age verification when it detects signals that a user may be under 18, and that it disables accounts showing indicators of minor activity. Reinstatement is offered after age verification through Yoti.

Perplexity

Minimum age (terms): 13. Perplexity's Terms of Service say children under 13 are not permitted to use the Services, and that minors who are at least 13 but under the age of majority may use them only if a parent or guardian accepts the terms on their behalf.
Parental controls: We have not reviewed Perplexity's parental controls or teen protections.

DeepSeek

Minimum age (terms): No stand-alone minimum age. DeepSeek's Terms of Use (the English version we read, last updated 27 March 2026) say the services are primarily intended for adults, and that anyone under 18, or under the minimum age required in their country, should read the terms with a legal guardian and use the services only with the guardian's consent.
Parental controls: We have not reviewed DeepSeek's parental controls or teen protections.

Replika

Minimum age (terms): 18. Replika's Terms of Service (last updated 28 October 2026) say the services are only for adults and that anyone under 18 is not authorised to use them, with or without registering.
Age checks: Replika says it asks your age when you create an account, may use age-assurance measures, and will block access and delete the account if it determines a person under 18 is using the services.

Talkie

Minimum age (terms): 14. Talkie's Terms of Service (updated 23 April 2025) say you must be at least 14, except where local law requires a higher age. The terms list countries with a higher age, and the United Kingdom is not on that list. Other sources and app-store listings give different ages, which is why we use the company's own terms.
Parental controls: We have not confirmed any parental controls for Talkie.

Chai

Minimum age (terms): 18. Chai's Safety Centre says minors cannot use Chai, and its End User License Agreement (last updated 28 July 2026) says the platform is strictly restricted to users aged 18 and older.
Age checks: Chai says it uses age-assurance technology from Persona (selfie age estimation or government ID) to confirm users are adults. Its page does not say whether the checks apply to UK users specifically.

Read our full Chai safety guide

PolyBuzz

Minimum age (terms): 18 worldwide. PolyBuzz's Terms of Use say it is strictly prohibited for minors.
Age checks: PolyBuzz's terms contain a UK-specific section saying that, citing the Online Safety Act, users must complete an age verification process before accessing PolyBuzz, carried out by the third-party providers Ondato and Yoti.

Sora has closed

OpenAI's help centre says the Sora web and app experiences were discontinued on 26 April 2026 and the Sora API on 24 September 2026. OpenAI announced the closure on 24 March 2026. It says it will permanently delete data associated with use of Sora once the export period, if any, has passed. Sora is therefore no longer something to set controls for.

What parents can do now

•Ask what they use. Find out which chatbots your child has tried, including ones built into apps they already use, such as Snapchat. Stay curious rather than cross.
•Check the minimum age in the terms. If the terms say your child is too young, that is a reason to say no, even if the app store rating looks lower.
•Use the controls that exist, and know their limits. Where a product offers linking or supervision, set it up together with your teen. Controls cover only some features and may not show you what was said.
•Agree house rules. Cover what not to share (full name, school, address, photos), and that a chatbot is software, not a friend, a counsellor or a doctor. Our family media plan is a good starting point.
•Make it easy to tell you. Tell your child they will not be in trouble if a chatbot says something upsetting, sexual or frightening, and ask them to show you.
•Watch for companion-style apps. Apps designed for ongoing “friend” or romantic role-play deserve extra care. Read our AI companion safety guide.
•Re-check regularly. These products change often. See our app alerts for updates.
•Know where to get help. Childline 0800 1111 (for children and young people), the NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000 (for adults worried about a child), and CEOP (ceop.police.uk) if someone is sexually contacting a child online. In an emergency, call 999.

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Frequently Asked Questions

This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.

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