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Altman signals possible alerts to authorities for minors

New safety system focuses on detecting distress, self-harm, and emotional dependence in conversations
CEO Sam Altman says alerting authorities may be reasonable when minors express suicidal intent
California moves to require AI chatbots to flag and redirect suicidal users to emergency help

OpenAI has announced a broad upgrade to ChatGPTs safety tools, saying it worked with more than 170 mental-health experts to better detect signs of distress, self-harm, and emotional reliance on AI.

In a blog post last week titled Strengthening ChatGPTs responses in sensitive conversations, the company said the update includes routing sensitive chats to safer model versions, adding gentle take-a-break reminders during long sessions, and more rigorous testing for how its systems handle self-harm and emotional crises.

The company also revealed that about 0.15 percent of its weekly active usershundreds of thousands worldwideengage in chats showing signs of suicidal planning or intent, a figure that underscores the scale of the issue.

If you need help ...

U.S.: Call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at988lifeline.org

UK & Ireland: Samaritans, 116 123 (freephone), jo@samaritans.org / jo@samaritans.ie

Australia: Lifeline, 13 11 14

Elsewhere: Visitbefrienders.orgfor international hotlines

Altman signals possible alerts to authorities for minors

Chief executive Sam Altman said OpenAI is considering a policy that would allow the company to contact authorities when a young person is seriously discussing suicide and parents cannot be reached.

It may be very reasonable for us to call authorities, Altman told The Guardian. No final decision or written policy has been released, and questions remain over which authorities might be contacted, what threshold would trigger intervention, and how privacy would be protected, Altman said.

New parental controls aim to protect teen users

Alongside the policy debate, OpenAI has introduced new teen-specific features for ChatGPT. Parents can now link accounts with their teenagers, set quiet hours, disable voice and image tools, and choose whether chat history is used for training.

For flagged high-risk chats, parents may receive alerts, although they do not gain full access to transcripts for privacy reasons. The controls are being rolled out gradually across the platform.

Legal and regulatory pressure intensifies

OpenAIs announcement comes amid mounting scrutiny over how AI systems respond to vulnerable users. The family of a 16-year-old who died by suicide has sued the company in Raine v. OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT encouraged the act and that OpenAI intentionally weakened its self-harm safeguards before the death.

At the same time, California lawmakers have passed one of the first state laws requiring AI chatbots that interact with minors to remind users theyre not human, flag and redirect suicidal ideation to emergency services, and notify parents or authorities in some cases.

Whats next

OpenAIs latest steps mark a shift from simply referring users to crisis hotlines toward potential real-world intervention, at least for minors. But the details of any authority-notification plan remain unclearand will likely determine whether the company can balance user privacy with public safety.

Zombie companies are plentiful but, like their human counterparts, they're pretty easy to spot if you look carefully

Just because Halloween is over doesn't mean it's safe to let your guard down. After all, zombies exist all year, not just on Oct. 31. OK, maybe there aren't real human-style zombies but there are plenty of zombie companies out there. We at ConsumerAffairs know, because we run into them all the time and it's only due diligence that lets us weed them out so we can, in turn, keep you from encountering them on our site.

Not familiar with the term due diligence? It's something big corporations and seasoned investors use every time they're considering gobbling up a competitor,investing in a new company or hiring someone to manage their finances.

Very simply, due diligence means being as careful as you can be without cowering in a corner. For a more formal definition, we turned to ChatGPT, which replied:

Due diligence

Definition: A systematic process of gathering, verifying, and evaluating information before making a decision or taking action especially in contexts involving risk, investment, or public accountability.

In practice:

• For businesses, it means investigating a potential partner, acquisition, or contract to confirm facts and assess risks.

• For journalists, it means confirming claims through credible sources, verifying documents, and seeking comment from all relevant parties.

• For consumers, its the careful review of a product, service, or company before purchase or commitment.

Key idea: Due diligence is about acting responsibly by checking the facts before you commit.

While practicing due diligencesounds pretty simple and hard to argue with, it's unfortunately true that many, if not most, consumers too often fail to do even the simplestdue diligence. We end up buying a home warranty from a company that disappears overnight, ordering a product that's recommended by a popular social media influencer who is in it strictly for the moneyor stocking up on vitamins and supplements recommended by an out-of-work actor in a white coat.

It's human nature to be trusting and eager to believe the best of other people, but it's not a good way to make the most of your money or, for that matter, to safeguard your life and health. So let's take a look at the essentials of performing due diligence. We're grateful for the assistance of Chang Paik, a Harvard MBA who just happens to be ConsumerAffairs' Chief Financial Officer.

As CFO, Chang's responsibilities include keeping ConsumerAffairs out of trouble when it buys or leases equipment, services and property andjust as importantlywhen it considers potential partners for its consumer reviews, buyer's guides and other editorial content.

For starters, when he's considering a prospective client or partner, Chang looks at:

• Years in business. How long has the company been around?
• The management team. Are they qualified, experienced, reputable?
• Ownership. Who owns the company? Is it a major corporation, a mom-and-pop, a start-up or a subsidiary of another firm?
• Revenue. Does the company have substantial revenue enough to ensure that it can produce its products, pay claims and generally carry out its responsibilities?
• How many employees? Some companies have hundreds or thousands of employees. A surprising number have just a handful or even just one person.
• Are there independent reviews of the company's performance on reputable review sites like ConsumerAffairs, the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Reports, etc.?
• Regulatory licenses. Is the company licensed in the cities where it operates, is its corporate charter up to date, does it have the specialized permits required for its line of work (drugs, aircraft, etc.)?

Things aren't always what they seem

All these little items seem pretty obvious, you might say. True but, as we all know, people aren't always truthful in their claims. Here are a few examples Chang cited of companies that turned out not to stand up to scrutiny:

• The supposed CEO of one company, upon a investigation, turns out to bea 78-year-old flight attendant who lives a few doors down from the company's registered address in Brooklyn.
• The company's website doesn't work. It contains a few links that don't go anywhere.
• The homepage is flagged by Google as Not Secure.
• If you click on Get a Free Quote, it just takes you to the home page.
• The links to X, Facebook, Instagram, etc., are all blocked.
• The company's phone number previously belonged to a surgeon in Tijuana.

These are all true and are also very typical of zombie companiesthey're like something that at first glance looks to be alive but really isn't. So here are some tips to help you steer clear of zombies.

Start simply with Google

The good thing about doing due diligence systematically is that you frequently find what you need to know very quickly. For example, let's say you're considering an extended warranty for your car. Google the name of the company and if you find this ...

That pretty much ends the due diligence right there. But if nothing too horrendous turns up in your Google search, it's time to move on and check out the company's business address. Let's say you're still looking for an extended warranty company, so you put in the Brooklyn street address and get this:

Now, you might want to rent an apartment from this outfit but it's probably not the prominent and well-established warranty firm that will be there when your car needs work.

So how about this one? This looks pretty respectable, doesn't it?

No, it doesn't. If the AAAAble Extended Warranty Co. is so big and solid, why isn't its name on the building? Large office buildings like this one typically have a large suite, or even a whole floor, that they rent out as time-share offices to people who need a desk and a reception area once in a while. They are basically mail-drops. Anyone who doesn't have a 24/365 office lease probably isn't a titan of the business world.

Check registrations

If you've gotten this far with no red flags, it's time to check some official records. Let's say AAAAble claims to be registered in Delaware. A quick visit to the Delaware Division of Corporationswill tell you whether the company is indeed incorporated in Delaware. You can also find the address of the company's Registered Agentusually an attorney who is the official who accepts legal notices and other correspondence. You probably won't find much more, since officers, stockholders, etc., are not usually public record but you will be able to confirm that company exists ... on paper, anyway.

It's decision-time

There's a lot more you can do but if you make it this far and the company seems to be what it says it is, it's time to compare it to other companies offering similar services or products. This is where size is an advantage. A big, established company will have more reviews, more staff, more resources and basically more of everything that it needs to find and retain customers.

Review sites that verify the identity of the reviewers, as ConsumerAffairs does, are the most reliable way of finding out how well a company performs its functions, short of interviewing hundreds of its customers. Keep in mind that anyone can have a bad experience with even the most reliable and trustworthy company. Mistakes happen, so you're not looking for perfection, just for a solid record of satisfied clients.

Remember too that even the best products and services may not be right for you. An extended auto warranty is good for someone who doesn't want to worry about taking care of their carand doesn't want any financial surprises. But someone who is an expert mechanic and is married to an accountant who watches every penny probably can maintain his car himself and have enough savings to cover unexpected issues.

Due diligence is a simple phrase and, as we've seen, is something you can do at home in your spare time, just like the stuff advertised on TV and the web. And, no, you don't have to be a professional to do it.

Five stars, zero humans: how to spot fake reviews online

• Do the 60-second smell test: Look for copy-paste praise (I was skeptical, game-changer), multiple reviewsin 24hours, and sketchy profiles
• Check the content, not just stars: Mismatched details (zipper on a phone case) and wonky/stock/AI photos = fake reviews
• Know the platform cues: On Amazon, Vine is labeled and verified; skim 3-star reviews for real quibbles; if it still feels off, move on

If youve ever been suspicious of 25 consecutive five-star reviews on Amazon, youre doing something right. Theres no way all these people discovered inner peace because of this cheap $15garlic press. Fake reviews have exploded in recent years, some are AI-written and some are bought outright. The good news is with a 60-second scan, you can catch most of them before they cost you money or the time youll have to spend to return the product.

The 60-second smell test (two or more = bail)

1. The wording starts to look the same. The first thing Ill do is check the most recent five-star reviews. Or depending on the site or app, the top reviews might be 3 stars, 99.3% positive, or 10/10, you get the picture.

If I see a bunch of glowing reviews with the same exact opening line over and over, I know Im probably being messed with. The lines I look for include I was skeptical but, as someone who, or product was a game-changer stacked with generic benefits like quality, value, convenience. These are easy to spot red flags that the reviews are probably not genuine. Ive also discovered that AI tends to over-praise in the same exact patterns, and bought reviews often use the same templates repeatedly.

2. Whole bunch of reviews at once. Tap Most recent. If dozens of reviews land within a 2448-hour window after weeks of silence, thats a review burst usually brought on by a promo or a pay-for-review campaign.

3. Profile weirdness. When making a significant purchase, I like to click a few reviewer names. If the account is fairly new, and they post reviews across unrelated categories (power tools, collagen, pet toys, suitcases) theyre not living a normal shopping life. At which point, I consider the reviews to be more than likely fake.

4. Item descriptions that make zero sense. Do reviews describe a different item than whats actually on the page? Zipper broke on the backpack while youre on a phone-case listing usually means the seller pooled reviews from different products to grabstars or points. This shows up across various popular online retailers and is a classic ratings inflation trick.

5. Photos are really wonky. By wonky I mean theyre often odd stock pictures, identical photos used by different reviewers, or obviously AI-generated images. If you see two or more of these, either skip the product or downgrade how much you trust the reviews. Instead, look for independent tests, longish written reviews that include specifics (fit the 2019 Roomba e5, heres the exact clip issue), or verified-purchase badges if the site or app uses them.

Marketplace-specific tells

Amazon. Fortunately, Amazon has banned incentivized reviews unless they come through its invite-only Vine program. Vine reviews are now labeled as such so shoppers are aware that the reviewer got the product for free in exchange for a review.

Amazon also weighs verified purchases more heavily when they list reviews which is a step in the right direction. If you see lots of vaguely written five-star reviews, with no Vine badge, keep your guard up.

Yelp. Their automated recommendation software tries to highlight the most reliable reviews and down-rank questionable ones. With that said, dont automatically distrust the Not Recommended section, but definitely treat them as less reliable reviews as theyre often short, very low-effort, and from low-activity accounts.

Trustpilot. Theyre loudly policing review sellers and claim year-over-year improvements in detection. If a business page shows a sudden wave of same-day five-stars after a PR push, apply the smell test anyway. Better safe than sorry is my motto, especially when researching a company like a car dealership or a financial institution.

The quick how not to get fooled routine

1. Sort by newest. Many glowing reviews at once = suspicion.
2. Check out the 3-stars. The mediocre 3 out of 5 star reviews are often written by real people with real quibbles.
3. Open 3 reviewer profiles. Quickly look for brand-new accounts, odd shopping patterns, and lazy photo reuse.
4. Check Q&A (if available). AI spam rarely messes with the Q&A section.
5. Search for the exact issue you care about. Type fit, battery, warranty, or your exact need and see if anyone gives a specific answer in the review section.

The bottom line

Smart shoppers dont need fancy tools to spot phony reviews online. With my 60-second smell test youre now armed with all the tools you need to filter out the noise.

Lastly, always remember to trust your gut. If something about the reviews feels off, trust your instincts and move on to the next product. The next garlic press will be fine, and the genuine reviews will sound like real people whove actually minced garlic before.

Experts say darker commutes and fatigue make November one of the riskiest times to drive

• Shorter days and darker commutes after the end of daylight saving time increase the risk of crashes, especially during evening rush hour.

• Fatigue and reduced visibility make it harder for drivers to spot pedestrians, signs, and other vehicles leading to slower reaction times.

• Experts urge drivers to adjust their routines, stay alert, and use extra caution during the weeks following the time change.

When the clocks fall back this weekend, most of us look forward to that extra hour of sleep but what many drivers dont realize is that the end of daylight savings time can also make the roads more dangerous.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, nearly half of all traffic fatalities occur at night, and as the sun sets earlier, more commuters find themselves driving in the dark during rush hour.

ConsumerAffairs spoke with a representative from Travelers Insurance, warning that shorter days, limited visibility, and unpredictable fall weather can all increase the likelihood of accidents especially in the weeks immediately following the time change.

The biggest risks for drivers

Travelers shared some of the biggest risks that drivers face during daylight savings:

• Shorter days, darker commutes, and unpredictable fall and winter weather make for dangerous driving conditions after the clocks fall back.

• Reduced visibility makes it harder to spot road signs, pedestrians, and other vehicles. Combine that with slower reaction times and fatigue, and the risks on the road increase.

• Turning the clocks back an hour can negatively affect drivers alertness. One hour may not seem like much, but it can impact the ability to sustain attention behind the wheel, which increases the likelihood of accidents.

Dos and donts of driving

While the risks are evident, consumers can take precautions to make their trips safer and easier.

Some dos and donts of driving during daylight savings include:

• Plan ahead the night before to prepare for the time shift. Setting your clock in advance and adjusting your morning routine can help your body adapt.

• Your internal clock may take time to adjust, so give yourself extra time and drive cautiously especially in the dark.

• To enhance safety, increase your following distance to give yourself more time to react to sudden stops or hazards, slow down to compensate for reduced visibility, and ensure your headlights are clean and properly adjusted.

Drivers often feel more fatigued and less alert during the week following the time change, Travelers told ConsumerAffairs. Even though these tips focus on the time shift, dark roads and hazardous weather conditions persist throughout fall and winter. Its a good idea to keep these safety practices top of mind before getting behind the wheel.