# Working with the American Psychological Association on youth mental health and AI

On August 6, 2026, OpenAI announced a partnership with the American Psychological Association to develop youth mental health and AI resources.

- The partnership builds on a convening OpenAI and APA co-hosted earlier this year with mental health organizations, researchers, clinicians, educators, and youth representatives.
- Planned work includes family-facing resources for parents and caregivers, plus guidance for clinicians and school psychologists on healthy AI use and recognizing overreliance.
- OpenAI says it works with more than 260 mental health experts to help ChatGPT recognize distress and direct users to real-world support.
- OpenAI also cites existing youth protections including parental controls, under-18 principles in its Model Spec, and an age-prediction model.

## Why it matters

Parents, clinicians, and schools now have an evidence-based partner shaping how AI is designed and guided for young people.

## Sources

- [OpenAI: Working with the American Psychological Association on youth mental health and AI](https://openai.com/index/openai-and-apa-partner-to-advance-responsible-ai)

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Summarized by dstilled on 2026-08-06. https://dstilled.ai/story/d18c8768-5a77-451f-b714-b3047d9ca74e