OpenAI has rolled out ChatGPT for Teens. I’ll let the chatbot explain what it is:“ChatGPT for Teens, a version of ChatGPT designed for users ages 13–17 that focuses on learning while providing stronger safety protections. It includes tools such as Study Mode, quizzes, learning visualizations, homework reminders, and Study Hours to help teens understand schoolwork instead of simply getting answers. It also adds parental controls, safety notifications, break reminders, and protections against harmful or inappropriate content, while encouraging healthy relationships and real-world support. OpenAI also describes a partnership with CodeAI to teach students how AI works and how to use it responsibly, and highlights examples of teens using AI to create projects that solve real-world problems. Overall, the goal is to help teens learn, create, and explore with AI while keeping their safety and well-being a priority.”
This sounds great and all, but nobody is going to use this—hopefully. While I like the partnerships and some of the features in theory (I’ll give a full breakdown of my likes and dislikes on the Pulse Podcast on Saturday), the entire notion that any teen will actually use this is ludicrous—unless we’re forcing people to upload their IDs to ChatGPT lest they be forced to use “ChatGPTeen,” which I wholeheartedly oppose. We should not be forced to use an ID to access a basic computer program, software, or network like Google Docs, the internet, or an AI chatbot, and I hope and would oppose any legislation that makes it so. Also, there are multiple AI chatbots that teens could go to instead—from Gemini to Grok to even our adversaries’ chatbots such as DeepSeek, or heck, they might even become the first person to pick up Snap’s horrific AI chatbot.
In other tech news, Google has released the Pixel 11 series of devices, and it’s a sidegrade. It was disappointing when Samsung went from the S10 series with its heart-rate scanner and headphone jack to the S20 series lacking both, and it is sad that Google has removed the temperature sensor on the handset as well—something that was genuinely cool to have on a phone. I cannot think of the last phone that had a unique feature that someone else’s didn’t, except for the Bluetooth S Pen, which Samsung killed after the S24 series of devices. This sensor has been replaced by a tiny light on the back of the device to tell you when Gemini is in use, which… I guess is cool, but if they had to nix the sensor, why not go with a display for selfies or a “phone in phone” so you could have a teleprompter app in use while filming—something more useful than a nothing rip-off, please. As for the hardware, the Pixel 11 Pro XL starts at 256 GB / 16 GB RAM, a 6.8-inch Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus® 2 cover display at 1344 x 2992 LTPO OLED at 486 PPI, and a 5200 mAh battery—except those are the specs for the Pixel 10 Pro XL. In fact, the only things that changed are that the battery got smaller (5115 mAh) and you only get 12 GB of RAM on the 256 GB model. The camera sensor sizes are larger, so that should be a slight improvement, and of course you get a new Tensor chip. Honestly, unless you get a great deal on a Pixel 11 series device, just get the 10; in some cases you will have more features.
Let’s gooo. My dreams might be coming true. For the last few months I have been toying with Claude and Perplexity to try to get them to build me an AI news feed that will give me cool things to discuss on the site and podcast with you all, and Google might be “Sherlocking” my tech. An update is coming to the Preferred Sources button which “When readers click this button, it adds the site as a Preferred Source on Google and immediately directs them back to where they left off on the publisher’s page. Readers more easily find their favorite publications in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode, while publishers gain a more seamless way to connect with readers across Google. So far, people have already selected more than 600,000 unique sources.”
And most importantly: “In the coming days in the Google app, you’ll be able to tap any three-dot menu in your feed to tell Google the exact topics or links you want to see more (or less) of, in your words. Your feed will adjust on the fly, and remember your requests. By letting you refine your tastes in real time, Discover can connect you with content that genuinely matches what you care about right now.”If everything holds well, I should be getting more niche magazines and websites tailored to my interests in my feed—and not just boring local news stories. This will be a game-changer for Pulse: more evangelical stories, more in-depth tech reviews and history, more interesting content I can enjoy.
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