AI Safety

Is Chai safe for kids? No. It is strictly for adults

5 min read · Updated November 5, 2026

No. Chai says it is strictly for adults and that you must be 18 or older to use the app. Its license agreement warns that users may meet or generate adult-oriented content, including mature themes and fictional violence. It uses age checks, but we found no parental controls, so a parent’s tools are the conversation and the device.

Chai is an app for chatting with AI characters, many of them made by other users. Teenagers often hear about it alongside Character.AI, but the two now sit in very different places: Character.AI allows teens and has ended open-ended chat for them, while Chai does not allow anyone under 18. For how companion apps differ from homework tools, see AI companion apps and teens, and for other apps, parental controls in every AI app.

How old do you have to be to use Chai?

18. Chai’s Safety Center says the service is strictly for adults, that minors cannot use it, and that you must be 18 or older. Its license agreement, last updated July 28, 2026, says the platform is strictly restricted to users aged 18 and older, and that by using it you confirm you are legally an adult. There is no teen version and no route for a parent to give permission. Chai also says its app is rated 18+ on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The company behind it is Chai Research Corp.

Why Chai is not for kids

• Adult content, in its own words. The license agreement says its AI models allow expansive, user-driven roleplay, and that users may encounter or generate adult-oriented content, including mature themes and fictional violence. Chai’s Safety Center also says its models are designed to refuse restricted material, including sexually explicit content. Those two statements describe the limits differently, so a parent should not read the second as a promise about the first.
• Characters made by other users. What your teen meets depends on who wrote the character and how the conversation develops.
• Companion design. Common Sense Media’s risk assessment of social AI companions recommends that no one under 18 use them.
• No parent view. We found no parental controls on Chai’s Safety Center or in its license agreement.

How Chai checks age

Chai says it uses age-assurance technology provided by a company called Persona, using a selfie age estimate or a government photo ID, and that where app stores verify age, users must be confirmed as adults before downloading. It offers a safety filter that hides mature content in search. Chai’s pages do not say every user faces the age check on every device, so we cannot tell you how often a teen would run into it.

Chai’s Safety Center also says that when a user expresses intent to harm themselves, the app refers them to crisis services. That is a useful backstop, not a reason to leave a teen on an adult service, and it does not tell a parent anything.

If your teen is already using Chai

1. Start with a question, not a verdict: what do they use it for, and what do they like about it?
2. Explain that the company itself says this app is for adults, and that this is why you are stepping in. It is not a judgment of them.
3. Ask whether anything on it has made them uncomfortable, and make it safe to say yes. How to talk to your teen about AI companions can help.
4. Remove the app together. On iPhone, block it through Apps & Websites in your child’s Family settings. On Android or a Chromebook, use App limits in Family Link.
5. Offer something else if it was filling a need. If it was stories, there are many. If it was company, that is the part worth talking about.

If your teen seems withdrawn or relies on the app to get through the day, talk to their doctor or a mental health professional. Signs your teen is too attached to an AI chatbot can help you notice the pattern. If you are worried about someone’s safety right now, call or text 988 in the US, or your local emergency number.

What TeenCue shows for Chai

Nothing. Chai is not one of the services TeenCue supports, so a chat there does not appear on your dashboard. TeenCue covers AI websites such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Character.AI, used in Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Brave on a computer. For those it shows a category, a topic and a concern rating for a chat, never what was typed, and your teen will know it is installed. It does not block apps. The TeenCue iPhone app is coming soon. How TeenCue works lists the supported services.