> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.notatechguy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # OpenAI $5M grant funds research on AI and teens - URL: https://www.notatechguy.com/openai-5m-grant-funds-research-on-ai-and-teens/ - Published: 2026-09-08T18:27:24.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-08T18:27:24.000Z - Description: OpenAI's $5 million grant program invites independent researchers to study how generative AI shapes teen development, well-being and safety. - Author: Marcello Babbili - Tags: Technology & AI, OpenAI OpenAI is investing $5 million in independent research on the impact of generative AI on adolescents [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com). The creator of the chatbots already used by teens aims to finance the studies that determine the effects of these tools. Applications are currently being accepted [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com). Whether that research can stay genuinely independent when the funder is also the subject is the question the whole program turns on. **My read:** This is the first time I've seen a major AI lab put serious money behind studying its own products' developmental effects on adolescents. I'm skeptical by default, because OpenAI has every reason to prefer findings that read as "nuanced" rather than damning. But the program description explicitly calls for independent research [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com), and $5 million is enough to fund several credible multi-year studies. The test will be who gets the money and whether they can publish without OpenAI's approval. If the selection is genuinely arms-length, this could produce the first large, credible dataset on how teenagers actually use and are shaped by AI. If it isn't, it's a press release with a budget. ## What the $5 million buys The grant program covers research on three fronts: teen development, well-being, and safety [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com). In a post on its site dated September 8, 2026, OpenAI acknowledges that generative AI has become deeply integrated into how adolescents learn, create, and seek advice [P²](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants/?ref=notatechguy.com). The company suggests the impacts are "likely to be nuanced" and will probably vary based on how adolescents engage with AI, their individual circumstances, and the level of family support they receive [P²](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants/?ref=notatechguy.com). That framing matters. "Nuanced" can mean "complex and worth studying" or "not as bad as you think." The research this program funds will determine which reading holds up. ## A pattern, not a one-off This is not OpenAI's first move into youth-focused funding. During January 2026, the firm introduced the EMEA Youth & Wellbeing Grant to support groups focused on youth safety and wellbeing amid the rise of AI [P⁴](https://openai.com/index/emea-youth-and-wellbeing-grant/?ref=notatechguy.com). The application window for that initiative closed in April 2026, and finalists have since been chosen [P⁴](https://openai.com/index/emea-youth-and-wellbeing-grant/?ref=notatechguy.com). This $5 million program extends a different kind of research ambition outward, funding external studies of what the company's products do to the people using them. There is also infrastructure for this kind of work. In February 2026, OpenAI released a toolkit named GABRIEL on GitHub, designed to help social and data scientists assess quantitative features in text, audio, and images via the GPT API [P³](https://github.com/openai/gabriel?ref=notatechguy.com). The codebase, which is written in Python and Jupyter Notebook, operates under an Apache 2.0 license and currently has 418 stars and 67 forks [P³](https://github.com/openai/gabriel?ref=notatechguy.com). Whether GABRIEL is intended for use in this grant program is not stated, but it exists as ready-made measurement infrastructure for exactly the kind of research OpenAI now wants to fund. The broader picture is clear. OpenAI has been building a funding pipeline for youth and AI research since at least January 2026, and this $5 million program is the largest single commitment in that effort. OpenAI also operates a distinct $1 million Codex open source fund, which provides grants of up to $25,000 in API credits on a rolling basis [P⁵](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/HEAD/docs/open-source-fund.md?ref=notatechguy.com), although that initiative is aimed at developers rather than researchers. ## What to do about it For a researcher in developmental psychology, education, or adolescent mental health, this is a rare funding opportunity in a field that has been starved of large grants. The program is open to applications now [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com), though no deadline is published. Consider a youth mental health clinic in Melbourne that has been tracking adolescent screen time and anxiety rates for three years. Adding an AI-use dimension to that existing longitudinal data, with grant funding, could produce one of the first credible studies of whether ChatGPT-style tools are changing teen help-seeking behaviour. The clinic would need to weigh the credibility risk of taking OpenAI money against the reality that almost no other funder is offering $5 million for this specific question. For schools and parents, the practical signal is simpler. The research that comes out of this program will take years. In the meantime, the tools are already in teenagers' hands. The gap between deployment and evidence is exactly what this grant program is trying to narrow, but it will not close in time for the teens using AI today. One thing to check this week: the GABRIEL repository on GitHub [P³](https://github.com/openai/gabriel?ref=notatechguy.com) is publicly available under an Apache license. Researchers thinking about applying can download the code, evaluate if it captures their required metrics, and see if it aligns with their study design before submitting a proposal. ## What we don't know yet Several questions remain open. No application deadline is published [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com). No eligibility criteria are stated, so we do not know whether grants are restricted to universities, open to independent researchers, or available to organisations outside the United States. No grant recipients are named, because the program has just launched. No specific dollar amounts per grant are listed, so we do not know whether $5 million funds five large studies or fifty small ones. Most importantly, we do not know the governance. The program calls for "independent" research [S¹](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com), but the evidence does not describe how independence is enforced. Who selects the grantees? Does OpenAI have approval rights over what gets published? Is there a third-party oversight body? None of this is stated. The next signal: OpenAI's EMEA Youth & Wellbeing Grant finalists were selected by April 2026, roughly three months after that program launched [P⁴](https://openai.com/index/emea-youth-and-wellbeing-grant/?ref=notatechguy.com). If this new program follows a similar timeline, first grant recipients could be announced by December 2026\. We'll check the independence question against whoever is named and what they publish. If you want this kind of evidence-first reporting in your inbox, subscribe to keep reading. --- *Sources: [S1 — Funding grants for new research into AI and teen development](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P2 — Funding grants for new research into AI and teen development](https://openai.com/index/teen-development-research-grants/?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P3 — openai/GABRIEL](https://github.com/openai/gabriel?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P4 — EMEA Youth & Wellbeing Grant | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/emea-youth-and-wellbeing-grant/?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P5 — docs/open-source-fund.md](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/HEAD/docs/open-source-fund.md?ref=notatechguy.com)* ## More from Not A Tech Guy - [AI safety paper: refuse harmful prompts, keep benign ones](https://www.notatechguy.com/ai-safety-paper-refuse-harmful-prompts-keep-benign-ones/) - [Home Assistant trends on GitHub at 90,000 stars](https://www.notatechguy.com/home-assistant-trends-on-github-at-90-000-stars/) - [Banning personal AI at work barely cuts risk, study finds](https://www.notatechguy.com/banning-personal-ai-at-work-barely-cuts-risk-study-finds/) --- *Generated from an audited evidence pack with primary-source research. 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