AI apps and chatbots

obacht treats AI assistants and chatbots like any other app: parents decide whether, when and how long a child uses them, never what they ask. obacht doesn't read prompts or chats and has no keyword alerts.

What obacht does

• An ai category. Known AI apps (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok, Character.AI, Replika, ...) are sorted into it as soon as a device reports them, like games. A parent's own rule for an app always wins. The list is in crates/obacht-engine/src/ai.rs; additions are welcome.
• Limits like any category: a daily AI budget, bedtimes and schedules, per-app limits, blocking single apps, extra-time requests and usage per app in reports (with the same per-child opt-out as other apps).
• Websites too. Known AI websites count as ai in the DNS filter (built-in DoH and the AdGuard Home sync) when no rule names them, so an AI limit holds on TVs, consoles and computers that use the filter. For more AI sites than obacht knows, subscribe to a list of them that counts as ai (Account, "Website lists"; see Running obacht at home).
• Age presets. Under 10: AI is off (0 minutes). 10 to 13: 30 minutes a day, AI companion and role-play apps blocked. 14 to 17: one hour a day. Parents can change all of it.
• Existing children get the ai category without a limit; set one under Limits.

What the vendors offer

The AI services' own teen settings can do what obacht deliberately doesn't, such as content filtering or turning chat memory off. obacht sees nothing of them. Look for:

• ChatGPT: parental controls with a parent account linked to the teen's account.
• Gemini: teen access managed through Google Family Link.
• Other services: check their family or teen settings; many require users to be 13 or older.

Limits

AI built into other apps (messengers, browsers, the phone itself) can't be separated from its host app: see Platform limitations.

This page is part of obacht's documentation, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Source on GitHub · CC BY 4.0 · Version: main (976f125)