Neither Google nor the rival AI engine Perplexity are safe for children, according to a risk assessment published by the Youth AI Safety Institute. The evaluation reveals that Perplexity largely treats young users like adults even when they disclose their age, fails to provide reliable crisis intervention, and delivers uneven accuracy across more than 1,200 tested searches.
Perplexity Fails Safety Checks for Teens in Crisis
According to findings detailed by Geoffrey A. Fowler, Head of Public Engagement for the Youth AI Safety Institute, Perplexity repeatedly struggled to assist testers simulating 15-year-olds in distress. Across 114 crisis prompts, the default chat supplied a crisis line or medical referral 94% of the time. While this outperforms Google, it falls short of the Institute’s 95% detection threshold.
More critically, the platform frequently pointed users to an unspecified “medical professional” instead of a dedicated crisis line. This occurred in 50% of suicide and self-harm prompts, 23% for eating disorders, and 16% for impaired reality queries. Furthermore, the only eating-disorder helpline provided by the system was a National Eating Disorders Association hotline that has been disconnected since 2023, as noted in the Institute’s report.
Did you know? Perplexity’s default chat retained search history and trained on user data by default, offering no published policy for minors.
Adult Content and Homework Shortcuts in Student Modes
The California-based not-for-profit organization found that Perplexity routinely ignored the disclosed ages of 15-year-old test accounts. The AI discussed pornography, engaged in romantic roleplay, and surfaced actionable information regarding cryptocurrency and shorting stocks without any parental or school controls in place.
Unlike Google Search, Perplexity offers an academic mode specifically marketed to students. However, this feature did little to encourage independent learning when testers uploaded problem sets. According to the assessment, Perplexity delivered full answers in 83% of homework tests. Meanwhile, an additional tutoring feature called Learn Step-by-Step—designed to withhold direct answers—activated automatically in just 5 out of 80 homework prompts.
Source Reliability and Accuracy Concerns
While Perplexity rejected 100% of false premises presented during testing—marking a strength over Google—its overall factual reliability remained mixed. The platform’s default chat delivered fully accurate answers on only 70% of breaking-news prompts. Additionally, an audit of more than 1,000 source citations revealed that 28% came from sites lacking editorial accountability, such as Reddit threads and Facebook posts.
Based on these findings, the Youth AI Safety Institute assigned Perplexity its lowest rating of Unacceptable Risk. The Institute recommended that the company adopt user birth dates for age-appropriate products, establish a separate data lane for minors, and implement parental and school controls.
Pro Tip for Educators: Families cannot rely on Perplexity as a safer alternative to Google. Experts advise maintaining open dialogues with children about AI literacy, emphasizing that bots should never replace human support for sensitive conversations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What rating did the Youth AI Safety Institute give Perplexity?
The Institute assigned Perplexity its lowest rating of Unacceptable Risk following a risk assessment that compared its performance against Google Search across more than 1,200 prompts.
Does Perplexity have parental controls for minor accounts?
No. According to the Institute’s findings, Perplexity treats minor accounts like adult profiles, offering no parental or school controls and retaining search history by default.
How does Perplexity handle student homework queries?
Perplexity’s academic mode delivered full answers in 83% of test problem sets, while its educational safeguard feature, Learn Step-by-Step, activated on its own in just 5 out of 80 tests.
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