Dear OpenAI Team,
I would like to suggest an optional ChatGPT feature that I believe could be both useful and meaningful to many users.
The idea
Allow a user to give ChatGPT explicit permission to initiate a friendly check-in if the user has not interacted with ChatGPT for a period of time chosen by the user.
For example:
“If I have not interacted with ChatGPT for seven days, please check in with me and ask whether I am okay.”
The resulting message could be something as simple as:
“Hi! I haven’t heard from you in a while. Are you okay?”
Completely optional and user-controlled
This feature should never be enabled automatically.
The user would have to deliberately activate it and acknowledge the terms before it could operate.
The user should be able to:
- Choose the inactivity period (for example, 7, 14, or 30 days).
- Change that period at any time.
- Change or personalize the check-in message.
- Disable the feature at any time, immediately and easily.
- Completely discontinue the feature whenever they choose.
Important safety and liability boundaries
Before enabling the feature, ChatGPT should clearly explain that this is not an emergency, medical, welfare-monitoring, or guaranteed safety service.
The user would acknowledge that:
- A check-in may occasionally fail to occur.
- A message could be delayed because of technical or service-related issues.
- Failure to receive a check-in should not be interpreted as evidence that everything is okay.
- ChatGPT cannot guarantee that a user’s safety is being monitored.
- Emergency situations should still be handled through appropriate human or emergency services.
The user would explicitly accept these limitations before activating the feature.
A possible future extension
A separate, optional setting could allow the user to designate a trusted contact.
However, any contact with another person should require separate and explicit authorization, with strong privacy safeguards and clear rules regarding when such contact could occur.
Why I think this matters
Many people develop regular routines with ChatGPT. If someone who normally interacts frequently suddenly disappears, an optional check-in could provide a small additional layer of connection.
It could be particularly meaningful for people who live alone or whose absence might not immediately be noticed by family, friends, or coworkers.
This is not intended to replace human relationships or emergency services. It is simply an additional opportunity for ChatGPT to notice that a person who normally “knocks on its door” has unexpectedly stopped doing so.
Sometimes the most valuable AI feature isn’t another sophisticated productivity tool.
Sometimes it is simply:
“I haven’t heard from you. Are you okay?”
Thank you for considering the suggestion.
— A regular ChatGPT user