How old do you have to be? Minimum age for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others in Germany

The age limits of the six assistants

ChatGPT: OpenAI's European Terms of Use require you to be at least 13, or the minimum age required in your country to consent. Anyone under 18 needs a parent's permission and should read the terms together with them. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT is not meant for children under 13.

Gemini: Google ties Gemini to a Google Account. According to Google, you can only manage your own account in Germany from age 16. Parents can create a supervised account for younger children through Family Link, but Gemini Apps are not available for supervised accounts in the European Economic Area. To use Gemini with a paid Google AI subscription in the EU, you must be at least 18.

Claude: Anthropic requires you to be at least 18, or the higher minimum age in your country. There is no exception with parental permission.

Microsoft Copilot: According to the Copilot terms, you need a Microsoft Account and must be at least 13, older in some countries depending on local law. Below 13, or below a higher national age, the Microsoft Account itself requires parental consent. For users under 18, Microsoft may turn off or limit some features.

Meta AI: According to Meta, you may not use the assistant in WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger if you are under 13 or under a higher age required in your country.

Le Chat: In its terms for EU consumers, Mistral requires users to be at least 13. Minors also need parental permission where required. Mistral says it deletes accounts that break these rules.

What the GDPR has to do with age 16

You often read that online services in Germany have a minimum age of 16. This refers to Article 8 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It does not decide when a child may use an app. It decides when a child can consent to the processing of their own data, where an online service is offered directly to children and relies on consent.

The basic rule: from 16, a child can consent on their own. Below that, consent is only valid if given or approved by a parent. EU countries may lower this limit to as low as 13. According to the data protection portal Dr. Datenschutz, Germany has not done so, whereas Denmark and Italy have. The provider must also make reasonable efforts to verify that the parents really agreed.

That explains why the providers handle it differently: Google sets its own accounts in Germany at 16 across the board, Mistral prohibits data from children under 13 or under the applicable age of digital consent without parental consent, and OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta refer to a possibly higher national age. Which rule applies legally in a given case depends on the service and its legal basis. This is not legal advice; for parents, the practical rule of thumb is to give explicit consent for children under 16.

How the providers check age

In most cases, entering your own birth date when signing up is enough. The German initiative klicksafe points out for WhatsApp, for example, that the minimum age of 13 is not checked. Some providers now do check, though.

According to its help pages, OpenAI estimates whether someone may be under 18 using signals such as conversation topics, usage times and account age. ChatGPT then automatically switches on the teen experience with extra protections. Adults can disprove this through the service Persona with a selfie or ID.

Anthropic disables Claude accounts when there are signs that the user is a minor. Accounts are only reinstated for people who prove through the service Yoti that they are at least 18, for example with a selfie-based age estimate or an ID.

Google gives users it believes are too young 14 days to update their account; after that, the account is disabled. According to heise, Meta is also using AI in Germany to detect children under 13 on Instagram, Threads and Facebook and move teens into protected Teen Accounts; Meta AI is built into these apps. Microsoft's Copilot terms require you to give your real birth date and country. Mistral does not describe any check of its own, but says it deletes accounts that break the rules.

What parents can set up

ChatGPT: Parents and teens can link their accounts under parental controls in Settings. According to OpenAI, parents can then reduce sensitive content, set quiet hours and turn off Voice Mode and image generation, among other things. Parents cannot see conversations or chat history, and either side can unlink the accounts at any time.

Gemini: Because supervised Family Link accounts do not get Gemini in the EEA, there are no Gemini parental settings here. According to Google, 16- and 17-year-olds with their own Google Account get additional content filters for minors.

Meta AI: According to Meta, parental supervision has also been available in the Meta AI app worldwide since 5 October 2026. Parents see the topics of the past seven days, not the conversations, and can switch from the default '13+' setting to the stricter 'Limited Content' setting. WhatsApp has offered the same choice in its parental controls for teen accounts since 30 September 2026; its blog post does not say in which countries they are already available.

Microsoft Copilot and Le Chat: Microsoft and Mistral do not name any parental controls for the assistant in their terms. At Microsoft, child accounts created with parental consent are automatically added to the family group, according to its privacy statement.