Natalie Gibson
Founder and CEO
Natalie Gibson, a mom of three, is the Founder and CEO of HeyOtto, AI for kids and teens built to help children safely explore artificial intelligence with meaningful parental visibility and control. She has spent her career building products in highly regulated environments, with experience spanning privacy, security, and data protection frameworks including COPPA, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-aligned systems. Her work has consistently focused on trust, safety, and building technology where compliance and user protection are foundational—not optional. She built HeyOtto after she couldn't find AI she trusted for her own three kids. As a parent, she saw how quickly children began using general-purpose AI tools that were never designed for them, and she saw a gap between what kids were capable of using and what families could responsibly trust. That gap became the foundation for HeyOtto. Today, she leads product vision and company direction with a focus on age-adaptive AI, parental sovereignty, and transparent system design. Her work centers on one belief: families should not have to choose between powerful AI and safe AI.
Areas of Expertise
Content by Natalie Gibson
Blog Posts
Character.AI Is Being Sold: How to Download or Delete Your Teen's Chats
Character.AI is being sold in bankruptcy. Here are the official steps to download or delete your teen's chats, what happens to data, and how to talk about it.
Character AI Alternative for Kids
Character.AI's parent company filed for Chapter 11 on October 12, 2026. Here's what kids should use now, what the lawsuits show, and what to look for in an AI tool for kids 8–18.
ChatGPT for Teens Was Just Rated an "Unacceptable Risk." What's the Alternative?
Common Sense Media's new assessment found ChatGPT's teen safeguards often failed to alert parents. Here's what it means, and how to let kids use AI while staying in view.
Should you post pictures of your kids to social media or upload them to AI?
Parents ask if it's safe to post kids' photos or upload them to AI. Share privately, scrub old posts, and keep identifying detail out.
How to Teach Your Kids to Use AI: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents
A step-by-step parent guide to teaching kids to use AI: family rules, fact-checking, homework limits, privacy, and when to step back.
Why You Should Introduce AI to Your Child
Your child will use AI whether you introduce it or not. This parent guide covers why a guided start matters, six skills to teach, and how to adjust by age.
Kids and AI Chatbot Relationships: Risks, Warning Signs, and What Parents Can Do
Metro reports Everyone's Invited findings on kids and companion chatbots. What parents should ask before saying yes to AI.
New AI Chatbot Laws for Kids: What Adam's Law and the EU Kids Act Mean for Your Family
California's Adam's Law and the EU's proposed Kids Act are changing the rules for AI chatbots and kids. Here's what they require, when, and what parents can do now.
Adam's Law and the EU KIDS Act: What Two New Laws Mean for Your Child's AI Chatbot
California's Adam's Law and the EU KIDS Act push AI chatbots toward safer defaults for kids. What changed, and what parents should check.
The Meta Child Safety Settlement: What It Means for the AI Industry — and Why It Validates Safety-First Platforms Like HeyOtto
Meta’s roughly $18B child-safety settlement and Character.AI cases show why engagement-first design for minors is now a legal risk — and why parental oversight matters for kids’ AI.
Resources & Articles
AI School Project Video: The Master Prompt
School project video prompt. Copy this template into HeyOtto to plan a short original explainer from an idea or an image. No real student faces.
AI Story Video: The Master Prompt
Story video prompt for kids. Copy this template into HeyOtto to plan an original short or book-trailer — from an idea or a storybook. No copyrighted characters by name.
AI How-To Video: The Master Prompt
How to video prompt for kids. Copy this template into HeyOtto to plan a club, hobby, or skill how-to from an idea or an image.
How to Start an AI Club at School: Parent Starter Kit
Copy-paste starter kit for parents: teacher-sponsor one-pager, permission language, house rules, and an 8-week club plan that does not use ChatGPT.
AI Homework Help: The Ultimate Tutor Prompt
Homework help prompt. Copy this fill-in-the-blank tutor template into HeyOtto for patient, step-by-step homework help that teaches instead of handing over answers.
Introducing the HeyOtto Marketplace: The App Store Where Kids Are the Creators
The HeyOtto Marketplace is a curated library of apps, games, tools and more—vetted for safety, age-appropriateness, and family values. Build it. Share it. Own it.
Product Launch: HeyOtto Is Now Available on iOS and Android
HeyOtto is now available on iOS and Android. Download the safe AI app for kids and teens with parental controls at heyotto.app/download.
The CHATBOT Act: What the New Bipartisan Bill on AI and Children Actually Requires
Summary of the 2026 CHATBOT Act: family accounts, default safeguards for kids, teen rules, verifiable parental consent, ad targeting ban for minors, and federal studies — plus what it does not cover.
The Parent's Complete Guide to AI Literacy for Kids: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Actually Teach It
A practical parent's guide to AI literacy: what LLMs are, why it matters by age, Socratic habits, prompts, fact-checking, privacy, and how to pick AI tools for kids — from the HeyOtto team.