Meta on Friday previewed an upcoming parental control feature for teens to interact with AI characters on the platform. The features, scheduled to roll out next year, will include the ability to block certain characters and monitor conversation topics.
Starting in the coming months, parents will be able to completely turn off chatting with AI characters for their teens. This action does not block access to the Meta AI chatbot (the company’s general purpose AI chatbot), which only discusses age-appropriate content.
Parents can also turn off chat with individual characters if they want more selective control. You can also receive information about topics that teens are discussing with AI characters and meta-AIs.
The company said it plans to roll out these controls on Instagram early next year. It will be available in English in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
“We know that parents already have a lot on their plate when it comes to using the internet safely with their teens, and we’re committed to providing useful tools and resources that make things simpler, especially for parents as they think about new technologies like AI,” the company said in a post written by Instagram head Adam Mosseri and newly appointed head of MetaAI, Alexander Wang.
Earlier this week, Meta announced that content and AI experiences aimed at teens will adhere to PG-13 movie rating standards and avoid sensitive themes such as extreme violence, nudity, and graphic drug use.
The company added that teens are currently only allowed to interact with a limited number of characters that follow age-appropriate content guidelines. Parents can also set time limits for their youth’s interactions with the AI characters. Earlier this year, Instagram announced that it would use AI to identify attempts to circumvent age restrictions by lying about their age on the app.
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In the past few weeks, multiple platforms, including OpenAI, Meta, and YouTube, have released tools and controls focused on teen safety. The changes come amid growing concerns about the impact of social media on teens’ mental health and lawsuits against AI companies accused of contributing to teen suicides.
