Meta announced on Thursday that parents using its supervision tools can now see the topics their teen has asked Meta AI about in the past week on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram.
Parents will see a new “Insights” tab within the supervision hub showing the topics their teen has been discussing with the AI chatbot. Topics can range from “School,” “Entertainment,” and “Lifestyle” to “Travel,” “Writing,” and “Health and Wellbeing,” among others, Meta says.
Parents can select a topic to see the subcategories that fall within each one. For example, “Lifestyle” breaks down into fashion, food, and holidays, while “Health and Wellbeing” covers fitness, physical health, and mental health.
The update is now available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, and Brazil, and will roll out globally in the coming weeks.
Meta first previewed these insights back in October when it said it was developing new tools to help parents guide their teens through AI.
Other previewed tools would have allowed parents to block access to specific AI characters or disable them entirely. However, Meta suspended teens’ access to its AI characters globally across all of its apps in January, saying it planned to develop an updated version specifically for teens.
For those unfamiliar, Meta AI characters are interactive AI personas with distinct personalities, designed for users to engage with as if they were real people filling specific roles — like a chef — or as recognizable celebrities, such as Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton.
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Meta suspended teens’ access to these characters just days before a lawsuit against it was set to go to trial in New Mexico, in which the social media giant was accused of failing to protect minors on its platforms. Meta ultimately lost the case, marking the first time a court has held the company legally liable for endangering child safety.
That case is one of many lawsuits that Meta and other Big Tech companies are facing over child safety. Given the timing, it’s not surprising that Meta halted access to the AI characters or that it’s now looking to inform parents about what their child is discussing with Meta AI.
Meta also announced on Wednesday that it is giving parents suggested conversation starters intended to help them talk openly and without judgment about their teens’ experiences with AI. Additionally, the company says it is launching a new AI Wellbeing Expert Council to help shape the development of its AI products for teens.
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