Meta has announced a number of new measures allowing parents to take more control of their teenagers’ interactions with AI chatbots. The new features will be rolled out from next year, initially in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. They will give parents and guardians the option to completely block their children’s access to AI characters on its various platforms. It won’t turn off access to the Meta AI chatbot itself, but Meta points out that there are already limitations in place for users who are under 18.
The move comes after concerns were raised in reports by the likes of Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that AI characters were engaging in romantic or flirtatious conversations with minors. Earlier last week, Meta said that its AI experiences for teens would be guided by the PG-13 movie rating system. ChatGPT has also recently rolled out new parental controls following a lawsuit by the parents of a teen who died by suicide. The parents alleged that the AI chatbot had validated their son’s “most harmful and self-destructive thoughts”.
Parents can block access to specific AI characters or turn off the feature entirely
Meta’s changes will allow parents to completely turn off one-on-one chats with AI characters. They will also have the option to block specific characters if they don’t want to stop this feature entirely. Parents will also be able to gain ‘insight’ into how their teenagers are using AI. It’s not yet clear exactly how these insights will be delivered, but it seems likely to be through a top-level summary of topics they are prompting for or chatting about with AI characters and Meta’s AI Assistant.
The Assistant will not otherwise be affected by the parental controls. Meta said that it will remain available “to offer helpful information and educational opportunities”, with age-appropriate restrictions applied by default.
The age-appropriate guidelines rolled out through all of Meta’s AI platforms mean that AIs should not give “age-inappropriate responses that would feel out of place in a PG-13 movie”. Meta added that AIs should not engage in age-inappropriate conversations about suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, providing safe responses and direction to appropriate responses or support. Parents will be able to monitor when teens are interacting with AI characters and set time limits on the overall use of the apps.
This comes as ChatGPT also recently announced plans to launch a teen-safe experience with more controls.
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