Meta previews new parental controls for its AI experiences

Meta on Friday previewed upcoming parental control features for teens’ conversations with AI characters on its platforms. Features, which will be rolled out next year, include the ability to block certain characters and monitor conversation topics.

Starting in the coming months, parents will be able to completely disable chats with AI characters for 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 disable chats with individual characters if they prefer more selective control. Additionally, they receive information about the topics teens discuss with AI characters and Meta AI.

The company said it plans to roll out these controls on Instagram early next year. They will be available in English in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

“We recognize that parents already have a lot on their plate when it comes to safely navigating the internet with their teens, and we want to provide them with helpful tools and resources that make things easier for them, especially as they think about new technology like AI,” the company said in a post written by Instagram head Adam Mosseri and newly appointed Meta AI head Alexandr Wang.

Earlier this week, Meta said its content and AI experiences for teens will follow a PG-13 movie rating standard and avoid sensitive topics such as extreme violence, nudity and explicit drug use.

The company added that teens are currently only allowed to interact with a limited number of characters who follow age-appropriate content guidelines. Parents can also set time limits for teens’ interactions with AI characters. Earlier this year, Instagram announced it was using AI to identify attempts to circumvent age limits by spoofing their age in the app.

In recent weeks, multiple platforms, including OpenAI, Meta, and YouTube, have released tools and controls aimed at teen safety. These changes come amid growing concerns about the influence from social media over teen mental health and lawsuits against AI companies claiming they played a role in teen suicides.