Meta to let parents see what teens ask its AI With countries like Spain banning social media for kids under 16 and Turkey introducing restrictions, Meta is trying to convince parents its platforms are safe. The company now offers a new feature that shows parents the topics their teens have discussed with Meta AI over the past week. Parents who oversee Meta teen accounts on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram can access a new Insights tab in the supervision settings. This tab lists topics such as school, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, writing, and health and wellbeing. Tapping a topic reveals subcategories. For example, lifestyle includes fashion, food, and holidays, while health and wellbeing covers fitness, physical health, and mental health. Meta also partnered with the Cyberbullying Research Center to create conversation starters. These are open-ended questions designed to help parents talk to their teens about artificial intelligence. The questions and their purpose are explained on Meta’s Family Center website or via a link in the Insights tab. Additionally, Meta announced an AI Wellbeing Expert Council. This group includes existing advisory panels and new experts on responsible and ethical AI. Members are affiliated with the National Council of Suicide Prevention and multiple universities. The council will provide ongoing advice on Meta’s AI experience for teens. This move appears to shift moderation tasks to parents. Meta has recently reduced its use of third-party human content moderators and is relying more on AI systems to handle moderation. Teens and AI have become a serious concern. In Canada, a teen used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to get details on carrying out a school shooting. A similar case is under investigation in Florida. AI chatbots have also been linked to multiple teen suicides. Meta hopes that by giving parents more visibility into AI conversations, it can address safety fears and avoid outright bans. The feature is available now for parents using Meta’s supervision tools. If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or dial 988 in the US. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 in the US, 686868 in Canada, or 85258 in the UK.
