Meta announced on Thursday that parents using its supervision tools can now view the topics their teenager has asked Meta AI about over the past week on Facebook, Messenger or Instagram.
Within the supervision area, parents will find a new “Insights” tab that displays the subjects their teen has been talking about with the AI chatbot. According to Meta, topics can include things like “School,” “Entertainment,” and “Lifestyle,” as well as “Travel,” “Writing,” and “Health and Wellbeing.”
To view the subcategories that fall under each issue, parents can choose one. For instance, “Lifestyle” includes cuisine, clothes, and holidays, but “Health and Wellbeing” includes physical and mental health as well as fitness.
The update will be released worldwide in the upcoming weeks and is currently accessible in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Brazil.
When Meta announced in October that it was creating new tools to assist parents in guiding their teenagers through AI, it gave a sneak peek at these insights.
Parents could have disabled or blocked access to particular AI characters using other technical mechanisms. However, in January, Meta stopped allowing teenagers to use its AI characters on all of its apps worldwide, stating that it will create an upgraded version just for teenagers.
For those who don’t know, Meta AI characters are interactive AI personas with unique personalities that users may interact with as though they were actual individuals playing particular roles, like a chef, or as well-known celebrities, like Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg.
Days before a lawsuit accusing the social media behemoth of failing to protect kids on its services was scheduled to go to trial in New Mexico, Meta suspended teens’ access to these avatars. In the end, Meta lost the case, making it the first time a court has found the business accountable for jeopardising children’s safety.
That case is just one of the numerous kid safety lawsuits that Meta and other large tech corporations are dealing with. It’s not shocking that Meta blocked access to the AI characters and that it’s now trying to let parents know what their child is talking about with Meta AI, given the timing.
Additionally, Meta said on Wednesday that it is providing parents with some discussion starters to assist them discuss their adolescents’ experiences with AI in an honest and judgment-free manner. In order to influence the creation of its AI products for teenagers, the business also claims to be establishing a new AI Wellbeing Expert Council.
