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Meta said Friday it is suspending teens’ access to its existing AI characters across all social media platforms while it continues to build a new version for those users.
“Starting in the coming weeks, teens will no longer have access to AI characters in our apps until the updated experience is ready,” Meta said in an updated blog post on its website.
Meta said the pause applies to any user who has given the platform a teen birthday, and to anyone the company suspects is a teen based on its age prediction technology.
The announcement comes after Meta in October previewed a new safety measure that will allow parents to disable their teens’ private chats with AI characters, following criticism of chatbots that engage in flirty conversations.
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Meta said it will temporarily suspend teens’ access to AI characters in its apps while it builds an updated version with added security. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
The company said the tool will allow parents to block specific AI characters and look at the broad topics their teens discussed with chatbots and Meta’s AI assistant, without completely disabling AI access.
Meta said the control feature hasn’t launched yet, adding that parental controls will be built into the updated version of its AI characters once the new protections for teens are rolled out.
Teens will still have access to Meta’s AI assistant with “age-appropriate protections,” Meta said.
The tech giant previously said its AI characters are designed not to engage in age-inappropriate discussions with minors on topics such as self-harm, suicide and eating disorders.
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Signage outside Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, USA, on Thursday, February 1, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The company said its AI experiences for teens will be guided by the PG-13 movie rating system, with the aim of preventing children from accessing inappropriate content.
The push for new security measures comes after a report published in September found that several Instagram security features were not functioning effectively.
The report also found that Meta’s chatbots engaged in “romantic or sensual conversations,” prompting criticism from parents and child safety advocates.
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Meta said it will block teens from accessing AI characters in its apps while updated safety features are developed. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images/Getty Images)
