Instagram gives parents more control over their teens’ AI use
Meta’s AI is virtually ubiquitous on its platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It can sometimes be useful, and the company encourages its users to interact more frequently with its AI chatbot. This also applies to teenagers and can sometimes backfire. A recent report suggests that minors are having romantic conversations with the chatbot. Meta seems to have found a solution for this.
On Friday, Adam Mosseri, Chief AI Officer and CEO of Instagram, announced new parental controls for the AI chatbot. The new features will be introduced early next year and offer adults various tools. For example, parents can block their children’s access to specific characters or the entire Meta AI.
Instagram sends chat summaries to parents
Parents will also receive summaries of the topics their children discuss with the chatbot. Adam Mosseri didn’t elaborate on how this will work, but Meta will have more to say soon.
Meta isn’t shifting all the responsibility onto parents. Adam Mosseri says the chatbot will continue to provide teens with helpful information and age-appropriate protections.
The new changes and features are rolling out only on Instagram, but there are plans to expand them to other platforms. Parental controls will only be available to English-speaking users in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, at least for now.
