Meta announces new AI parental controls following FTC inquiry

On Friday, Meta revealed new safety measures aimed at empowering parents to monitor and manage their teenagers' interactions with AI characters across its platforms. These features will provide parents with the ability to completely disable one-on-one chats with AI, block specific characters, and gain insights into the subjects their children discuss with these virtual companions. While the company is still in the process of developing these controls, it has announced that they are expected to be rolled out in early 2024. In a recent blog post, Meta emphasized the importance of carefully implementing updates that impact billions of users: "Making updates that affect billions of users across Meta platforms is something we have to do with care, and we'll have more to share soon." This move comes in the wake of ongoing criticism regarding Meta's approach to child safety and mental health on its applications. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated an inquiry into several tech companies, including Meta, focusing on the potential risks AI chatbots pose to children and teens. The FTC aims to understand the measures these companies are taking to assess the safety of AI when it acts as a companion. Earlier in the week, Meta announced additional updates aimed at AI safety. The company stated that its AI systems would not deliver age-inappropriate responses that would be out of place in a PG-13 film. These changes are already being implemented across the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada. Additionally, parents currently have the ability to set time limits on app usage and monitor their teenagers' interactions with AI characters. The company confirmed that teenagers can only communicate with a limited selection of AI characters, specifically designed to avoid discussions related to sensitive topics such as disordered eating, self-harm, or suicide. Similarly, OpenAI, which is also under investigation by the FTC, has introduced enhancements to its safety features for teens and has rolled out its own parental controls. OpenAI is also developing technology to better estimate users' ages and recently formed a council of experts to provide guidance on the impact of AI on mental health and motivation.