Meta cuts off teens' access to AI characters amid safety concerns

Meta announced last Friday it is globally pausing teen access to its AI characters across all apps while developing an updated, safer experience. The decision to halt all teen access to the characters comes ahead of a New Mexico trial accusing Meta of failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation on its platforms.

In October, the company had launched parental controls that enabled parents and guardians to monitor and manage teen interactions with AI characters. Earlier this month, Meta had also updated its AI's so they would draw inspiration from movie ratings for ages 13+ when responding to teens. When the new AI characters launch, they will have built-in parental controls, and will be designed to provide teens with age-appropriate responses focused on topics like education, sports, and hobbies.

“Starting in the coming weeks, teens will no longer be able to access AI characters across our apps until the updated experience is ready,” said Meta in its updated blog post. The company also explained that the restriction would apply to users that provided a teen birthday, and to "adult" users suspected to be teens by Meta's age prediction technology.