As many countries are banning social media for kids left and right, Meta is making various efforts to convince parents that its platforms are safe for teens. In its latest effort, the company will start showing parents the topics their teens have discussed over the past seven days with Meta AI.
“Parents will be able to see the topics their teens are asking about in Meta AI [Facebook, Messenger or Instagram] Over the past week,” Meta said in a blog post. “Topics can range from school, entertainment and lifestyle to travel, writing and health and wellbeing.”
For parents overseeing Meta’s teen accounts, the feature will appear in a new Insights tab within Supervision both in-app and on the web. Parents can tap on a topic to see different categories within each topic: for example, sub-categories within Lifestyle include fashion, food, and vacations, while fitness, physical health, and mental health are part of the Health & Wellness topic.
Meta also worked with the Cyberbullying Research Center to develop what it calls “conversation starters” or open conversations about their experience with AI. It provides details about what the questions are designed for, and can be found on the Family Center website or via a link in the new Insights tab.
Finally, Meta revealed more about its AI Wellbeing Expert Council, which will provide “ongoing input on our AI experience for teens.” It will be composed of three existing advisory groups, as well as new members with particular expertise in responsible and ethical AI, who are affiliated with the National Suicide Prevention Council and several universities. It’s worth noting that Meta has a separate oversight board that deals with topics ranging from AI to moderation.
Offboarding moderation tasks for busy parents seems to be par for the course for meta these days. According to recent reports, the company has recently cut back on the use of third-party vendors that help with content moderation, and has instead shifted the responsibility onto advanced AI systems.
The dangers of AI for teenagers are one of the many reasons why countries like Spain have banned social media platforms for children. One of the most recent and tragic cases was in Canada, where a teenager was provided specific details about how to carry out a school shooting by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Another such case is under investigation in Florida, and AI has also been implicated in several teen suicides.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or you can simply dial 988. The Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains List of crisis lines For people outside those countries.
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