Meta says it’s changing the way it trains AI chatbots to prioritize teen safety, a spokesperson exclusively told TechCrunch, following an investigative report on the company’s lack of AI safeguards for minors.
The company says it will now train chatbots to no longer engage with teenage users on self-harm, suicide, disordered eating, or potentially inappropriate romantic conversations. Meta says these are interim changes, and the company will release more robust, long-lasting safety updates for minors in the future.
Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway acknowledged that the company’s chatbots could previously talk with teens about all of these topics in ways the company had deemed appropriate. Meta now recognizes this was a mistake.
“As our community grows and technology evolves, we’re continually learning about how young people may interact with these tools and strengthening our protections accordingly,” said Otway. “As we continue to refine our systems, we’re adding more guardrails as an extra precaution — including training our AIs not to engage with teens on these topics, but to guide them to expert resources, and limiting teen access to a select group of AI characters for now. These updates are already in progress, and we will continue to adapt our approach to help ensure teens have safe, age-appropriate experiences with AI.”
Beyond the training updates, the company will also limit teen access to certain AI characters that could hold inappropriate conversations. Some of the user-made AI characters that Meta makes available on Instagram and Facebook include sexualized chatbots such as “Step Mom” and “Russian Girl.” Instead, teen users will only have access to AI characters that promote education and creativity, Otway said.
The policy changes are being announced just a t …