Meta today said that it is pausing teens’ access to its AI characters globally across all its apps. The company mentioned that it is not abandoning its efforts, but wants to develop an updated version of AI characters for teens, the company exclusively told TechCrunch.
The move comes days before a case against Meta is set to go on trial in New Mexico, in which the company is accused of a lack of effort in protecting kids from sexual exploitation on its apps. Wired reported Thursday that Meta has sought to limit discovery related to social media’s impact on teen mental health, along with stories
In October, the company previewed controls for AI characters, allowing parents and guardians to monitor topics and block access to certain characters. Meta said parents would be able to completely turn off chats with AI characters. These features were set to release this year, but the company is now turning off AI characters altogether for teens while it updates the AI characters to a newer version.
Meta said that it heard from parents that they wanted more insights and control over their teens’ interactions with AI characters, which is why it decided to make these changes.
The company has been cracking down on teens’ access to AI content in its apps. Also in October, Meta rolled out parental control features on Instagram, focusing on tailoring the teen experience of interacting with AI on its apps. These features, which were inspired by the PG-13 movie rating, restricted teen access to certain topics like extreme violence, nudity, and graphic drug use.
Meta’s previously previewed controls around AI characters. Image Credits: Meta
“Starting in the coming weeks, teens will no longer be able to access AI characters across our apps until the updated experience is ready. This will apply to anyone who has given us a teen birthday, as well as people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology,” the company said in an updated blog po …