Meta introduces new parental tools to monitor teens’ AI chats

Meta has unveiled new parental controls to help monitor how teenagers interact with its AI chatbots, following backlash over reports of inappropriate and overly personal conversations between the chat bots and minors.

This marks one of Meta’s first major safety updates since deploying its AI chatbots across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The update was announced in a joint blog post by Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, and Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang.

The new tools will allow parents to block their children from chatting with AI characters entirely or restrict access to specific ones they find concerning.

Meta’s main AI assistant will remain accessible, though the company said it includes “age-appropriate protections” and aims to provide “helpful information and educational opportunities.”

Notably, parents will also gain limited insight into their teens’ AI usage through summaries of chat topics, giving them a general idea of what their children are discussing with the bots.

The company said that this transparency is meant to help families have “thoughtful conversations about AI interactions.”

However, the new tools won’t roll out until early next year, and only to English-speaking users on Instagram in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.

Meta said it plans to expand the feature across more regions and platforms later.