Parental AI Chatbot Controls Coming to Instagram in 2023

Meta, the parent company of popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, has announced new parental controls aimed at giving parents more oversight and control over their children’s interactions with AI chatbots. According to Instagram lead Adam Mosseri and Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, these controls will allow parents to prevent their children from engaging with AI chatbots altogether or restrict access to specific characters that they may find inappropriate.

One notable exception to these restrictions is Meta’s AI assistant, which will continue to be available to provide helpful information and educational opportunities with age-appropriate protections in place. The company aims to strike a balance between enabling beneficial AI interactions while ensuring parental peace of mind.

In addition to the control features, Meta will also provide parents with insights into how their children are engaging with AI. While details are scarce, these insights are expected to offer a summary of the topics teens are discussing with AI characters and Meta’s AI assistant. The company hopes that this information will empower parents to have meaningful conversations with their teens about their AI interactions.

Although the new controls won’t be available until early next year and will initially be limited to English-speaking users in select countries, Meta plans to expand them across its platforms in the future. This update represents one of the first major safety enhancements to Meta’s AI chatbots since their introduction on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The move follows another recent update by Meta that restricts the content accessible to teen Instagram accounts to align with a PG-13 rating. These efforts reflect Meta’s commitment to ensuring a safer and more controlled online environment for young users across its platforms.