Meta announced a major update to its parental supervision tools, giving parents more insight into how their teens are interacting with Meta’s AI. Parents can now see the specific topics their teens have discussed over the past seven days on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram with Meta AI. According to the company, the move is part of Meta’s broader effort to make its “teen accounts” safer and more transparent.The update introduces a new “Insights” tab within the existing Overview center. Although parents can’t read exact word-for-word transcripts of their child’s chats, they can view classified details of the conversations. “Parents who use Supervision on Facebook, Messenger or Instagram will now see a new Insights tab within Supervision both in-app and on the web. From there, parents will be able to see the topics their teens have been asking about in the past week to the meta AI in that specific app. Topics can range from school, entertainment and lifestyle to travel, writing and health and wellness, the company said in a blog.The company said that even if Meta AI refuses to answer a question because it is age-inappropriate, the topic will still appear in the parent’s dashboard, ensuring total visibility.

Proactive alerts for sensitive issues

While common topics appear in the dashboard, Meta says it is taking a more aggressive approach to security regarding high-risk topics. The company is developing proactive alerts that will immediately notify parents if a teen attempts to discuss suicide or self-harm with the AI.To ensure these interactions remain safe, Meta also unveiled its AI Wellbeing Expert Council. This group of experts from top universities and suicide prevention organizations will meet regularly with Meta to ensure that the AI ​​remains age-appropriate – similar to the “13+ movie rating” standard.Meta collaborated with the Cyberbullying Research Center to create conversation starters. These are open-ended questions and guides found within the app that are designed to help parents talk to their children about AI in a non-judgmental way.“We understand that AI is a new and evolving technology. These tools help parents approach the topic with confidence,” Meta said.The new AI Insights are available to parents monitoring accounts in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. Meta plans to roll out these features to the rest of the world in the coming weeks.