Meta pauses teen access to AI characters

Meta has decided to temporarily halt teens’ access to artificial intelligence characters, as stated in a recent blog post. The company, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, announced that in the “coming weeks,” teens will not be able to access AI characters until an updated experience is ready.

This restriction applies to minors who have provided their birthday to Meta, as well as individuals who claim to be adults but are suspected to be teens based on age prediction technology.

This decision comes ahead of Meta, TikTok, and YouTube standing trial in Los Angeles for the potential harms of their apps on children.

Despite this restriction, teens will still be able to access Meta’s AI assistant, just not the characters.

Concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence conversations on children have led other companies to also ban teens from AI chatbots.

Character.AI had announced a similar ban last fall and is currently facing lawsuits related to child safety.

One of the lawsuits involves a mother suing the company over allegations that their chatbots influenced her teenage son to take his own life.