Meta Platforms, Inc. announced a new parental control update that allows parents using its supervision tools to view the topics their teens have asked Meta AI about during the past week on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram.
The feature adds a new “Insights” tab inside the supervision hub, where parents can see broad conversation categories their teen discussed with the AI chatbot. These topics may include School, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Travel, Writing, and Health and Wellbeing.
Parents can tap each topic to explore more detailed subcategories. For example, Lifestyle may include fashion, food, and holidays, while Health and Wellbeing may cover fitness, physical health, and mental health.
The update is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, and Brazil, with a wider global rollout planned in the coming weeks.
Meta first introduced these parental insight tools last October, saying it wanted to help parents better understand how teens are interacting with AI. Earlier plans also included options for parents to block access to specific AI characters or disable them entirely.
For users unfamiliar with them, Meta AI characters were interactive chatbot personas designed with unique personalities or celebrity identities. Some examples included chef-style assistants and celebrity-inspired bots based on figures like Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton.
Meta paused teen access to these AI characters globally in January, just before a child safety lawsuit in New Mexico was scheduled for trial. The company later lost the case, marking the first time a court held Meta legally responsible for failing to protect minors online.
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The company also said it is introducing suggested conversation starters for parents to help discuss AI experiences with teens openly and without judgment. In addition, Meta is creating a new AI Wellbeing Expert Council to guide the future development of AI tools for younger users.
