Meta is suspending teen’s access to AI characters until it figures out how to make them safer. The move comes amid growing scrutiny over AI chatbots impacting teens’ mental health, including lawsuits against Character.AI alleging chatbots played a role in teen suicides. The timing isn’t coincidental for Meta either: they’re facing a state trial in New Mexico next week over social media addiction. Teens will still have access to Meta’s general AI assistant, but not the character-based conversations. During the access pause, across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger globally, Meta plans to develop an updated version with built-in parental controls. They say the new version will give age-appropriate responses and stick to topics like education, sports, and hobbies, with parents able to block specific characters or turn off AI chats entirely. (TechCrunch)
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