Meta will begin notifying parents when its artificial intelligence chatbot detects that a teenager may be discussing suicide or self-harm, as the company expands safeguards aimed at protecting young users.
The company announced on Thursday that the new feature is now available for families using Instagram’s Parental Supervision tools in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, with a global rollout planned before the end of the year.
According to Meta, the system uses AI to identify conversations in which a teenager makes clear references to self-harm or suicide. Before any notification is sent, the conversation will be manually reviewed to reduce the risk of false alerts.
“We understand how distressing these alerts may be for a parent to receive,” Meta said in a blog post, adding that where a teenager’s intentions are unclear, the company will err on the side of caution by notifying parents.
The new feature builds on existing parental notifications that alert families when teenagers repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm-related content on Instagram. It also complements tools that allow parents to view the topics their teenagers have discussed with Meta AI during the previous week.
Meta also expanded its “Limited Content” setting to cover interactions with its AI chatbot. The feature provides additional protections by restricting a broader range of conversations for teenage users beyond existing safeguards against sexual, romantic and alcohol-related discussions.
In addition, the company said it is developing the capability to contact emergency services when conversations with Meta AI indicate that a user—whether an adult or teenager—may be at immediate risk of suicide or self-harm.
Meta already follows a similar approach when posts on Facebook or Instagram suggest that a user may be in danger. Extending the practice to its AI chatbot comes amid increasing scrutiny from regulators and parents over how AI assistants respond to users experiencing mental health crises, particularly young people.
