Meta AI tells parents when teens talk about self-harm

Meta now sends alerts to parents when teens talk about suicide or self-harm with its AI chatbot. The company built a system to spot these conversations, but each flagged chat is checked by a human before any alert goes out. If the intent is unclear, Meta will lean toward notifying parents. A new emergency feature is also in the works, which could contact local services if a user seems at immediate risk. Parents in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada can already get these alerts, with a global rollout expected by end of year. They can also see what topics their teen discussed with Meta AI in the past week. Meta is also tightening content filters for teens, blocking more sensitive topics in both Instagram and Meta AI. For any user—teen or adult—if a conversation suggests possible suicide, Meta will reach out to emergency services. Similar measures already existed on Facebook and Instagram for posts showing suicide risk.