Meta Introduces New Parental Alerts for Teen Suicide and Self-Harm Conversations

Meta has added new parental safety tools in select global markets. The latest measures are aimed at assisting parents in responding when teens may be at risk of suicide or self-harm. The social media giant will now notify parents who are using Instagram supervision tools if their teen has sensitive conversations related to suicide and self-harm with Meta AI. The company says it is using feedback from mental health clinicians to improve how Meta AI responds to teens' prompts about suicide or self-harm.

Meta Launches New Tools

In a newsroom post on Thursday, Meta announced that it will alert parents when their teens mention suicide or other forms of self-harm with its AI on Instagram and Facebook. The social media giant confirmed that it will share expert resources to help parents approach these conversations with their teens.

These alerts will be available to parents using Instagram supervision tools. It is currently live for users in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Meta says it is looking to bring the feature to more global users by the end of the year.

The company says it worked with parents and experts to understand which AI conversations warrant an alert, "such as those where a teen makes a clear reference to hurting themselves, even if that reference is subtle. We then built a dedicated AI system to identify these conversations".

Meta confirms that chats flagged by Meta AI will be manually reviewed before an alert is sent. If the teen's intent is ambiguous, the company will take a precautionary approach and notify the parent. Meta already sends alerts to supervising parents if their teen repeatedly searches for suicide or self-harm terms on Instagram, and Meta AI already directs them to crisis helplines and encourages them to reach out to a parent or a counsellor.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company also announced that it is developing a feature that will enable it to contact emergency services if a conversation with Meta AI, whether involving a teenager or an adult, indicates that the person may be at imminent risk of self-harm or suicide. The company claims that it made more than 19,000 such referrals globally last year to help first responders perform wellness checks on people who may be at risk of suicide.

Meta said it sought feedback from more than 75 mental health professionals on how Meta AI responds to teens' prompts about suicide and self-harm. It is said to be working with the AI Wellbeing Expert Council, the Suicide and Self-Harm Advisory Group, and Youth Advisors.