Facebook-parent Meta has introduced a new monitoring tool which uses its chatbot technology to detect when teenagers discuss self-harm. When a teen suggests that they may be thinking about suicide or self-harm, Meta AI already directs them to crisis helplines and encourages them to reach out to a parent or another trusted adult like a counselor. “Today we’re announcing additional protections to help make sure that, when it comes to sensitive conversations related to suicide and self-harm, we’re responding in the right way. This means acknowledging teens’ feelings while helping them get the offline support they need — whether that’s from a parent, a professional helpline, or the emergency services,” said Meta in a release.How the tool worksThe tool is designed to scan the interactions between teens and Meta’s chatbot for self-harm indicators. If concerning language is detected, the parents will receive an alert via their Meta account enabling them to intervene early. Meta also stressed on the fact that feature is intended to offer families with timely awareness while respecting privacy safeguards. “These alerts are live now for parents using Instagram parental supervision in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, and will be available for supervising parents globally by the end of the year. They build on the alerts we already send supervising parents if their teen repeatedly searches for suicide or self-harm terms on Instagram within a short space of time,” added the company.Alerting the emergency servicesMeta also revealed that it is building the ability to contact emergency services if someone’s conversation — whether an adult or a teen — with Meta AI suggests that they may be at imminent risk of taking their own life. “This builds on the work we already do across Facebook and Instagram: when we become aware of a post suggesting a credible risk of suicide, we alert emergency services. Last year, we made over 19,000 such referrals around the world, helping first responders perform wellness checks on people who may be at risk of suicide,” said the company.Stricter content settingMeta further added that the company is introducing stricter content settings. The company revealed that the teen accounts are automatically placed into a 13+ content setting, which also applies to conversations with Meta AI. In this default 13+ setting, Meta AI is designed to give age-appropriate responses and not comply with sensitive prompts.