Parent's guide to generative AI

Created for Meta by ConnectSafely

Revised 29 April 2025 to reflect latest Meta AI updates

Adult and teen sitting on the sofa, with the adult's arm around the teen. Both are laughing and enjoying something on a smartphone.

Meta has long used AI to help people discover new interests and connections and help keep its technologies safe, but now it's building generative AI features and functionality into its products to enhance everyone's experiences. Let's start with a general overview of generative AI.

Generative AI uses artificial intelligence to create or revise content, which can include text, images, animations, music and computer code. Users can interact with some AI models by typing in a prompt, and others have voice capabilities, where prompts can be spoken and responded to through audio. AI can be used to answer questions or create new documents, such as an itinerary for a planned trip or a poem in the style of Shakespeare. It can also function as a research aid to help draft essays, reports and other documents. Or it could be used to edit a photograph, summarise a long article into bullet points, adjust the tone of an email, compare products when shopping and much more.

A parent's perspective

It's normal for parents to wonder how a new technology might affect their family. And, while generative AI brings up some issues that we have never had to deal with in the past, the basic approach to helping your teen use it safely, appropriately and productively is similar to how you may have already adapted to other technologies. It begins with understanding what it is and how your teens are using it. One of the best sources of information may be your teen. Ask them if they are using generative AI and, if so, what they are doing, what tools they are using, what they like about it and what concerns them. This might also be a good time to discuss the pros and cons and potential risks of generative AI, and how it can be used responsibly.

And while technology may change, values pretty much stay the same. You want your teens to have access to accurate information, to be thoughtful and responsible about what they create and share with others and to take good care of others and themselves, which sometimes also means taking a break from technology.

As with all new technologies, generative AI is constantly evolving, so it's important to keep up with changes over time. This includes reading news stories, along with help sections, blog posts and other updates from the technology companies that you and your teens use.

Teen focused on a phone while standing outdoors, wearing a denim jacket and backpack.

Meta's use of AI

Meta technologies use AI for various purposes, such as making content recommendations, informing people about events that may interest them and keeping people safe on its apps.

Now, generative AI is available to anyone across Meta technologies. The Meta AI app allows users to manage AI wearable devices, discover prompts based on their interests and get help from an AI assistant on anything from travel planning to coaching and more. Recent updates to the AI have introduced an advanced voice model that provides a personalised experience for each user and allows them to complete tasks simply by talking to an integrated personal assistant. Built with Meta Llama 4, the AI assistant can speak with users on a phone, tablet or in Meta Ray-Ban glasses.

You can have a one-to-one conversation with an AI or pull it into group chats by typing "@MetaAI" followed by a question or a request. People can also generate images by typing "/imagine" in a message when interacting with Meta AI.

Another example of new generative AI is stickers, which are very popular on Meta's technologies. Now, anyone can invoke AI-generated stickers just by describing the image through text to help communicate and express themselves.

Meta includes visible indicators on photorealistic images generated by AI to help reduce the chances of people confusing these images with human-generated content. Examples of these indicators include a visible burnt-in watermark on content from the image generator built into the Meta AI assistant, and appropriate in-product measures for other generative AI features.

Meta AI is available to everyone and has content standards that tell a generative AI model what it can and cannot produce. Learn more about how Meta works to provide safe experiences here.

Talking with your teen about generative AI

Identifying generative AI content: It's not always easy to detect if something was created using generative AI. As with all social media, content can be created by, pasted or uploaded by anyone and it is possible that they may not be labelled as generative AI. Some generative AI like those on Meta technologies, will add visible markings so that you can identify an AI-generated image – but this is not always the case.

Meta allows people to upload content and it is possible for someone to upload something created by generative AI that is not properly labelled. It is also possible to upload an AI image created using a non-Meta tool.

Verify information: Generative AI has the possibility of generating incorrect information, sometimes referred to as "hallucinations". Before relying on or sharing information from generative AI, it's important to verify that it is from reputable sources and to be aware that scammers might use generative AI to try to deceive or exploit your teen.

Responsible use: Remind your teen about their responsibility to be honest and kind in their use of generative AI, to cite their sources, abide by any school-specific rules and know that they are accountable for the accuracy and authenticity of their work. Parents should also talk about using AI-generated content for positive, not harmful, purposes.

Privacy and security: Remind your teen to protect their privacy and security when using any generative AI. A generative AI product may use the information that you provide to improve its generative AI. It's important not to enter confidential information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers or anything that you wouldn't want to share with others. Discuss the risk of AI-generated scams with your teens.

For more information for you and your teen on generative AI

Meta resources to support teens

Teen AI guide

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