Meta Now Requires Mandatory Age Confirmation on Quest Headsets - 1

Meta Now Requires Mandatory Age Confirmation on Quest Headsets

  • Written by Elijah Ugoh Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by

Quest 2 and 3 users must now confirm their age by reentering their birthdays on the Quest platform. Meta announced this update on April 2, stating that it aims to provide the “right experience, settings, and protections for teens and preteens.”

TechCrunch reported earlier in January that Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, had “argued that mobile app store providers like Apple and Google should be the ones to implement parental controls for social media” instead of relying on app developers to deal with the issue.

Meta is now using its Quest Virtual Reality (VR) store to demonstrate Zuckerberg’s argument about how app stores should handle age verification and parental control.

The company says users will be prompted within the next few days to verify their ages, and they have a 30-day window to re-enter their birthdates. Otherwise, their Quest accounts may be temporarily suspended. Meta intends to use 3 age groups to categorize users and ensure everyone gets age-appropriate content.

The new age tier specifications are:

  • Adults (18+) : Adult users will have the option to choose between private or public profiles, exercise control over the visibility of their activity, and manage interactions with followers.
  • Teens (13-17) : Teenage users will have a private profile by default, granting them authority over follower requests and activity visibility. Additionally, parental supervision tools will be made available to ensure enhanced safety.
  • Preteens (10-12) : Preteen users will necessitate parental approval for account setup, accompanied by strict privacy settings and parental control over app access.

Users can rectify previously incorrect birthdates through online verification, either by submitting government-issued ID documents or their credit card details. Meta’s ID acceptance guidelines also allow users to physically cover any non-essential information on their ID before they take a photo of the document.

“On our app store, we want to make it easier for developers to better understand the ages of people who use their apps so they can provide age-appropriate experiences for preteens, teens, and adults. Parents, in turn, can trust that apps are providing the most age-appropriate experience and protections the app offers for their child’s age,” says Meta in the announcement .

IKEA Introduces Home Design AI Assistant in ChatGPT Store - 2

IKEA Introduces Home Design AI Assistant in ChatGPT Store

  • Written by Elijah Ugoh Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by

IKEA has unveiled a generative AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT to help its customers design their homes quickly. Parag Parekh, Chief Digital Officer at IKEA Retail (Ingka Group), told Forbes in an interview that the AI assistant is an easy-to-use alternative to IKEA store visits, which can often be overwhelming.

This is not the first time the global furniture giant has leveraged AI to improve customer experience. It introduced Ikea Kreativ in 2022, a virtual home design app that lets customers visualize and design their living spaces in a mixed-reality environment.

With this new AI deployment, IKEA is setting new standards in home interior designs, making its work easier, and retaining its dominance as a leading player in the home furniture market. Parag Parekh revealed in the Forbes interview that the new generative AI chatbot is currently available to ChatGPT Plus users in the United States and is intended for use alongside IKEA Kreativ.

The chatbot can answer questions about products and purchases and make personalized design suggestions to customers. “If I take a traditional user journey pre the AI era – typically it would be visiting our website … you decide what you really want in your home, and then you put it into the basket, come to our stores to check that out, then you complete the purchase and have it delivered to your home,” Parekh explains.

“Now, come AI … maybe the customer journey is different. You probably aren’t looking at single pieces of furniture, but you’re looking at furnishing your home, bringing that to life. We allow you to actually take a scan of your room and give you an experience of what that furniture would look like,” he added.

Parekh further explains that customers can also interact with the AI to get more ideas about style, color schemes, lighting, and budget. The chatbot functions like a professional interior decorator sitting with the customer, helping them create what they want. It can also erase old furniture and replace it with new items to give users an idea of the final look and feel of their spaces.

But, Some Still Prefer Using IKEA’s Web Catalog

Francesco Marzoni, chief data and analytics officer at Ingka Group, said that he still prefers using the catalogs on the IKEA site, as the GPT assistant “was not a good partner in interior design”, The Verge reported . The Ingka Group operates 379 IKEA stores and 103 IKEA shops in 31 countries.

“I started with the prompt, ‘I need storage ideas for my small living room/bedroom.’ However, instead of showing me some ideas, the Ikea GPT told me to check an article on the IKEA US website and added a photo of a living room for good measure”, says Marzoni.

Marzoni goes on to explain a few more prompts he used that all brought him to essentially the same thing: a list of websites or products linked to a product information page. This “defeated the purpose of having an AI assistant at my fingertips,” he says.

While the tool may not be perfect according to Marzoni’s experience, Parekh explained that a lot of experimentation is still being done, and the IKEA AI assistant will be deployed to other territories outside the US when it’s time.