AIBU to say AI will completely change how we parent and live?

@RayonSunrise I knew there must be a word for it! 😆

The term is “enshittification,” when products and services degrade their customer experience or functionality to hit commercial targets.

It could become very Brave New World with only those with highest IQ - as determined by AI - destined for fast track & certain careers.

The apps that allow you to put child faces into inappropriate adult scenes is horrifying. Who the fuck creates this shit

Haven't read full thread.

I agree with a previous poster and reckon that within the next 5–10 years, ordinary families’ lives will be totally reshaped by AI. I think schools will change drastically - kids will interact with AI through educational software and virtual tutors etc, and they will have personalised lessons and experiences that cater to their individual needs. For example, it's not hard to imagine classrooms becoming more ‘virtual’ with AI adapting lessons in real time to suit individual kids. There will be a lot more emphasis on psychological support too - it won’t be right for everyone but as we saw in a post on this the other day, some people do really value using LLMs as a ’therapist’ and we all know how long it can take to get a CAMHS appt - I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this being brought in as a stopgap, sooner rather than later.

Not saying I'm pleased about this by the way, I think some of the possibilities are scary and I worry about humans' future capacity for creativity, independent thought and being able to... I don't know, just sit and stare into space for 10 minutes without dying from lack of stimuli.

As for the environmental concerns - this is a massive issue right now. The colossal energy demands mean more and more data centres will need to be built but in the medium term (5-10 years) these will become carbon neutral as they will transition to renewable energy. One of the fastest-growing areas in energy tech at the moment is LDES (long duration energy storage) which allows surplus renewable energy to be saved in batteries and then supplied back to the grid when needed. A lot of clever people think LDES is a potential saviour for future energy demands.

That's not to say there'll be no environmental impact obviously, there'll still be serious water concerns and e-waste and the huge amount of raw materials needed to manufacture chips etc. Hopefully AI itself can work out how to significantly reduce the energy required per computation, but it's still going to take a massive concerted effort from humans to transition this.

I think you can't look at this in isolation though, because at the same time, AI is also being used to help solve a lot of other environmental issues like deforestation, making farming more sustainable, improving air quality and ocean plastic levels etc. I don't know if all that will balance out the environmental damage from AI itself. Or how you would even measure that. But I don't think it's as simple to say AI = bad for the environment, if it can simultaneously solve other issues that humans haven't been able to (or would have taken much longer to).

Since it uses huge amount of electricity and water, these developments will simply lead to a faster deterioration in the environment. Yay.

Good description. I think they’ll be a backlash re: no tech teaching for our children’s children. I think they’ll be getting their children dumb phones etc & they’ll be a drive towards paperbacks etc.

I worry we’ll lose the ‘arts’: reading, painting etc. It takes a long time to learn the craft of writing, all devalued if anyone can cheat?

I love the ready meals quote.

They can happily do some locking in IMO if for the good stuff, Encyclopaedia Britannica for 21st C with levels/rewards etc.

I expect it will change a lot, none of which I'm excited about. People need to interact, and need a purpose. There's joy in things like painting a picture or programming a code. If AI does everything what is the point of even living?!?!

I also worry about how easy it will be to spread fake information.

Some friends have used it for a few things that have impacted me, and none of the outputs were as good as a human. It was just lazy.

I don't feel like I need AI for anything. Certainly not emotional support.

I often wish I lived entirely before the internet.

scary

@vinavine exactly. But now 64% of Americans are relying and using only that info.

AI is already the death knell of internet search - saw a recent stat that 64% of searches in the US end without a click - ie Americans do not click to visit websites when they google something. They just use the info provided in the AI snippet at the top.

I've seen inaccurate info & it often lacks nuance in those summaries

@Araminta1003 Emotional intelligence is incredibly important imo.

AI is already the death knell of internet search - saw a recent stat that 64% of searches in the US end without a click - ie Americans do not click to visit websites when they google something. They just use the info provided in the AI snippet at the top.

Who will visit so many of these websites in future? And what if the AI snippet is wrong or biased or both? What about human curiosity to go deeper?

For children it’s going to be important to teach them not to be seduced by the convenience of being fed easy info from AI, because it risks weakling their own intellectual capacities: curiosity, creativity - the muscle power involved in thinking something through and joining the dots.

AI is like ready-meals for the brain.

Not AI related but more of a tech/progression point. I find it so annoying when things go backwards (if that's the right word. Netflix used to be cheap, with no adverts and good content, it was fresh and new. Now you pay and get adverts depending on your package and whilst there is a lot of quantity I'm not sure re quality.

Not for their own kids @vinavine - they will be using AI to teach their kids Mandarin and the piano perfectly etc. It is all doable. My DC are definitely smarter due to screen use and infinite amounts of information available to them. What it is costing them is social skills/real life experiences and physical experiences instead, but not smarts. It is different socialising in person and picking up people’s body language and doing loads of team sports. We are really having to work at the latter and being outside. Because the screens are such a pull.

I think AI will revolutionise things but only in conjunction with advances in robotics. Neither AI nor robotics are at a standard where they can be combined into a realistic humanoid that looks and acts like a real person, but never making an error or getting tired, but it will happen eventually (if the world isn't destroyed first).

When anyone can afford a robot helper that looks and feels like a real person, they will be put to use in doing the jobs that real people don't want to do for low/no pay - looking after children, teaching, looking after the elderly.

There may even become a point where humans make themselves obsolete. A lot of relationships will no longer be necessary or beneficial - you won't need to find an acceptable partner because you will be able to buy the perfect one who gladly submits to your every whim. You won't need the stress or expense of having children when you can buy a robot version that looks, behaves and grows up like a real child.

These things will take decades of course, it's not going to happen overnight. Without the advances in robotics though AI's impact will be limited within the home, other than the fact many more people will be unemployed so most families will be at or below the poverty line.

We need AI to step up and make sure those pesky teens only do good screen use and stop watching mindless sh.. on YouTube/insta etc.

That would be great @Araminta1003 but tech companies probably want them locked in for revenue purposes.

They integrate AI into their compression algorithm and it ends up being so powerful that it cracks every encryption code ever made. So no data would be safe, no privacy, no bank accounts etc.

what do we do then?

I have a relative who uses AI LLM to write her messages to her ex DH about co parenting their children.

It’s a tricky, emotionally complex relationship with children in the mix, and he is very manipulative.

Her ChatGPT account knows the full history of their relationship as well as current challenges - it provides her with well written WhatsApp messages and also feeds her real time replies, as well as giving her coaching and counselling on how to handle these difficult conversations and emotions, with him and with their children. All from the mobile phone in her hand.

What would be great is if AI could police DCs screen use perfectly!
So DC reading on a kindle and actually clicking the unknown word and learning about its etymology, good thing.
My cousin’s dyslexic kid listening to stories instead of reading them and asking about unknown words, great thing.
DS spending hours playing chess against a machine, good thing.

We need AI to step up and make sure those pesky teens only do good screen use and stop watching mindless sh.. on YouTube/insta etc. and those students stop plagiarism and use different forms of AI to critically assess all information and then come up with their own.

I've never used AI and how no idea how to do so.

I can live my life without it so will continue to do so.

It's like having an "Alexa" or similar. I have one built in to my TV but have never used it, yet some younger friends claim they can't live without it.

Agree with this.

I understand that. But at least you’re not using it to create fake dolls of yourself or steal artists’ work!