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

[Ellis12]

I’ve been experimenting with AI tools recently (like ChatGPT and others), and it’s honestly been a game-changer for managing household stuff, helping with schoolwork, meal plans, even emotional support during tough days.

But it got me thinking are we at the start of something huge? Will AI end up changing how we raise our children, do our jobs, and even build relationships? AIBU to feel both excited and a bit nervous about how fast it's all happening?

Curious what others think, especially parents juggling a million things!

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.

@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.

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

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

scary

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.

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

I love the ready meals quote.

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?

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

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).

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

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

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

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

It could be the end of Mumsnet. You could run half the questions on this site through ChatGPT and get a much more concise and friendly answer in a fraction of the time.

Have just read The Family Experiment by John Marrs which is Big Brother show meets The Handmaids Tale. It's been an interesting and thought provoking read into how society and parenthood is manipulated by social media and AI. Tbh my own early experiences of parenthood (pre mobile phone) were very hands on compared to the authors imagined future of parenting.

This!!

@IthasYesso AI will soon be dominating and controlling the human race, as humans will be far less intelligent than AI?

Yes, I believe it will change everything as much as the internet did

@Jessica167353 I think there is already less going on in Mumsnet because of Chat GPT. People who don't want to risk being piled on or ridiculed, or who are shy will likely be using it instead.

That’s interesting. I’m noticing I'm
no longer bothering with lots of online interactions that are Ai generated or if I suspect they are Ai generated. Whats the point, it’s nonsense.

”No intelligent species allows itself to be ruled by a less intelligent species”

But surely the people creating AI must have concerns about this?

You’d think. Some have spoken out & said it’s all very unwise. A future ‘Skynet’ scenario seems scarily plausible.

Hope you don’t drive.