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!

That's why we'll always need experienced professionals to sanity check the output of AI. Let it take away the drudgery, but still check the output. Just like how professionals like accountants and solicitors use junior staff to actually do the donkey work but always check the end result before signing it off. AI will take over that donkey work, but no sane professional would take AI as gospel without any sanity checking.

The thing we need to remember is that there's no end point. So far as we know, AI will just get cleverer and cleverer and cleverer. If we can make it benign and good, then we could create heaven on earth. If we make it malignant, we'll destroy ourselves. Simple as that. Sooner or later we'll reach the singularity, the tipping point at which AI is cleverer than the cleverest human. But it won't stop there. It will be twice as clever as any human, then four times, then ten times, then a thousand times, and so on.

The only thing we can be 100% sure of is that someone will use it for evil. Putin's first thought will not be "how can I use this new tool to rid the world of mental illness and cancer and poverty?" His first thought will be "how can I use this to dominate Europe and make Russia a superpower."

I use ai for nothing right now and currently have no interest in doing so.
It’s not changing very fast in this household.

@Dappy777 Or the big tech companies will use it to control everyone and the information they have access to, even more than they do now.

Putting so much power in the hands of a few billionaires, at the expense of just about everyone else will never end well.

I think schools are where AI will make radical changes. A lot of those daily tasks you mention don't need to be done by a teacher. You could have "social care" assistants for the "personal" care of the pupils, "assistants" to do the fetching and carrying and cleaning up after lessons etc, "security" workers for discipline and supervision.

That means that schools would need fewer teachers, but those fewer teachers could spend all their working time actually teaching.

Let AI develop individual teaching/learning plans, produce personalised resources, worksheets, homework questions, etc., and then AI can "mark" work done and provide the teacher/parents with detailed, personalised feedback as to achievement and suggestions for improvement, but of course, it can use it's own feedback to produce new resources either to progress to more difficult topics, or if not done well, keep on the same topic but produce different ways to try to teach and garner understanding, until the pupils gets it and can move on.

Teachers can monitor progress, step in when things aren't progressing well to help understanding etc, but also step back for motivated/able pupils who are progressing well enough on their own guided by AI.

It's nonsense that teachers can spend most of their day not actually "teaching" but spending their time on discipline, personal care, social care, etc., and what little time left on planning and marking and administration.

@Badbadbunny Unfortunately source and fact checking is its own “drudgery.” Right now I can do things as quickly from scratch as I can using AI - the effort just shifts to something different.

@Badbadbunny I would love to spend all of my days teaching and not dealing with behaviour, nappies, toilet training, hoists, medication and first aid, but have to at the moment, as all our TAs have been made redundant.

If AI means we can afford to have me just teaching plus "social care" assistants for the "personal" care of the pupils, "assistants" to do the fetching and carrying and cleaning up after lessons etc, "security" workers for discipline and supervision rather than me doing it all, then bring it on. The budget for all those new members of staff will be vast though.

But you'd need fewer teachers, so costs are swings and roundabouts. Not bad really considering we have shortages of teachers, but not quite so bad shortages of the other kinds of workers where you don't have the same years of training/qualifications and then higher salary expectations.

Thank you everyone for your interesting and informative posts.

There was a thread on here not so long ago about AI and translation, and how it would make translators and interpreters redundant.
My suggestion to confuse AI was:

A) Thank you for standing up for me last night.
B) Thanks a bunch for standing me up last night.

I guess it won’t be long before it can tell the difference - maybe it can already.

I do think it's important not to forget the good stuff. I have been listening to AI experts on youtube this week, and some of their predictions are mind-blowing. One said that AI could halt and even reverse human ageing within ten years. According to him, by the late 2030s you'll have people in their 50s who look like 20-somethings. Another said AI could cure most human disease within ten years. Even Jeffrey Hinton, the nobel prize winner, thinks AI could cure human illness and disease within 25 years!! Right now (apparently) it takes up to ten years to develop a new drug. AI, so I'm told, could cut that to months, and then weeks, and then days. And it won't just develop drugs to cure stuff. Imagine a drug that makes you blissfully happy, or limitlessly creative, or gives you eight hours of perfect sleep, or whatever, and has zero side effects.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I completely agree AI should never replace real human connection, especially with our kids. I was thinking more about how AI can support us as parents behind the scenes organizing routines, suggesting activities, or even helping manage our own stress so we can be more present. It’s not about handing over parenting, but using tools to lighten the load when life gets hectic.

I know what you mean — I’ve been trying AI for little everyday things too, and it really does feel like the start of something bigger. On the one hand, it’s brilliant for quick wins (like turning a fridge full of random ingredients into a meal idea 😅), but on the other hand, it is a bit overwhelming how quickly it’s moving.
I don’t think it will ever replace the human side of parenting (the cuddles, the chaos, the instinct), but if it can take away some of the mental load, I’m all for it. Feels like it’s going to be one of those things we’ll look back on and wonder how we ever managed without.

Wow, this really makes you think about the future! It's wild to imagine a world where knowledge isn't about remembering things anymore. The idea of schools changing so much is pretty mind-blowing. Thanks for sharing these big ideas!

lol me too .