OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been criticized for recommending that parents use the company’s new ChatGPT Work product to make personalised morning podcasts for their kids on the road to school.
Altman said that the concept is a “cool use case” and that parents would be able to link their family calendars and provide ChatGPT with information about their children’s hobbies.
Then, before school, the AI would create a personalised morning podcast on a variety of subjects like, for example, a soccer game, a birthday party, school events or news stories appropriate to the age.
News of the proposal immediately drew criticism from numerous people online, who believe that technology should augment family life, not overshadow it.
One of the louder voices that spoke out was Gravity Falls founder Alex Hirsch, who replied, “What if you just talk to your kids?
His response received a lot more attention than Altman’s post, with about 122,000 likes and 9,000 reposts, compared to 9,600 likes and 300 reposts on Altman’s post.
The criticism comes in response to the growing concerns over the use of Artificial Intelligence in everyday parenting.
While the majority of users recognized the benefits of AI in a learning environment, they noted that the parent-child dynamics shouldn’t be replaced by technology.
Altman’s comments echo his general sentiment about how AI will impact family life.
On an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he remarked: “I can’t imagine raising a baby without
ChatGPT, but there’ve been parents who did it long before AI was around.”
The controversy follows OpenAI’s ongoing efforts to diversify its product offerings to cater to family needs.The company has recently posted jobs to create AI experiences for parents, and other tech companies, including Meta, are creating AI-powered tools like personalised bedtime story generators.
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