An extra hour to catch up on AI and parenthood
And a brief word about a bunch of words (Biden's new A.I. executive order)
Biden’s White House released an executive order last week all about artificial intelligence. They’ve been promising that it was coming for months. (And months and months.)
When it arrived last Monday morning, reporters went scrambling for “expert” commentary on the order A.S.A.P.
“What does this mean for American businesses?” they asked. “What about individual Americans?”
There are very few “experts” in this field — and some argue none at all. It’s too new. Everyone is still learning. No one went to school to learn this. No one has become on expert on the job. Looking for an expert in A.I. is like looking for an expert in internet. (Anyone else catching Ken’s “My job is beach” vibes here?)
What does it mean for American businesses and individual people? Honestly not much. The overly broad (“sweeping” as they all like to say) piece has no action items and no specificity. As is the norm for massive government movement, it took a very, very long time for them to say… nothing.
Reading through the fact sheet and scanning the actual order, one thing is clear. They think A.I. has the potential do a lot good and a lot of bad and everything in between.
So, in honor of taking a long time to say nothing new about something no one really knows about and taking both sides… Let’s use this week’s post to recap all the A.I. Parenthood posts we’ve done so far.
I know you have an extra hour today. Use it to catch up!
Timelines: How long are we talking here?
When is A.I. coming? The short answer: It’s already here. But you didn't come here for that.Thanks for reading AI Parenthood! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The real answer: No one knows the timeline for any of the predictions, assumptions, and guesses that A.I. “experts” spout every day.
Homework and A.I. Is it cheating?
We’ve all heard the hype now. “Simply type a question into ChatGPT, and you’ll get back an entire paper to turn in at school (or work!)” Is that cheating? Well, yes. But no. Or should it be? Does it even matter? One quick scroll through any parenting group online, and you’re sure to find this question with a barrage of passionate YES! cries and NO! rebutt…
Is AI creating childhood mistakes that last forever?
Think of a time you made a mistake as a kid. Made a bad choice, said something you didn’t mean, did something impulsively, then regretted it immediately. Or regretted it years down the road. A few things probably come to mind. But probably not many. It’s hard to remember that long ago and if it’s something you’d rather forget, maybe you did.
Will our kids work less in the age of A.I.?
It’s easy to jump to dystopia when imagining a future in the age of A.I. In fact, many of today’s current experts in the field do so openly and make major waves when they do. The long-timeline worry is that some sort of A.I. will become smart enough and capable enough to act — without humans — to do wrong. The short-timeline worry is that
Companionship through A.I.
Both of my grandmothers would make incredible A.I. companions. I’d use one for everyday, down-and-dirty, big family tips. She had TWELVE kids. So, I’m sure there are things she’d teach me if she were here, and I have no doubt it would be delivered with a healthy dose of no-nonsense, no-pity pluck.