Science & Tech
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Open AI CEO Sam Altman has received pushback online after suggesting ways people could use the company’s new product ChatGPT Work when parenting their kids.
Altman recently took to X/Twitter to suggest that people create podcasts about their children to play on the way to school – and it’s not gone down particularly well with everyone on social media.
Altman said parents could “connect your family calendars and explain your kids’ interests”. He then said that “every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid’s soccer game that afternoon, one kid’s upcoming birthday, some news, etc."
The post was criticised by some, with a viral response from Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch asking: “What if you just talked to your children”?
Other users were also critical of the sentiment.
One wrote: "I am begging everyone to stop outsourcing your brain to robots. Life is worth living only because we feel and control every part of it. Please don't give away your agency."
"Can’t stop thinking about this. Not just bc it’s such an abhorrent idea but also this is THE GUY that’s trying to pitch America on AI writ large and he’s so blind to the public interest he thought this was somehow appealing," a user wrote.
"No, don’t use AI to create a podcast about your kids based on their calendars. Talk to your kids, not to AI," another wrote.
One more added: “Over the next few years you are going to have to fight with everything you’ve got to retain your humanity. They will try to convince you to give up connecting with each other, to give up truly being alive. It will be the most important fight of your whole life.”
"’Cool use case of chatgpt’ and it's just the worst, most dehumanizing idea you've ever heard,” another wrote.
Altman has received pushback for by his approach to parenting using AI before, too. Speaking on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon back in December, he said: “I cannot imagine having gone through figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT.”
Earlier this year, Altman was criticised over comments made about the technology’s energy consumption – comparing it to humans.
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