ChatGPT and motherhood: Why AI parenting hacks can’t substitute a mum’s intuition or actual help

When a detailed pal returned to work after maternity go away, I texted her to see how she was doing. How was she dealing with juggling full-time work and caring for her firstborn?  

She appeared chirpy and excited, however having gone via the new child haze and (ongoing) struggles of returning to work myself solely a yr in the past, my alarm bells went off.

At my insistence, she confessed: “Well… So I’ve been back to work for a week, and I thought I could manage caring for my baby and working from home, but it turned out to be so freaking hard. And now I feel like a total failure.”

Baffled, I requested her: “Who told you you could work and care for a baby at the same time? Caring for a baby is a whole other job.”

Sheepishly, she replied: “I asked ChatGPT…”

“Chat told me I just need to do this, this, and that, and I’m all set,” she mentioned.

I rang her and for half-hour, she instructed me about all of the issues she relied on ChatGPT for when it got here to coping with new motherhood: Talking about her emotions, ranting about her dad and mom and in-laws, getting ideas for placing her child to mattress (which, she admitted, weren’t all that useful), and now, recommendation on how you can handle work and a child.

CHATGPT LEAVES NO SPACE TO HONE YOUR MUM INSTINCT

My pal will not be alone. Search “ChatGPT motherhood tips”, and also you’ll discover numerous Instagram reels, TikTok movies, mum blogs, and boards, all praising how ChatGPT has been instrumental in serving to moms lighten their psychological load.

And I get it.

Being a mum is overwhelming. There’s caring for the youngsters, managing the home, and juggling different obligations. Even with a supportive, current accomplice, it will probably nonetheless really feel like an excessive amount of.

Hence, enter ChatGPT. The seemingly good companion who offers instantaneous solutions to all of your questions.

It can become your counsellor, pal, or perhaps a pseudo-psychologist. Despite the obvious dangers – legal concerns and even instances of “AI psychosis”, the place customers expertise worsening paranoia or delusions – the enchantment of ChatGPT is plain.