In keeping with the spirit of the venture, Generative ai (ChatGPT) edited and refined this post. I did go back for a final read to fix commas and spelling and such.

What are Parenting Dinner and Discussions?

For those who are new to this, here’s a quick rundown of what these dinners entail and how they operate.

My husband and I distributed a Google doc to a large group of friends whose parenting experiences intersect with ours in some way. We selected four topics that we deemed challenging in contemporary parenting: politics, sex and pornography, race, and AI. Each dinner party could accommodate 8 guests along with my husband and me, making a total of 10 around the table. We provided dates and topics, and people signed up based on their availability and interest. The AI dinner marked the conclusion of this semester’s gatherings. We intend to take a break for the summer and resume next school year.

Who Was There?

While most attendees had 4th-grade children, the age range spanned from elementary school to college. Since not everyone at the table was well acquainted, we broke the ice by sharing the first technology that significantly impacted our lives when we were young. Examples included Nokia phones, Speak and Spells, Yellow Walkmans, printers with hole-dotted edges, HP computers, AOL dial-up, car phones in bags, and Google Maps.

Didn’t reading that list just hit your nostalgia button? We had a good laugh as we reminisced about how much life has changed over the years.

What Did We Talk About?

As we delved into the topic of generative AI, our discussions touched upon various aspects:

We discussed cheating scandals in college and how this generation serves as the guinea pigs for new technology, facing potential negative impacts on their lives. Some of us likened the situation to the introduction of calculators, which initially caused concern but ultimately led to positive outcomes once adjustments were made.

Conversely, some expressed concerns about the potential negative consequences of generative AI, such as its impact on professions like radiology and the future of travel agents.

On the positive side, we recognized the efficiency gains brought about by AI, pondering whether we preferred free B+ level work from AI or paying humans for A+ quality work, and how tasks that used to take weeks can now be completed in minutes.

We discussed the influence of AI on the job market, including the practice of tailoring resumes using generative AI to match specific job descriptions, highlighting the importance of adapting to technological advancements.

Privacy and legal concerns were also raised, with anecdotes shared about AI errors in legal briefs, underscoring the fallibility of AI systems.

What about AI and Parenting?

Regarding parenting, we emphasized the importance of educating children about how generative AI works, its potential impacts, and ethical considerations. We also discussed the value of human connection and the potential consequences of excessive reliance on technology for tasks that traditionally required human interaction.

Furthermore, we contemplated the psychological effects of growing up in an era where discerning truth online becomes increasingly challenging.

Key takeaways for parenting included teaching children about the workings of generative AI, fostering resilience in the face of technological advancements, and considering the potential pitfalls of AI integration with social media.

After the dinner, I left with a desire to delve deeper into understanding generative AI and how to introduce it to my children responsibly, sparking conversations about safety, ethics, and appropriate usage.

What are your thoughts? What aspects of this conversation resonate with you?

Looking forward to reconvening in August!

---

For those of you who are interested, here is what I wrote originally in order to feed it into ChatGPT. I copied and pasted this whole essay below into chatGPT, and my prompt was: “take this post, and keep the voice, but make sure it has no grammatical errors. Make the sentence fluency more smooth, and give examples if there need to be some.” From copy and paste to hitting enter, the piece above generated in about 5 seconds. #mindblown

My Original Piece (if you want to compare)

So, before we begin, for newer readers, a quick explanation if what these dinners are and how they work. 

My husband and I sent out a Google doc to a large group of friends whose parenting intersects with ours in some way. We chose four topics that we thought were tricky when it came to parenting today- politics, sex and pornography, race and finally, AI. Each dinner party could host 8 guests plus my husband and me for a total of 10 around the table. We gave dates and topics and then people signed up based on availability and interest. This AI dinner was the last of this semester. We plan to take a break for summer and then begin again next school year. 

Most of the folks at the table had 4th grade children, but ages ranged from elementary to college. Not everyone at the table knew each other well, so we broke the ice by sharing the first technology we remember really shaping our lives as young people. Nokia phone. Speak and spell. Yellow Walkman. Printer with hole-dotted edges you had to rip off. HP computer. AOL dial up. The car phone in a bag. Google maps. Napster. 

Gosh, didn’t reading that list just strike your nostalgia button? We laughed so hard opening up the conversation reminiscing about how much life has changed already. 

As we dove into generative AI, we talked about the following:

Cheating scandals in college and how this first generation is the Guinea pig- just like with every new technology, the first generation is the sacrificial one, some of whose lives will be seriously negatively impacted by the technology. 

Schools are having a really hard time with students cheating. So much so that they have gone back to handwriting essays in class. We joked that our kids never learned proper pencil grip or handwriting well because we all thought they would be typing soon. And forget about spelling. 

Some of us thought generative ai may have an impact similar to that of the calculator. A big deal at first, but once everyone realized the world would not end when people stopped being able to calculate in their heads and math teachers finally got around to changing their tests, things all worked out for the best. 

On the flip side, some of us waxed more towards doomsday, with one friend sharing how her son had wanted to be a radiologist, that is until he heard that generative AI was able to catch problems at 85-95% as well as humans can. 

We bemoaned the future livelihoods of travel agents, as many of us told stories about how ChatGPT can give excellent itineraries. 

In the plus side, efficiency won, with people thinking about whether you wanted free B+ level work from AI or whether you wanted to pay a human for A+ work. And what used to take you two weeks now takes 8 minutes. 

I learned about the power AI is already having over the job market- that people run their resumes through generative AI with a prompt to tweak it to the specific job they want at the specific company- and that if people don’t make use of this; their resumes won’t have the appropriate “word matches” and will be rejected by the first resume reader at some companies- a computer! 

When it comes to privacy and the law- there seemed to be some hesitation and rightful concern around what is the best use of tools like these. One friend shared a story about a brief that someone wrote using ChatGPT, and the AI botched the case law. So the fallibility of AI came up a good bit. 

As we started to think about our children, one interesting point came up. Because AI is so quickly getting good at imitating reality, there is an untethering of truth we see online. Will our children stop trusting anything they see online- image, video, news story- because it could be completely made up and be so realistic that it is impossible or to tell? 

We discussed the psychological effects of what may happen to this generation as the truth seems to become even trickier to find online. 

Some key take aways for parenting included:

• Teaching kids how generative ai works- what does ChatGPT pull from? Who is writing the algorithms that these codes use? What are the ways that the algorithms can impact their work?  How can it hallucinate? What happens to what you put into it? What about creative rights? What about ethics and citing? What is public and what is private? How might using it go sideways? 

• We talked about the power of human connection and how generative ai could be just one more tool that tethers us to our computers and keeps us from acknowledging others. If AI can edit my paper; what do I need my teachers office hours for? If I can ask ChatGPT, why would I need the older mentors at the firm? 

• There is a sense of purpose and meaning that comes from experiencing struggle. Er wondered, would our kids be worse off in character because things will be too easy for them with technology? Will they ever have to wait for information or work to be done, or will everything be instantaneous? Some coaches have talked about how athletes lack grit on the field or court. They may know the game from playing video games, but the reality requires a toughness that the on screen experience can never provide. How can we continue to foster that character which comes from struggle in our children?

• And finally we dove into the cesspool of what may be when generative AI links up with social media and teenage brains. Not much good seemed like it could come from that match up.

And so, what did I leave with after that dinner? Certainly a desire to know more about how generative AI works, and how I can start playing with it with my kids – supervising them- so that we can have conversations about safety, ethics, and when is the appropriate time to use it. 

What do you think? What from this conversation sticks out to you? 

Cheers until August! 

P