"A few weeks before my daughter's fourth birthday, I stumbled across an AI party planner called CelebrateAlly. "Looking to plan a themed party, a surprise bash, or just a relaxed get-together?" read a banner on its website, which promised that the app would take care of "all the details-themes, activities, and decorations." It also offered to write birthday cards, "capturing your heartfelt sentiments beautifully!""
"The offer had a certain appeal. I was overwhelmed, entering the phase of planning where I actually had to execute on my daughter's vision for her bash. We'd been talking about the party for months, and her requests were specific yet constantly changing. (She wanted a unicorn cake-no, a unicorn piñata; to invite only her cousins-then a few of her friends too, and then all of the kids on our block.)"
Parents encounter a growing array of AI parenting tools promising to handle logistics, personalize messages, and provide emotional support for children. A parent considered an AI party planner that would manage themes, activities, decorations, and write birthday cards, but declined to preserve intimate, evolving conversations that reveal the child's current self. Social feeds increasingly promote similar products, including a Lunchbox Notes Translator, AI-guided storytelling, apps claiming to help raise healthy kids, and a $300 AI robot designed to soothe children at night. Automation of expressive tasks raises concerns about outsourcing emotional labor and eroding direct parental engagement.
Read at The Atlantic
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