Forget the Nanny, Check the Chatbot. AI May Soon Help With Parenting

As AI technology advances, it’s natural that startups and big tech names want to profit off the revolution by finding ways to put it into more corners of everyday life. Current examples include applications that help you out at the office, assisting in fighting employee burnout, and in more intimate, subtle scenarios like health care. Now, according to Andreessen Horowitz partner Justine Moore, AI is set to help out with something very “human” indeed: the complex, stressful, heartfelt, wonderful job of being a parent. In a posting on X yesterday, reported by news site TechCrunch, Moore posited an interesting question: “What if parents could tap into 24/7 support that was much more personal and efficient?” The idea is simple, on its face—we’ve been busy loading up all these super-smart AI systems with megatons of real-world data, tapping into it for help making decisions like, “Which marketing campaign should our startup use?” Within all that data is lots of very practical material, too, including advice that may help a stressed-out parent trying to solve a tricky moment with the kids. Unlike friends and family and even many sources of professional human help, an AI assistant is also always available … even when it’s 3 a.m. and your infant has just thrown up all over the nursery. Moore went a step further, TechCrunch noted, highlighting what she called a new “wave of ‘parenting co-pilots’ built with LLMs and agents.” Moore touted the opportunity to develop dedicated family-focused AI tools with specialist knowledge and expertise—specific variants of the large language model (LLM) chatbot tech that we’re all getting used to. She suggested that the upcoming wave of AI agents, which are small AI-powered tools that can perform actions all by themselves in a digital environment, could help too. It’s easy to imagine the usefulness of an AI agent that almost instantly finds a deal on the brand of disposable diapers you like and then have them delivered when you need them. But Moore also highlighted several startups with innovative tech to help with parenting, including Cradlewise, which uses AI connected to a baby monitor to help analyze a baby’s sleep pattern—and even rock the crib. There’s also the opportunity for this sort of AI system to be “always in your corner,” Moore said, ready to just listen to your emotional outbursts, even if they happen just after 3 a.m. while your partner is sleeping and you’re cleaning up baby vomit. Moore’s words may evoke memories of the Eliza program among tech-savvy readers. It’s a bit of a deep cut, but this was developed way back at the end of the 1960s, and was one of the very first chatbots. Primitive as it seems now, Eliza paved the way for lots of much smarter tech that followed it, not least because it was thought by some medical professionals to offer benefits to patients that chatted to it. A 21st-century, parenting-focused AI Eliza could play a role in helping new parents navigate all the challenges of rearing kids. It’s certainly an idea that may be having its moment. In a post on self-described parenting platform Motherly in April, writer Sarah Boland described what she said was an “unpopular opinion,” and noted that she was using AI to help her parent, including for simple things like task planning. And, in May, popular site Lifehacker set out a list of ways AI can help you with parenting jobs. But why should we care specifically about Moore’s social media musings? Firstly, because of whom she works for. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is one of the biggest names in the business, and it’s recently been heralding a “new era” in venture funding with a $7.2 billion fund it’s drawn together. If a partner at a firm like this, which has already shown its positive thinking about AI technology, takes time to highlight a whole new area that a buzzy tech may be set to exploit, it’s worth paying attention. The parenting business is already lucrative—analysis site Statista pegs the parenting mobile app global market alone as likely growing to $900 million by 2030. Though it may seem a “soft” market that’s more about human feelings than high tech, technology has been becoming a part of child-raising for years. If your AI startup is looking for unexpected ways to leverage your innovation, perhaps it’s time to consider how you could help raise the next generation of kids. They’ll be the first to be born into a world where AI is normal. Just be thoughtful and perhaps a little wary. AI tech is not without some risks, especially when it comes to younger or more vulnerable users. BY KIT EATON @KITEATON