Lazy Parents Are Giving Their Toddlers ChatGPT on Voice Mode to Keep Them Entertained

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Our society has only recently come to terms with the fact that maybe placating young children by getting them hooked on touchscreen devices with unfettered access to the internet was bad for their brains.

Now, with the rise of human-like AI chatbots, a generation of “iPad babies” could seem almost quaint: some parents are now encouraging their kids to talk with AI models, sometimes for hours on end, The Guardian reports. Others are using the soothing voice of a chatbot to put their kids to bed — all evidence of how this experimental technology has become a part of many people’s daily lives, despite major questions about how the tech affects our mental health.

On Reddit, one tired father named Josh admitted that he gave his preschooler his phone to let him talk to ChatGPT’s Voice Mode.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/parents-toddlers-chatgpt-voice-mode

 

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Devil's advocate - How is this different from having Books -> Radio -> LiveTV -> VHS/DVD -> Video Games -> Streaming -> Internet -> Internet Apps baby sitting.

Pressures of parent hood cause some to take short cuts. Especially (at least in modern US/Western Culture) you now need 2 incomes to have a chance (not guaranteed) at middle class where in the past,  you only (generally speaking) needed one bread winner.

(Edit) Can't believe I forgot video games.

In order to be truly successful it's not a black and white situation, it can't be 100% on the parents, parents do have a responsibility, but you need government intervention (valid debate on how much) on some level since some companies are not going to policy themselves. 

Now for perspective, I'm a Gen-X kid, transition from analog to digital growing up. I do have a lot memories of "go out and play & be home before dark" and rooming the neighborhood unsupervised while finding stuff to do with friends my age in neighbor hood. No smart phones and internet was dial-up only. That being said, parents knew each others phone numbers (at least where I lived) and had this minimal co-parenting situation going on. At least on a very minimal making sure no one was injured.