Can artificial intelligence help parenting? Toy market executives think so.
Alan Wong, CEO of toy maker VTech Holdings, believes that within just five years, teddy bears could be reading personalized AI stories to children, and humanoid Nannies may be just a few decades away, he said.
Many companies are now offering AI-powered toys, apps, and games for children. Among them is the new robot Moxie, whose maker claims to improve social skills in 71% of his children.
We tested the current state-of-the-art artificial intelligence programs by asking leading bots like ChatGPT and Google Bard to help raise and entertain our 18-month-old son William for a full day (easier to say hard to do) mortals).
I served him meals prepared by the AI and participated in activities suggested by the AI. Afterwards, we relaxed by watching AI-scripted and produced TV and reading children’s books written by AI.
Richard Conway, CEO and founder of UK-based online platform Childcare, told DailyMail.com, “There is no doubt that AI can offer some help in all aspects of parenting and family life. We must not forget that AI is still at that stage.” Early stage.
“Just as using Google for medical advice should be treated with caution, using AI for parenting advice should be treated similarly.
“We should all remember that no matter how good our technology is, there is no substitute for real human professionals and qualified professionals.”
The results were mixed, with William surprisingly enthusiastic about AI entertainment but less certain about other options.
Artificial intelligence story time: Despite the story’s blandness, William was captivated
To see if AI can keep kids entertained, I used ChatGPT to write a short fairy tale. The prompt asked me to tell a story about a friendly wolf.
It begins: “Once upon a time in a beautiful forest filled with tall green trees and colorful flowers, there lived a friendly wolf named Wally.
“Wall-E was unlike any other wolf. He had soft, fluffy fur, bright, twinkling eyes, and a friendly smile that would brighten anyone’s day. Instead of howling at the moon, Wall-E loved to hum cheerful songs.”
Then I brought that text to Midjourney. Midjourney is an application that uses artificial intelligence to generate images based on text prompts.
I was commissioned to create an illustration for a children’s book containing the text “Wally was different from other wolves.”
To me, this “book”, like most AI-generated content, looks pretty compelling, even if the story itself is a little bland.
Midjourney also didn’t have a consistent art style, and for some reason a small child appeared in a second image that never appeared in the story.
I wasn’t overly impressed, but to my surprise, William seemed fascinated from the start and liked the illustrations.
How did the AI recipe come to fruition? The tears are certainly not artificial!
After story time, it was time for breakfast.
Thankfully, both Bard and ChatGPT at Google are happy to come up with suggestions and recipes for toddler meals and treats.
I asked ChatGPT to design ‘Healthy Snacks for 18 Month Old Toddlers’.
I devised a “fruit and yogurt parfait” using Greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, honey and granola.
I had Bot and Bard design other dishes too, many of which seemed more complicated than what I usually make for William, who is usually content with just a few slices of toast or waffles. .
I used a lot of expensive ingredients.
ChatGPT also pointed out the potential dangers of certain ingredients.
For example, it warns that babies under the age of one should not be given honey and that granola should be checked for large chunks that children can choke on.
Despite this, William was not a fan.
As soon as he had a snack, he would turn his nose up, refuse to eat, and immediately burst into tears.
We Laughed Over Breakfast While Watching TV – Written, Directed and Produced by Bott
Can artificial intelligence take over one of the most important jobs in parenting: keeping children quiet?
Using a story previously written by ChatGPT, Pictory, a leading animation production AI app, was used to automatically generate a video using the text as a script.
Pictory is one of many AI video creation tools on the market, primarily aimed at the corporate market.
However, children have a way. In less than 10 minutes, Pictory transformed Wally’s story of the wolf into a video, text on screen, and combined stock his videos of wolves, rabbits, and carrots.
It was a hit, and when the rabbit appeared, William excitedly pointed at my phone screen and said, “Bunny.”
artificial intelligence activities
Both Google Bard and ChatGPT can create an extensive list of activities for kids and I find them really useful on rainy days.
Bird suggested a fun way to improve William’s language skills. He now says a few words like “bird” and “bowl”.
I expanded on Bird’s usual words and said, “The birds are flying.”
He seemed a little insecure, but that’s normal for William.
Byrd also suggested building a “sensory box” full of toys and pasta, which proved successful after an early hiccup when William tried to eat the pasta.
