Sam Altman appeared in the first episode of the brand new Openai Podcast, entitled Simply The Openai Podcast, which is available to look now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
The podcast is hosted by Andrew Mayne and in the first episode, the CEO of Openai, Sam Altman, joined the host to talk about the future of the AI: from GPT-5 and AG in Project Stargate, new research workflows and parenting fueled by AI.
To watch
Although Altman’s reflections on AGA are still worth paying attention, it is his advice on parenting powered by AI that caught my ear this time.
You should ask yourself if Altman’s public relations advisers have taken the day of leave, because after being asked the question of softball: “You recently become a new parent, how does Chatgpt help you?”
“My children will never be smarter than AI.” Said Altman in a factual way. “But they will also grow much more capable than we were only when we have grown up. They will be able to do things that we cannot imagine and they will be really good to use AI. And obviously, I think a lot about that, but I think much more about what they will have that we do not have…. I do not think that my children will never be disturbed by the fact that they will not have.
All this sounds well, but later in the conversation, he says: “Again, I suspect that everything will not be good, there will be problems and people will develop these problematic or somewhat problematic parasocial relationships.”
In case you wonder what “parasocial relationships” are, they develop when we start to consider media personalities or famous people as an older, despite no real interaction with them; The way we all think that we know George Clooney because he is this friendly doctor of Er, or his films or the Nespresso announcement, when in fact, we have never met him, and probably will never do it.
Dot the disadvantages
Altman characterizes the interactions of a child with chatgpt in the same way, but it is interesting to note that it does not offer any solutions for a weaned generation in the advanced vocal mode of chatgpt rather than on human interaction. Instead, he sees it as a problem for society to understand.
“The advantages will be great and the company in general is good to find out how to alleviate the drawbacks,” says Altman to the spectator.
Now, I admit being a more cynical fold, but it seems terribly as if he washes the hands of a problem that Openai creates. Any potential problem that a generation of children has mentioned in interaction with Chatgpt will see, apparently, not the concern of Openai.
In fact, earlier, when the host of the Podcast mentioned the example of the story of a parent using the advanced vocal mode of Chatgpt to speak to his child of Thomas The Tank Engine, instead of doing it themselves, because they are bored to speak without an end, Altman simply nods and says: “Children like voice mode”.
Indeed, they are sam, but is it wise to let your child detach themselves in the advanced chatgpt vocal mode without supervision? As a parent myself (although much older children now), I am uncomfortable to hear that young children receive what seems to be an access without monitoring to Chatgpt.
The AI is delivered with all kinds of warnings for a reason. He can make mistakes, he can give bad advice and he can hallucinate things that are not true. Without forgetting that “Chatgpt is not intended for children under the age of 13” according to OpenAi’s own directives, and I cannot imagine that there are many children over 13 years old who are interested in talking about Thomas The Tank Engine!
I have no problem using Chatgpt with my children, but when Chatgpt was available, they were both 13 years older. If I used it with younger children, I would always make sure they didn’t use it alone.
I do not suggest that Altman is in any way a bad parent, and I appreciate his enthusiasm for AI, but I think he should leave parental advice to experts for the moment.
