What a Year of AI Taught Me About Being a Parent

June 29, 2026 - 19:16

Joanna Stern spent a year testing artificial intelligence in nearly every corner of her life, from drafting emails to planning meals. But the biggest lessons she walked away with had nothing to do with productivity or efficiency. They were about raising her kids.

Stern, a technology columnist, initially dove into the experiment hoping AI would save time and simplify daily tasks. Instead, she found that the technology often highlighted what machines cannot replace. The most obvious lesson was the value of human connection. No chatbot could replicate the messy, unpredictable joy of reading a bedtime story with her daughter, or the patience required to talk through a tantrum. AI could generate a perfect list of activities for a rainy afternoon, but it could not sit on the floor and build a fort.

She also learned to be more skeptical. Her children, like many kids, quickly figured out that AI can sound very convincing even when it is wrong. Stern noticed that relying on AI for homework help or quick answers sometimes made her own critical thinking feel rusty. She started double-checking facts and encouraged her kids to question what they read online, whether it came from a search engine or a language model.

Perhaps the most surprising insight was about real-world experiences. Stern realized that AI's ability to simulate conversations and scenarios did not replace the need for actual, unplugged life. Her children learned more from building a lopsided birdhouse with their hands than from any virtual assistant. The experiment reminded her that parenting is not about optimizing every moment, but about being present for the imperfect ones.

In the end, Stern says AI is a useful tool, but it cannot teach empathy, patience, or the simple lesson that sometimes the best answer is not the fastest one.