AI in the home: From grocery lists to spelling drills
Artificial intelligence has become a polarizing subject when it comes to how it affects the future of work. The debate often grows more intense as it becomes more personal. Last week, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, faced backlash after suggesting that parents could use ChatGPT to generate a podcast about multiple topics—like a child’s soccer game in the afternoon, an upcoming birthday, and current events—during a car ride to school. This idea sparked a wave of criticism from users on X, many of whom asked a simple question: Why not just talk to your kids? While some parents express concerns about growing too dependent on AI, others see it as a useful resource to manage their hectic schedules and packed to-do lists. Some also use it to help tackle more specific parenting issues, such as addressing developmental milestones or improving children's academic performance. To better understand the real-world applications, Business Insider spoke with eight parents about how they use AI to balance their work and family lives, finding that it helps them be more present with their children.
Hope Denton, a 35-year-old mother living in Indiana, is juggling life with three children, ages 6, 13, and 15, while also working remotely in content writing, running a photography business, taking on freelance writing, managing contract projects, and participating in volunteer work. To keep track of everything, she brain-dumps her thoughts into ChatGPT each night. Instead of winding down for sleep, she reviews her mental list of tasks that include work deadlines, doctor appointments, sports practices, cooking dinner, doing laundry, and responding to emails, all while worrying about forgetting things by morning. ChatGPT organizes her priorities, showing her the most efficient way to tackle each task and identifying what can be postponed. This process gives Denton the clarity she needs to rest and spend quality time with her children.
Beyond daily tasks, Denton also uses ChatGPT to plan complex family events. For example, when planning a week-long road trip through Arizona, the AI suggested the best driving routes to avoid backtracking. This helped her manage the trip more efficiently and save time for other responsibilities. According to Denton, ChatGPT is not about delegating all the work but about giving her brain a chance to breathe when her schedule feels overwhelming. It helps her stop fixating on the finish line and instead take that crucial first step toward completing her to-do list.
Automating the routine: Grocery lists and schedules
Hally Peck, a chief marketing officer at Addition Wealth in New York in her 30s, has found a different way to use AI in her parenting. She previously shared with Business Insider that while setting up some AI prompts can take time, automating certain life tasks has given her more weekend time with her children, which she considers a major win. For example, she spends 10 minutes each Sunday programming an AI agent through Perplexity to order groceries based on her family's favorite brands. The system also flags items that are out of stock, making it easier for her to avoid spending extra time comparing products.
Peck has also created an AI agent to automatically fill out forms and sign her children up for activities like summer camp. In addition, she uses Claude, another AI tool, to synchronize everyone’s schedules into one family Google calendar. The tool identifies possible conflicts and streamlines planning. While she appreciates the efficiency AI brings, she acknowledges that setting up these systems requires effort to achieve the desired output. She hopes to create even more AI agents in the future to further automate household tasks, but she remains realistic about the work required to make AI systems effective.
AI in education: Custom tutors for spelling and math
Christopher Domanski, a 41-year-old father from California, works as a director of business management and development at a manufacturing facility. He often finds it difficult to balance work with the other demands of being a parent. To help manage his time better, he has embraced AI tools. When he noticed his daughters, who are 6 and 8 years old, had some gaps in their academic progress, he created custom, voice-activated ChatGPT tutors that quiz them regularly on spelling and math. These AI tutors adapt to each child’s learning pace and help them understand the subject material more deeply.
In addition to academic support, Domanski uses ChatGPT to digitize paper handouts from school. Every week, he takes photos of flyers and permission slips and uploads them to ChatGPT, which extracts key dates and action items. He then transfers this information into a Microsoft Outlook calendar. This reduces the time he spends on administrative tasks, letting him focus more on the parts of parenting that truly require a parent’s attention. For Domanski, the goal is not for AI to replace his role as a parent or teacher, but to cut down on repetitive, time-consuming chores.