As technology advances and chat bots become increasingly impressive, I feel like it’s VITAL to reiterate, as often as possible, that these large language models don’t KNOW things.

It’s not a brain in a jar or some cosmic librarian. It’s a word calculator. A sophisticated one, but still, all it’s doing is combining words in ways that seem mathematically likely to be what the user wants to see.

That’s why AI inquiries famously get things wrong a lot. They don’t know what truth is. They can just sort of guess what truth might look like.

For some tasks, that’s probably plenty. But for others?

Well, take the case of TikTok user @heylilianschmidt:

“4 months ago,” reads the caption, “I was so fed up with carrying the entire mental load alone. So I turned ChatGPT into my co-parent and here’s what happened.”

She elaborates in the description:

“The prompt that made my mom life 10x easier👇

As a full-time working toddler mom, life moves FAST. And even with a loving, supportive partner I still often feel like the default parent.

Because the mental load? Mostly mine.

Four months ago, I hit a breaking point and was like: „Wouldn’t it be nice for a change if I could just turn my brain off and say things like:

‘What’s for dinner?’
‘What should we get Emma for her birthday?’
‘Just tell me what I need to pack for daycare and I’ll do it’
‘Oh there’s no grocery list yet? How will I know what to buy?’

That day, I turned ChatGPT into my co-parent – and my life got 10x easier.

Now, ChatGPT…

🥘 plans a week of healthy meals my kids will actually eat
🛒 writes the grocery list – sorted by aisle
🎁 finds the perfect birthday gift AND helps me write the card
🎒 creates daycare and travel packing lists I can just tick off
🧘‍♀️ lets me finally turn my brain OFF for a minute and breeeeeathe 😮‍💨”

Now some of that seems normal enough. A weekly meal plan, with corresponding grocery list? Sure, GPT can probably handle that decently well.

Other elements are questionable. A bot is very unlikely to match exactly what YOU need for daycare, or travel. It doesn’t know anything about you or your kids, and, importantly, it doesn’t retain information between sessions, which means the next time you sit down to ask it about these things, you’re starting with a clean slate – maybe even a completely different software model. Consistency is unlikely.

Then we get to the bits that just seem, well, sad? You want a bot that knows nothing about your child to decide what their birthday gift is? To express your love for them by writing a card for you? I feel like there are Black Mirror episodes about this.

@heylilianschmidt

The prompt that made my mom life 10x easier👇 As a full-time working toddler mom, life moves FAST. And even with a loving, supportive partner I still often feel like the default parent. Because the mental load? Mostly mine. Four months ago, I hit a breaking point and was like: „Wouldn’t it be nice for a change if I could just turn my brain off and say things like: „What’s for dinner?“ „What should we get Emma for her birthday?“ „Just tell me what I need to pack for daycare and I’ll do it“ „Oh there’s no grocery list yet? How will I know what to buy?“ That day, I turned ChatGPT into my co-parent – and my life got 10x easier. Now, ChatGPT… 🥘 plans a week of healthy meals my kids will actually eat 🛒 writes the grocery list – sorted by aisle 🎁 finds the perfect birthday gift AND helps me write the card 🎒 creates daycare and travel packing lists I can just tick off 🧘‍♀️ lets me finally turn my brain OFF for a minute and breeeeeathe 😮‍💨 And the best part? Whenever I ask it to something, it just… does. No follow-up questions like „Where do I find that?“ or „Okay, but which one?“ – it just DOES 😅 If you’re drowning in mom life and want a co-parent who never forgets the sunscreen or asks you to write things down, you’ll find the exact prompts in the comments! 🫶 This one’s a game changer, mama ❤️ #coparenting #chatgpt #chatgptformoms #mentalload #workingmom #toddlermom #sahmlife #defaultparent

♬ Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter

I cannot emphasize this enough, ChatGPT is NOT QUALIFIED TO GIVE YOU PSYCHIATRIC HELP.

This is what happens when healthcare is unaffordable.

I mean…if it works, then ok, I guess?

Or you can use it to lie to your children about robot overlords.

Color me…concerned.

If you liked that story, check out this video about a Dollar Store cashier who has had it with customers who argue over $4 products.