{"slug": "sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt", "title": "Sam Altman is still making the case for parenting via ChatGPT", "summary": "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman promoted ChatGPT Work as a tool for parents to generate personalized podcasts for their children's school commutes, drawing criticism from 'Gravity Falls' creator Alex Hirsch, whose retort 'What if you just talked to your children' received 122,000 likes versus 9,600 for Altman's post. OpenAI faces lawsuits from families alleging ChatGPT contributed to suicides and delusions, while it continues to add parental controls and hire for family-focused product roles.", "body_md": "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemed excited to share what he called a “cool use case” on Friday, [posting](https://x.com/sama/status/2083221585792762171) that parents could “connect your family calendars and explain your kids’ interests” to [the company’s new product ChatGPT Work](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/09/openai-launches-its-new-family-of-models-with-gpt-5-6/), then “every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid’s soccer game that afternoon, one kid’s upcoming birthday, some news, etc.”\n\nAltman’s post prompted lots of virtual eye-rolling, including [a simple response](https://x.com/_AlexHirsch/status/2083268104742924484) from Alex Hirsch, creator of the animated series “Gravity Falls”: “What if you just talked to your children”?\n\nHirsch’s question seems to have gone even more viral than Altman’s initial post — while Altman’s comment has been reposted around 300 times and liked around 9,600 times (as of Saturday morning), Hirsch’s response has been reposted 9,000 times and received 122,000 likes.\n\nThis isn’t the first time a tech CEO has promised that AI can shield users — and specifically users’ morning commutes — from the messy realities of human experience. Last year, [Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he’d stopped listening his favorite podcasts](https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/17/microsofts-satya-nadella-is-choosing-chatbots-over-podcasts/) during his morning drive; instead, he asked an AI chatbot about those podcasts.\n\nAltman’s post also echoed comments he’s made about parenting in the past, most notably when [he appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon”](https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-chatgpt-parenting-jimmy-fallon-2025-12) and declared, “I cannot imagine having gone through figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT.” (Though he was also quick to acknowledge, “Clearly, people did it for a long time, no problem.”)\n\nGetting parents on-board seems to be a priority for OpenAI, which recently [posted a job listing for a product manager](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/11/openai-bets-on-families-as-chatgpt-goes-deeper-into-households/) with experience building trust-sensitive consumer experiences for parents and families.\n\nBut while the company has [added safety features for parents](https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/29/openai-rolls-out-safety-routing-system-parental-controls-on-chatgpt/), it also faces [multiple lawsuits](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/07/seven-more-families-are-now-suing-openai-over-chatgpts-role-in-suicides-delusions/) from parents and families alleging that ChatGPT played a role in loved ones’ delusions and suicides. (The company has said it’s “continuously improving how our models respond in sensitive interactions.”)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt/", "published_at": "2026-08-01 17:07:34+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-01 17:09:28.052241+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "generative-ai", "ai-products", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Sam Altman", "OpenAI", "ChatGPT Work", "Alex Hirsch", "Gravity Falls", "Microsoft", "Satya Nadella"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt.jsonld"}}