Sam Altman suggests parents generate AI podcasts about their kids

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested on X that parents use ChatGPT to generate daily podcasts about their children's activities and interests, prompting backlash from users including Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch, whose reply 'What if you just talked to your children?' garnered 120,000 likes. The suggestion has sparked criticism that AI tools are encouraging disconnection from family relationships.

Sam Altman suggests parents generate AI podcasts about their kids Anna Iovine /author/anna-iovine Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/annaroseiovine.bsky.social . Read Full Bio /author/anna-iovine OpenAI https://mashable.com/category/openai founder and CEO Sam Altman is trending on X for suggesting that parents use ChatGPT to generate podcasts about their children's lives in lieu of... listening to them. "cool use case of chatgpt work i heard last night," he shared on X in all lowercase https://mashable.com/article/disable-auto-caps-lowercase-texting-online-communication . "connect your family calendars and explain your kids' interests." He continued, "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." Terms of Use https://www.ziffdavis.com/terms-of-use and Privacy Policy https://www.ziffdavis.com/ztg-privacy-policy . You May Also Like This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. The post has amassed around 9,500 likes at the time of this writing, dwarfed by 120,000 likes on the reply, "What if you just talked to your children?" from Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch https://x.com/ AlexHirsch/status/2083268104742924484 . The same day, Hirsch also criticized Google's addition of its AI image generator into Google Earth https://mashable.com/tech/google-rolls-back-ai-google-earth-feature , which it reversed. Other popular replies have the same sentiment: That Altman is apparently encouraging users to disconnect from their families. The backlash about AI tools https://mashable.com/tech/ai-backlash-vibe-shift has ramped up in recent years, for a myriad of reasons, including environmental impacts https://mashable.com/article/generative-ai-environment-impact-us-government , surveillance https://mashable.com/article/ai-surveillance-data-tracking-tool , job loss https://mashable.com/tech/meta-employee-lawsuit-claims-ai-discrimination , and fears of AI psychosis https://mashable.com/article/ai-psychosis-symptoms . The potential degrading of relationships is also a concern for some, as more people turn to chatbots to outsource relational conflicts https://mashable.com/article/couples-are-using-chatgpt-to-fight-now or even seek to replace relationships https://mashable.com/video/man-with-human-partner-and-child-asks-ai-to-marry-him themselves. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems. Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/annaroseiovine.bsky.social .