Worried about using AI for parenting? Good.

A note from Camille, the Founder of Ask Yawn:

I get it... AI in parenting? It sounds like a Black Mirror episode. Personally, I use ChatGPT all the time for work. But I don't put info about my kids in it and I certainly don't upload pictures of them into AI either (even though I see those apps that show you what your child will look like when they grow up and I really want to).

But here’s the truth: AI is already being used in parenting, whether we realise it or not, and it has been for years.

It's behind the sleep apps we use, the content we're served, and sometimes even the advice we find online. And most of it happens in the background, without transparency, without control, and often without permission.

That's not our vibe. But we can come to that in a moment. Let's stay in the icky part of AI for a sec.

You want to keep your children safe. At Yawn, we've spent a lot of time thinking about the potentially creepy side of AI in parenting, and spent all our focus on putting lots of protections and parameters in place to stop that. Our team is comprised of technical, thoughtful, good people who have the expertise and capability to do this right.

With Yawn, your conversations don't go back to OpenAI (ChatGPT's parent company). In fact, they don't go anywhere except storage for Yawn to draw on in order to have a rich conversation with you. We have put a lot of security and protections in place including encryption, logs, cloud storage, and what's required by GDPR and HIPAA, long before we are big enough to be subject to those laws. You can delete everything at any time and it's gone from everywhere, forever.

Here's what we believe:

We believe AI can change parenting for the better - not by replacing your instincts or the experts, but by easing the load. It is a second brain that doesn't get fatigued, flustered or forget the last thing you said. It is a sidekick with a photographic memory that has focused on parenting topics from sleep to nutrition to behaviour and everything in between. It's also creative, supportive, and non judgemental if you ask the same thing again and again.

My personal, honest truth:

I'm tired. I have two young boys, 3 and 4.5yrs old. I run a business (this) and have a full time job. I want to be a present, playful parent creating core memories for my kids. I want a loving relationship with my husband. I like a clean house and I care about what we eat.

Here is how I use Ask Yawn:

• "It's raining, the kids have a lot of energy and I need play ideas. Their favourite games are Bad Woolfie (where we chase them around) and hide and seek. We have stuff to make forts, and some acrobat rings in the playroom and they love an obstacle course. They love dinosaurs, make-believe and trucks. Give me 10 ideas"

• "I need to go to the supermarket to get enough food to feed my family of four for 4 days, lunch and dinner. We like Greek, Lebanese, pizza, mezze platters, Italian and slow cooker food. Here are some Insta cooks I love [insert handles]. Make me a meal plan for those 8 meals that costs less than $100AUD total and focus on macro or organic ingredients where possible"

• "We are dropping the dummy for my 3yr old and need to prepare him for that so he is onboard. I don't want this to be a 'thing' that he cries for forever. Ask me some questions to understand more about him and our goals so we can create a plan"

• and on, and on.

Once I've asked questions like these and it learned what worked for us, it gets faster at recommending ideas that are going to work for us.

So Ask Yawn might get you but it doesn't know you. It only works with what you've told it. It is not a person, and it's not watching. It's a tool that takes your words, connects the dots, and offers ideas. No judgement. No agenda. Just support based on what you chose to share. Honestly? You don't even need to use your kid's real name. Just put a nickname.

Why use Ask Yawn, not ChatGPT or another GenAI product?

That's a whole can of worms which we are committed to opening, but not right now because it's important to do properly and right now I need to cook dinner for the kids.

Bye for now!