What My Son Is Learning From Artificial Intelligence

Writing in Greater Good, the author says their son "had been talking to an artificial intelligence—specifically, a large language model called Claude."[1] After reading the conversation, the author calls the explanations "patient and well-calibrated."[1] According to the essay, the answer "was better than the one I would have managed"[1], and the son then "spent the rest of the day on propulsion: rockets, squid"[1].The author also writes that something else has changed: "What has changed is the speed."[1] According to the essay, the son "reaches for an answer sooner than he used to."[1]In the essay's view, "Childhood has always involved productive friction."[1] The author writes that being able to sit with not knowing "underlies creative thinking, emotional regulation, and the ability to navigate a world that rarely resolves cleanly."[1] Rather than spending the afternoon at the window, the essay says, "he opened a chat to resolve the uncertainty"[1].Still, the author writes that "None of this means that AI in children's lives is a mistake,"[1] and says the benefits "are real, and they matter."[1]