The slogan that came from ChatGPT

I'm not averse to technology. I studied literature first, and then communications and technology. In my university residence room, there were stacks of books, but also a big computer that I tinkered with to boost its memory, install a hard drive and swap out the graphics card. Then “smart” phones arrived when I entered the workforce, those little portable marvels. And finally came the social media revolution, which let me reconnect with my high school friends, that is, the ones from the generation of green-screen computers where you inserted floppy disks…

My son is one of those young people who will have grown up with artificial intelligence in their school pedigree. It's a normal thing, because it has been part of their surroundings since they started high school. He won't feel, as I did, the surprise at the idea of a slogan that came from AI.

Still, I'm old enough now to know that all these technologies that transformed my life as a teenager and as an adult haven't always been used for my benefit. Because the phone lets us carry work everywhere, we now talk about a “right to disconnect.” Because ever-present screens change young children's brains (in French), with effects on reading, language, ADHD and social isolation, we are given recommendations on screen time along with the thick parenting guide Mieux vivre avec notre enfant.

It's a bit complicated to find your way through all this advice, and it isn't easy to apply when technology has become so essential in our lives that a law is needed to ban cellphones in high school classrooms. Every time, we react late, after noticing some negative effects. By then the habits are in place, with consequences that are already very much present.

AI has only just arrived in our lives. “ChatGPT” was chosen as word of the year by The Economist in 2023. And as a parent, I'm wondering not about how useful AI is (which I don't doubt), but about the guardrails we will no doubt need to put around it. And I don't really have an answer, even though I read up a lot on the subject by listening to people who know more than I do.

I asked my son whether they had told the teacher they'd used ChatGPT. The teacher was indeed surprised that they had thought of that tool. She found it ingenious. And she said that for upcoming projects, they'll now have to define whether its use is allowed, because the subject can no longer be left vague… Because this reflection goes well beyond parents; it concerns all of society, and it's only just beginning.

Valérie Harvey is a sociologist who specializes in the family, particularly fathers' involvement, which she has studied in Québec and Japan. She also researches manga, which she teaches at university. She is the author of several novels, essays and children's books, mostly about Japan, influenced by her three years in Kyoto. https://nomadesse.com/

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