Can AI apps be a mum’s second brain?
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Lisa Green checks the Ollie Assistant from her computer at her home in Kansas City on Oct 3.
PHOTO: ARIN YOON/NYTIMES
Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Katie Van Syckle
- AI apps are becoming a “second brain” for mums, helping with school schedules, reminders and household tasks. Parents say they save time and reduce mental load.
- Many families use tools like Ollie, Fambot, ChatGPT and Claude for planning, bills and childcare admin. A survey found two in three parents felt AI reduced their mental load.
- Experts warn these apps can expose private child data and make mistakes. Critics say the deeper problem is that families lack proper support, not just better reminders.
AI generated
NEW YORK – One recent evening, Lisa Green’s five-year-old son, Fitz, came home from school bummed. He could not check out a book from the school library because he had not yet returned his last book.
His mother, a 34-year-old medical resident in paediatrics, said the family, based in Kansas City, Kansas, had not realised that books were due on different days each week, in accordance with a rotating printed schedule that Fitz had brought home from kindergarten.