👋 friends!
Another week in the books. Ours included the spontaneous purchase of our first family pet, a leopard gecko named Lemmy. The boys are enthralled… for the moment… I’m praying it lasts since this thing can supposedly live for 15+ years.
In today’s note:
Parenting in the AI era: the 2026 State of AI report, the crisis of deepfake nudes in schools
Connection spark: the biological link between music and bonding
Hands-on with AI: never miss a school “to do” again
The whoa zone: nasal spray that reverses brain aging
Let’s dive in…
Parenting in the AI Era
The global state of AI
This week Stanford came out with it’s 2026 AI Index Report, regarded as one of the most comprehensive, data-driven views of the state of AI. A few key takeaways to share - some surprising, some not so much.
No plateau (or bubble?) in sight. AI remains a rocket ship across both technological advancement and adoption.
AI capability is outpacing the benchmarks designed to measure it, surpassing human-level performance and the US and China are essentially neck-and-neck
AI adoption is up to 88% in organizations and up to 53% for consumers globally
Regulation and safety measures are not keeping up.
While all leading frontier models report on capability, reporting on responsibility benchmarks is sparse; documented AI incidents continue to rise and regulation is light and fragmented.
K-12 education is not keeping up.
80% of high school students are using AI for schoolwork
However, only half of middle and high schools have any AI policies in place, with just 6% of teachers saying those policies are clear.
People are acquiring AI skills outside of formal education
A growing gap in perception between AI experts and the public.
73% of experts expect AI to have a positive impact on how people do their jobs vs 23% of the public.
84% of experts expect AI to have a positive impact on medical care vs 44% of the public.
61% of experts expect AI to have a positive impact on K-12 education vs 24% of the public.
Very low trust in the US government to responsibly regulate AI. Of all the countries surveyed in the study, the US was the lowest at 31% (highest was Singapore at 81%, average across countries was 54%).
My thoughts: at first glance, it doesn’t seem to paint a super rosy picture (especially around trust, safety, and education) but I am somewhat encouraged by the measured optimism among AI experts (since they ought to understand it all a lot better than we do)… that said, the widening gap between the “in-the-knows” and everyone else is worrying.
Source: 2026 AI Index Report
Deepfake nudes and schools
An alarming article from Wired appeared in my newsfeed last night that I feel needs to be shared with parents - especially any with middle/high-school aged children.
It highlights the growing crisis around students being affected by deepfakes nudes - and schools being underprepared for how to respond.
By and large, teenage boys are the culprits, finding photos of girls they know on Instagram or Snapchat and using terrible “nudify” apps to create fake nude photos or videos of them. These then can get shared across whole schools and are beyond devastating for the victims.
Motivations seemingly range from sexual motivations, curiosity, revenge, social control, or even teens daring each other to do it.
The ways the cases are handled by schools and law enforcement vary widely and it’s clear that more AI regulation, training, tools, communication, and support are needed.
My thoughts: I’m horrified… for us parents, it feels crucial to have age-appropriate conversations with our kids about the harms and illegality of explicit deepfakes and check in with our school to see what measures they have in place to competently respond.
CONNECTION SPARK
That’s music to my ears… and to my heart
I was inspired to write this section by a new blog that Vivek Murthy (our 19th and 21st US Surgeon General) has started focused on human spirit and connection. His first posts focus on “songs for staying human.” It was so fun to listen to some of the songs on his list- both to take a trip down memory lane and also to experience real chills with some of the songs I hadn’t heard before. Here is the playlist if you want to take a listen.
It also got me thinking about music as it relates to human connection more broadly - I certainly feel it with my boys as we debate and enjoy songs together in the car every day - and I stumbled upon brand new research that makes a connection between music and social bonding on a biological level.
More specifically, the research found that listening to harmonically consonant chord progressions during face-to-face interaction strengthened neural activity in the brain regions responsible for social connection and emotional processing.
Translation: listening to harmonious, calming music during (present, face-to-face) family or 1:1 time is good for strengthening our connection with each other.
Think Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me album, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album, The Beatles early songs like “Here Comes the Sun and Blackbird… a lot of acoustic pop… essentially songs/styles with consonant harmony (chords that feel "resolved" and pleasant), predictable progressions, and a relaxed tempo.
(Side note: my husband will be highly disappointed that heavy metal doesn’t qualify).
Image source: Gemini
Enjoying the newsletter? Subscribe to get a glow note every Friday.
HANDS-ON WITH AI
Never forget a school “to do” again
There are all sorts of little helpful ways busy parents can start using AI agents to manage all the never ending logistics and invisible load of family life. One I set up this week that has already proven pretty magical: a morning heads-up ONLY IF there is something I need to remember for my kids’ school that day.
Note, this is a little different - and IMHO better - than the school email summaries I’ve described in the past.
With scheduled agents (a la with Claude Cowork), we can set an agent up to let us know, right before school, if there is something we need to remember for that day. Today it saved me by reminding me that Archer was supposed to wear pajamas and bring treats in celebration of finishing a week of standardized testing.
How to set up:
Go to Claude Cowork (or download if you haven’t done so) - you’ll need a Pro plan $17/mo.
Connect your calendar and your email via “Connectors”
Click on “Scheduled” on the left navigation and then “New Task”
Describe what you want it to do according to your needs (e.g. “Check my email for school-related action items coming from [XXX school or @domain] from the past 2 weeks for any action items I need to remember TODAY. Send me an email [and/or] calendar reminder at [7:00am MT] ONLY if there is something specific I need to do today for school.”
You can give as much detail and specifics as you’d like, and you can also ask it to interview you to make sure it is clear on the task before setting up. Once it’s set-up, you can “run task” to test it and make sure it works the way you want.
One note: you’ll need to make sure your laptop is on in order for the task to trigger.
Pro tip: start to think of more ways you can put scheduled agents to work for your routine digital drudgery!
Image source: Gemini
THE WHOA ZONE
A nasal spray that reverses brain aging?!
Brain fog may no longer be inevitable as we age. "Neuroinflammaging" - brain inflammation that builds over time and is linked to memory loss and cognitive decline - was thought to be an inevitable part of getting older, but new research suggests that maybe this is not the case after all!
A team at Texas A&M developed a nasal spray that reduced brain inflammation, restored cellular function, and improved memory in aging models, all within weeks- with effects lasting months. And even better, it worked equally well in both male and female subjects.
The findings are early but the results give hope that one day (soon?) brain aging might not just be managed, but reversed.
This one I’m particularly proud/excited to share because one of my closest friends, Dr. Rowan Paul, is experimenting with this for post-stroke recovery, Alzheimers, and Parkinsons. 💪
Image source: Gemini
That’s all I’ve got for you this week. If you've found this newsletter helpful, please consider sharing with your friends and fellow parents who might also benefit - we’re all in this crazy together.
And, if you have any thoughts, feedback, or requests, please reply or drop a comment - I’d love to hear from you.
Glow on,
Michaela
P.S. here’s Lemmy
Read some other recent Glow Notes below:
