A new report finds that almost half of Americans fell for false online claims last year, in particular fake news with AI-generated content. Boomers (52%) fell for things more than Gen Z (41%), but overall this is scary high, given that fake news, scams, and deep fakes are only going to be growing in scale and undetectability as AI continues to infiltrate the internet.

A viral post on X this week shared a scam phone call he received from “his wife,” from her number, with a voice absolutely indistinguishable from hers claiming their son had been in a bad accident. (Cloning someone’s voice or person is trivial now with a few seconds of social media content.) The poster also references a concerning prediction that our phones, texts, and emails will very soon be completely inundated with deepfakes, spam, and scams.

As parents, we need to be aware and build our family’s safety playbook - and “street smarts” for the digital world. Here are 3 tips/rules I think every family needs:

Last week, the second annual International AI Safety Report was published -- the largest science-based assessment of where AI capabilities are headed and what the risks look like. It was written by 100 international AI experts and backed by 30+ countries including the UK, China, and the EU.                                                       

Notably - and, to me, concerningly - the United States declined to sign the report this year (which they did last year). Whether that's about the report's content or part of a broader retreat from international agreements is unclear.

My thoughts: I'm not someone who thinks the sky is falling, but I do think coordinated AI safety and risk mitigation really matters. And it matters that the country where most of the world's leading AI is being built has opted out of the largest global conversation about how to keep it safe. Something to watch. 👀

As chaotic and busy as our days are, it can sometimes feel like we aren’t getting enough dedicated quality family time that we crave and thrive on. Therefore, explicitly carving out this time and space, and making it routine, becomes important.

For us, it’s:

Each of these have become meaningful in their own way:

Every family has different routines and priorities, so you’ll want to carve out the time that feels right for yours. But fwiw, these brief routine times together are the best part of our week. And so, I hope you’ll give it a try if you don’t already. ❤️

A few times a year  my kids come home with their iReady diagnostic results and I stare at them like I'm reading a medical chart. What does this actually mean? What should I be focused on? What do I DO with this?

Turns out, AI is really good at this. Take a screenshot of your child's iReady results (or any standardized test report) and upload it to Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT with a prompt like this:

Pro tip: Once you know the areas to focus on, NotebookLM is an amazing AI tool for personalized learning - you can upload documents or sources and ask it to generate a podcast, create flashcards or quiz questions or infographics, make a video tutorial, and so much more.

ROLA Pet Pal is a little mobile robot that roams your house, plays with your dog or cat, and lets you check in from anywhere. It recognizes your pet using AI, automatically captures video highlights, and sends you a "day-in-the-life" reel of what your furry friend has been up to. You can talk to your pet through two-way audio, call them over, dispense treats remotely, and even have it play laser or toy games with them. Unlike a regular camera that just sits there, this thing moves around and actually “plays” with your pet.

I’m not a pet owner but I know tons of family and friends who are… curious what you think about this? Possibly greater peace-of-mind, or just…. odd?

It sounds like the moon has become the latest tech billionaire obsession, with Elon and others eyeing habitats there within the next decade. But there is something that needs to be solved first: whether humans can safely conceive, carry pregnancies, and raise children beyond Earth.

A new wave of start-ups is working on this including SpaceBorn United, which is developing a mini-IVF lab for embryos in orbit and its first nonhuman prototype launched aboard a SpaceX rocket.

But we must proceed with caution. Scientists warn that human reproduction in space has significant unknowns regarding fertility in zero-gravity and the risk of extreme developmental abnormalities in newborns caused by space radiation.