Communication between co-parents can be challenging – particularly in the early days of parenting separately. It can be difficult to keep personal feelings and resentments out of it and focus on the child.
This is where chatbots and other conversational artificial intelligence (AI) can help. While parents shouldn’t rely on AI to write or respond to communications, it can help create texts and emails that are clear, concise and less likely to be interpreted as accusatory or defensive than an off-the-cuff communication. AI can also help respond to unkind communications in a way that doesn’t exacerbate the tension but simply addresses the matter at hand.
Chatbots and other conversational AI can even help parents prepare for phone and face-to-face conversations they may be dreading – whether with a co-parent or another family member. They can even be used to help with “big” conversations – like telling children about their parents’ upcoming separation or divorce.
Certainly, AI shouldn’t replace the work of learning to communicate effectively with a co-parent. All communications should still be in language a person would actually use. However, it can be a good starting point.
A couple of precautions
While there’s no “big brother” monitoring chatbots, it’s still smart to refrain from entering personal information in a chatbot or other AI program. Legal information, like case numbers and rulings should also be avoided. These things could potentially show up in someone else’s chatbot response.
While it’s easy to get into the habit of typing in a question and getting quick answers, it’s important to remember that those answers come from a variety of sources that may or may not be accurate. That’s why it’s important not to rely on legal information garnered from AI or the internet in general. Having sound, personalized legal guidance for divorce, child custody and other family law matters is critical.