Sam Altman says he can't imagine parenting without ChatGPT, triggering fierce online debate

Sam Altman says he 'couldn't imagine parenting without ChatGPT' -- the internet has thoughts

The OpenAI CEO hit a nerve with parents and caregivers everywhere When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he may have been expecting some friendly laughs and soft questions about the future of AI. But one offhand comment triggered a wave of online backlash -- and it had nothing to do with model weights, GPU clusters or AGI. It was about parenting. "I cannot imagine having gone through figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT," Altman said during the interview, explaining how the chatbot helped him manage new-parent anxiety when his child wasn't crawling by six months. According to Altman, ChatGPT calmly reassured him everything was fine. To some, it sounded like a charming anecdote about AI as a helpful assistant. But to many online, it sounded more like a frightening dystopian shift. Over on Reddit,Altman's quote quickly landed in the crosshairs of r/Fauxmoi, a pop culture commentary community that rarely pulls punches. A top post titled "We're cooked as a society" summed up the mood. The comment section did the rest. "Why would you announce yourself to be such a huge loser like dis... read a BOOK." "If you need AI to tell you how to raise a kid you probably shouldn't be having kids." "This makes me feel like we're living in a parody of real life." "We need human connection more than ever, right now." Across social media, many echoed the same concern: parenting is fundamentally a human experience. It requires emotional presence, not algorithmic reassurance. Altman's framing, even if well-meaning, felt hollow to those of us who've relied on family, pediatricians or just intuition to raise kids long before AI ever entered the chat. Altman's comment might have been a casual nod to ChatGPT's convenience, but it landed at the intersection of two cultural pressure points: The backlash reveals a growing skepticism about tech leaders suggesting AI can (or should) replace hard-earned human wisdom. To many, turning to ChatGPT for developmental milestones feels less like innovation -- and more like outsourcing parenting. As a mom of three and a ChatGPT power user, I would have personally turned to a pediatrician for a concern like Altman's, not ChatGPT. The backlash speaks to AI fatigue. AI is now in everything: your phone, your browser, your home. So when it starts showing up in baby advice, something parents have handled on their own for hundreds of thousands of years, for many, that crosses a line. To be fair, plenty of new parents do Google symptoms, search Reddit for tips, or scan WebMD in the middle of the night. Altman's use of ChatGPT isn't dramatically different -- it's just newer, and he's the CEO of the product. Still, the reaction suggests a line in the sand. Tools are fine. But when a billionaire technologist casually says he couldn't imagine raising a child without AI, it sparks real fear that this is the direction we're all being nudged toward: hyper-reliance on bots over community, intuition, or expertise. Sam Altman is no stranger to controversy. And, the comment wasn't the most controversial thing a tech CEO has said this year -- not by a long shot. But the reaction it triggered speaks volumes about where we are as a culture. People are fascinated by AI. But they don't want it taking over their most human roles -- parenting, caregiving, connecting. The internet heard Altman say, "I couldn't imagine parenting without ChatGPT." And it responded: "I couldn't imagine parenting with it." What do you think about Sam Altman's take on parenting? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sam Altman Says Caring for a Baby Is Now Impossible Without ChatGPT

"Clearly, people did it for a long time -- no problem. But I have relied on it so much." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently admitted he needs extensive assistance from his company's AI chatbot to get through life. During an interview last night with late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon, Altman argued that raising a child without constantly pestering a chatbot for life advice is now impossible -- even though humans have managed just fine since the dawn of time without it. "I cannot imagine having gone through, figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT," Altman told Fallon during his late-night debut on Monday. "Clearly, people did it for a long time -- no problem. But I have relied on it so much." For instance, he purportedly asked ChatGPT why his newborn son kept "dropping pizza on the floor and laughing." He even admitted to hiding in a bathroom during a social gathering to ask the tool whether it was normal for his child not to be able to walk at just six months. Considering the tech's well-documented track record of distorting the truth and giving terrible advice, it's an alarming admission. While Altman's storytelling was presumably meant to serve as a relatable punch line during a high-visibility interview, the risks are far higher than he's letting on, particularly when it comes to raising young children. Researchers have warned that over-relying on large language models could be dangerous -- arguing in a 2024 study, for instance, that there's a "critical need for expert oversight of ChatGPT" for "safeguarding child healthcare information." "ChatGPT and other large language models have the potential to transform the health information landscape online," they wrote. "However, lack of domain-specific expertise and known errors in large language models raise concerns about the widespread adoption of content generated by these tools for parents making healthcare decisions for their children." In an experiment, the research team led by University of Kansas doctoral student Calissa Leslie-Miller found that participating parents struggled to distinguish between real medical advice from experts and unverified advice generated by ChatGPT. "During the study, some early iterations of the AI output contained incorrect information," she said at the time. "This is concerning because, as we know, AI tools like ChatGPT are prone to 'hallucinations' -- errors that occur when the system lacks sufficient context." Despite the real risks of being exposed to potentially dangerous information, parents are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for advice. "Given how quickly these tools have been adopted everywhere, it's safe to say that a huge and growing number of parents are using them," Dartmouth College associate professor of biomedical data science Nicholas Jacobson told parenting magazine Parents last month. "New parents have shared that they use AI chatbots to better understand their baby's behaviors, support sleep and feeding routines, and enhance their connection with their newborn," adolescent psychologist Sophie Pierce added. "Others turn to AI for interpreting pediatrician notes, tracking developmental milestones, or addressing behavioral challenges." Experts noted that parents are often looking for quick fixes when exposed to high levels of stress. And chatbots have been shown to give plenty of conflicting and sometimes even contradicting information, underlining the dire need for the input of actual, human experts. "General-purpose models aren't trained on validated parenting science," Jacobson told Parents. "Their advice can be generic, wrong, or reflect the biases in their training data -- i.e. the open internet." "The AI doesn't know your child, your family, or the situation," he added. "It can't replicate the clinical judgment of a doctor or the deep, intuitive knowledge a parent has." In short, Altman's argument that raising a child without ChatGPT is impossible isn't only a vast overstatement; his appearance on Fallon's show could send the wrong message to untold millions of parents, encouraging them to seek tainted and misleading information. Meanwhile, users on social media were taken aback by the CEO's comments, with reactions ranging from disbelief to anger. "Sam Altman almost certainly has a full-time nanny who does not consult ChatGPT," one user pointed out. Others accused him of appearing on Fallon's show to distract from the serious issues OpenAI is facing right now. The company is dealing with some steep competition from Google, with investors getting antsy about the company burning through billions of dollars with no end in sight. "We're at the desperation stage," wrote AI critic Ed Zitron. "Altman on Fallon, [Nvidia CEO Jason] Huang on [The Joe Rogan podcast]."

OpenAI's Sam Altman: 'I Can't Imagine Raising A Newborn Without ChatGPT'

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter The use cases for artificial intelligence have soared in recent years. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a unique use case for ChatGPT during his late-night talk show debut this week -- and it got more laughs than applause. What Sam Altman Uses ChatGPT For As the co-founder and CEO of one of the largest AI companies in the world, Altman's son and future children will likely be impacted heavily by the sector. It turns out that Altman is also using the technology to help raise his son. During an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," Altman was asked by the host Jimmy Fallon if he used ChatGPT to help raise his baby. "I feel kinda bad about it," Altman said. Altman said he asks ChatGPT questions about his son, who was born via surrogacy in February 2025. One example given by Altman was meeting another father and hearing that this dad's six-month-old son had already started crawling, while Altman's had not. That prompted Altman to go to the bathroom and ask ChatGPT questions about when the average child crawls and if his son is behind. The OpenAI CEO said he "got a great answer back" and was told that it was normal for his son not to be crawling yet. "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT. Clearly, people did it for a long time, no problem." The comment got many laughs from Fallon and the audience. "They did," Fallon responded. Altman acknowledged that "clearly it was possible" to raise children without ChatGPT. Read Also: 5 Things You Might Not Know About OpenAI Founder Sam Altman: Doomsday Prepper, Donald Trump Critic And More Altman's Comments Go Viral Altman's late-night debut has gone viral for likely the bad reasons. Parenting blogs and experts have been weighing in on whether ChatGPT should be used. A clip from the interview was shared by More Perfect Union on X and has over 15 million views. Among the most-viewed responses by users about Altman's parenting method are: "If you cannot raise your child without AI, maybe you shouldn't have reproduced in the first place." "Cheese salesman: I cannot imagine figuring out what to eat without cheese." A post on Parents.com highlights that a child is the best indicator of a child's development and that health care providers are the best experts. The site also said that it is normal for babies not to crawl by six months and it is common advice shared in parenting books published decades ago. Altman said in his interview that there are a lot of downsides to AI technology, but also a lot of upsides. The OpenAI CEO would likely argue that ChatGPT is just as good as a baby book or doctor at providing answers and advice. For parents, it's up to them to determine whether ChatGPT is a tool to use or if it's to be avoided when it comes to advice on raising children. Read Next: Sam Altman Wants To Get Rid Of AI Bots In Video Games: Here's The Why And How Photo: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Sam Altman says he can't imagine raising a child without ChatGPT, leaving the Internet baffled

Many viewers felt his dependence on a chatbot over family or experts was unusual, fueling wider discussion on tech overuse. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is yet again in the limelight, and no, this time not because of the 'code red' comment he put forward a few weeks back. He made a late-night appearance on 'The Tonight Show' by Jimmy Fallon, where he made a bizarre comment that sparked a debate online. He explained that he often uses ChatGPT to ask the chatbot simple parenting questions, including why his baby keeps dropping pizza on the floor and laughing. He also said he once rushed to a bathroom at a party to check if it was normal that his six-month-old child was not crawling. While Altman seemed relaxed and cheerful while telling the story, many viewers found it strange. Fallon also joked that parents have been managing these situations for years, which made Altman's heavy dependence feel even more unusual. Also read: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra India launch date, specifications, price and all other leaks After this introduction, Altman went on to describe just how frequently he consults ChatGPT whenever he is unsure about his child's behaviour. He mentioned that hearing another parent talk about their six-month-old crawling everywhere immediately made him anxious. Instead of checking with someone nearby, he quickly excused himself and went to a bathroom to ask his own chatbot ChatGPT if his child was developing normally. According to him, the chatbot's answer reassured him and told him to stay calm. Although Altman shared the moment as a light and humorous story, the reaction online was mixed. Many people felt it highlighted an unusual reliance on technology for things that most parents handle through judgement, experience or advice from people around them.\ Also read: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and others create foundation to set standards for AI agents Several viewers noted that typical parents ask family members, paediatricians or trusted friends before seeking guidance from a chatbot. A number of Indian users said that Indian families have managed childcare for generations with the help of elders and community support, so the situation felt unnecessary and a bit odd. Social media responses ranged from playful jokes to genuine concern. Some users joked that 'calling your mom is still a valid parenting strategy', while others wondered aloud, 'Can you imagine being so smart yet so stupid at the same time?' Some even went ahead and said if a major tech leader is running to a chatbot for baby advice, technology may be creeping a bit too far into everyday life. However, there were some critics too that even argued that if someone needs AI to help take care of a child, 'maybe they shouldn't have had one in the first place.' Also read: Apple Noida store: Exact location, opening time and rent company will pay to Mall of India Jimmy Fallon reacted in a way that reflected the broader audience response. He laughed at the story and pointed out that parents everywhere have been dealing with similar situations without any special tools. His comment summed up what many viewers were already thinking. However, Altman's remarks also came at a time when OpenAI is facing increasing competition from other artificial intelligence companies. This led a few users to speculate that the parenting anecdote also worked as a subtle way of highlighting his own product.