AI Won’t Replace Your Parenting But It Will Test It

AI is showing up in places most of us didn’t expect, and not just as a “cool new feature.” It’s answering phone calls, writing school assignments, shaping what we see online, and powering content that looks real even when it’s completely fake. That speed is exactly why we wanted a real conversation about what artificial intelligence means for youth, families, and the future our kids are walking into. 

We get into the practical side of AI parenting and digital safety: where AI tools are already embedded (Gemini, Copilot, ChatGPT, Canva), why paywalls can create a new digital divide, and why “AI hallucinations” make media literacy and critical thinking more important, not less. We also talk about the darker edge of this moment, including deepfakes and sextortion, and how predators can use a simple profile photo to create harmful content and attempt blackmail. It’s uncomfortable, but avoiding the topic doesn’t protect our kids. 

We also zoom out to the human side. AI talks back, agrees, and flatters, which can pull young people away from the real world practice they need to build confidence, social skills, and healthy relationships. We share the kind of family stance we’re trying to model: use AI as a resource, not a lifeline, and keep human connection at the center with clear boundaries around devices and screen time. 

If you’re a parent, caregiver, educator, or just trying to keep up, listen through and then join the conversation. Subscribe, share this with another parent, and leave a review so more families can find it. What’s your current relationship with AI: helpful tool or growing threat?

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Transcript

Welcome And Who We Are

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Yo man, we back at it. What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? What's good with you, man? Oh man, it's been uh been busy, man. Been busy. You know what I'm saying? Been out there doing some things and then trying to figure it out, reel it back in and all that. So it's a but life is good, man. You know what I'm saying? I woke up today, so I cannot complain. I love it. I love to hear that, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yo, the am I am I coming through my mic? That sounds good. That sounds crazy. Okay, cool. I'm making sure, you know what I'm saying? Uh, I want to make sure the new viewers know what's happening. So before we jump in, like we usually do, uh introduce ourselves so you know who you're rocking with. Maybe you got referred to us by another person who listens to our podcast. You're like, Who are these cats? Who are these guys? So uh I'll kick us off first. You know, my name is Zion Z Givens. Go by Z out here at the community uh prevention specialists, uh Director of Mental Health, uh outreach coordinator with Vive18, man. We're a lot of hats, a twin dad, uh got got all the things, man. So I'm I'm happy to be here. And um to the right of me, to my right, uh, for those that are watching on YouTube, we got me, Jamal K Givens.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

The K stands for cool. Um, and uh yeah, just just rocking with it. Uh uh Masters in Educational Counseling, been working with youth over 20 plus years. Uh love the young people and having to work with young people. I work with uh parents and families and community. I'm also the president and CEO of a nonprofit organization known as Liberty Partnership uh Community Council, a K-A-L-P-K-N-C. L P K N C. And uh yeah, definitely. And uh, you know, a part of uh Up To It, uh co-founder um of uh Up To It uh Parenting and all that good stuff. So yeah, man, I mean you know say I can sit here all day with the academy and the rest of May, but yo, we got things to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, we got a lot of things to talk about. But before we get in there, man, we want to thank our sponsors real quick. Um, we want to shout out Brighton, shout out Brian, the digital wellness app. Um, man, if you're looking to get involved and looking for something to um just have in your back pocket as a resource, man, we recommend Brighton. That's B-R-I-G-H-T-N Brighton. Um, man, they have been big supporters of what we do, and we big supporters of what they do. And it actually goes into the topic today that we're gonna be talking about, uh, which is AI, and we'll do a deeper dive into that. But if you're looking to start your own podcast and you're looking, you're like, you know what? I got something to say. I got things on my mind, I got a I got a I got a mic, and I want to say some things, man. You can always use Bud Sprout, man. We have a link, a referral link in our bio that you can use. You'll get like 10 fit 10 to 15 off your first month of using Bud Sprout. That's what we use, and it's amazing, amazing tool and resource. We also use StreamYard because my dad is in a different city than I am, and just how we are able to connect. The quality on this thing is crazy. We love it. There's so many like gadgets involved in it. Like, we haven't even done like a full deep dive into the capabilities of StreamYard, but man, it's one of the most amazing platforms, and we used it uh because we we loved it. And so you want to get on your stream yard too. Uh, you're we have a link in bio referral code, you get ten dollars off your first month as well. Um, but man, let's talk about some new things, man. What's going on with uh with you, Pops? Um what's new? What's new going on in your life, man?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Well, like I said, uh, you know, I hear doing a couple of conferences. Just recently did the uh

Sponsors And Tools We Use

SPEAKER_01 4:01

mental health uh of America AZ chapter conference, the seeds conference. Uh it was dope. Uh it was a good time, had a great crowd. Um, you know, talked about just conversations that connect, and you know, good response I felt from the um from the participants, which were you know all adults and um those in the field, uh clinicians, uh prevention specialists, interventionists, behavioral health folks, behavioral health techs, um, some educators. So it was dope. It was dope, man. Felt like we um got some good information out there to them and uh really believe that it uh was something that they knew already, um, but it was a good reminder and booster. You know what I'm saying? And that's always about life, right? A lot of times, especially those that uh of us that carry degrees and things of that nature, you know, we we go through uh, you know, our educational training. And then sometimes when we you know start walking down our path or journey, we forget about some of the things, uh, the the little things that that mean the most. Um, because you know, sometimes we're focusing on the bigger things. So I thought it was really cool. Um, I guess the next thing is uh, and this should have been number one, most deaf, but you know what I'm saying, this is in no particular order, is uh you know, being a being a granddad, you know what I'm saying. Now uh this cat over here, um Z Give decided

Conferences Grandkids And Caring For Mom

SPEAKER_01 5:24

to um bestow that upon me uh to be a granddad, even though I'm not that old yet. I'm not that old, and I'm not retired, not even near that. Um, but yeah, man, so I'm Papa Mall, you know what I'm saying? Um, I call them Tiger One, Tiger Two. Uh they're twins. Um, they're cute, man. They change like every day when I see pictures of them. I was up there what uh two weeks ago, two yeah, two weeks ago. You're up here. Yeah, two weeks ago, got to hold them a little bit. Um uh tiger one didn't want to like really work with me. Uh he got a little got a little uh little little uh energetic. Um we'll be we call it what it is, a little fussy. Yeah, it was like you know, let me let me let my lungs work a little bit. I was like, all right, man, settle down. Uh me and Jamai, we we was kicking it. Um and so yeah, man, excited about that. And uh don't know what it all means because it's my first go-round. Uh everybody tells me it's amazing, but I've been having a blast looking at their pictures and um just watching them change like every day is crazy, man. They're putting on some some LBs, you know what I'm saying, as they should, and uh getting a little chunky chunk. I like I like chunky babies. Uh but yeah, man, and then um, you know, some personal things uh as far as really close and near and dear to my heart. The one who brought me into this world, my mother, uh, we call her Jana. Uh her name is Janet, but we call her Jana. Uh she um, you know, had some health issues and ended up having to move in with me for a little while and um building a tiny home for her or a casita, as we call it down here in Tucson, and kind of trying to get her situated um as she gets older. And so, yeah, that's been that's been really interesting and different. So um just a lot of a lot of moving pieces, uh, as life you know does to us sometimes. So I'm just again blessed, man. Just blessed to be able to be alive today, to contribute positively um to my to my grandkids, to my son, my uh my daughter-in-law, uh the wifi, uh, my daughter, and my mom's, you know what I mean, and anybody else that allows me to be uh to be uh a blessing in their life, also. So that's what's going on with me, man. I love it, man.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

It's a lot, man. That's a lot. And I think um, you know, we can do a whole episode on that, just like transitional. I mean, we talk about youth transitions, but also the adults, like how how does that affect parenting and how does that affect how you show up for your youth? And that's that's a whole we can go we can do a deep dive on that. That's maybe another episode. Let's know if you're interested in that, man. If you got this far into the podcast, let us know if you want to drop it down in the comments. Um, for me, man, uh, like you said, twin twin dad, uh being six weeks in different milestones, and you know, my my my twins are two different babies. Like, whoever thought twins were gonna be exactly the same, man. You are sadly mistaken. Um, they look different. I got one brown baby, brown eyes, dark features, and I got my other boy, I got my little wedito, I got um blue eyes, white baby, like blonde hair, blondish brown hair. I'm like, yo, where'd that come from? So they they're like I think they're like mirror images of each other, but like just different, you know, just they just look different. Yeah, they just have different, you know, features and whatnot. So that's been cool to see them um just like you said, dad, like just grow. Like it's just every day I'm like, dang, you got bigger. Oh, dang, you got longer. Like I've I'm holding Jamai, and he's like down to my lap now. And it's like, whoa, man, what the heck? And I'm hoping he'll be our our six-foot baby. Maybe he'll be the one that cracked six foot for us in the family. That'd be dumb, man. We'll take it. Right. But it's been fun, man. But with that, man, uh I've also been back to work, back to traveling, uh, talking to students across the nation. Um, and it's been it's been difficult, man. We be we talk on the phone um often. Uh, we at least I think we at least try to catch up at least once a week, if not on the podcast, if then it's in true personally. Um, but it's taking a it takes a lot, man, to leave my wife, you know, with two babies by herself, and then to try to find uh assistance, like it's

Twin Dad Life Work Travel Guilt

SPEAKER_00 9:34

cool that my my sister-in-law lives with us, and that's amazing. But you know, she got her own life, you know, and she got work that she got to do, so she can't be as hands-on as I could be if I was there, and then that that that guilt of not wanting to inconvenience people of like, hey, can you come up for an hour? Like, you know, my family lives in two uh like two hours away from us, so it's like, yo, can you come up for like a day? And it's like, oh, I gotta leave work. Like you said, you're not retired yet, you know. You don't have that luxury of just getting up and going. It's like, I hold on, let me see what moot meetings I can move around. Can I take a meeting at your spot? And then like, this is all these jugs. So that's been hard. It's like the guilt of leaving and having to leave. Uh, but the great reminder that my dad always says, like, bro, you ain't out here vacationing. He's like, You're working, like you're you're you're really you're you're you're providing for your family, your new family. And my wife sees it that way as well, even though it does get challenging, man. Kudos to her. She's wow, I'm always just mind-blown just by her yeah, no doubts. Just her energy that she has and the the will and the perspective she has on it. Because it's easy. I mean, it could be easy, right? It could be like, man, this dude's leaving, and he man, I can get frustrated about that. But she's very understanding, and um, I'm really appreciative of that. And then um, yeah, let's talk about what's going on with Up to It Man. Uh, if you just join us, you probably, if you were if you've been a part of us and you know what's up, we were doing youth presentations and adult presentations, and now you're like, Man, I'm looking on the Instagram and I'm not seeing much, bro. Like, are y'all still still around? What y'all doing? And you know, I'm glad you asked that question because we are still around, we're still doing our thing. Like my dad said, he's doing he's at conferences, doing the C conference under UpToIt. Um, we have moved the youth section, the youth side of things into an under Vive 18. That's V-I-V-E-18. And we do our mental health programming under Vive 18 for youth. Uh, but all the adult education is now coming from up to it. Uh, we're talking to the parents, guardians, employees. Um, I don't know, Dan, I'm gonna put you on spot, but I think one of the cool things that we're probably gonna reveal or unveil and want to have opportunities to practice is uh an employee wellness uh presentation. We want to make sure that our employees are are getting and our team are getting the the you know from stop burning out and helping organizations retain their talent. Uh that's probably the one of the biggest things that we're seeing, not only in the prevention field, but just corporate and just any any sector.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

So true, so true, so true.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Whole lot of yapping, man. Uh, so before we get into the content, man, I just want to talk about we were talking about last episode about bringing youth in uh parent engagement. Like, what's up with that? And I put it on on LinkedIn and I was like asking our friends on LinkedIn, just like our professional friends that are like, hey,

Up To It Shift Toward Adults

SPEAKER_00 12:22

like what's going on? Are you seeing this as well? And what are you doing differently? And I got one response. Uh, you know, we we I'll be humble, you know. We it's not like we got a hundred thousand responses and we're combing through. I got what I got one response on LinkedIn. No, no big deal, you know what I'm saying? But this is uh from Leslie, and Leslie said, Zion, this is such a great topic to tackle. I look forward to hearing from others on this. We absolutely struggle with caregiver caregiver attendance related to drug and alcohol, technology, and gambling prevention events. In my experience, parents and families are completely overcommitted to things. There are so many sports activities to choose from that there simply isn't any margin for adding another thing that may be important to them. When I do events in the community, families often say how important these issues are, and they want more education on the issues, but finding the time is the biggest challenge. I would say events for families that include childcare and food are definitely helpful in overcoming some of the other hurdles that might arise. I do see families making time for other fun events like school carnivals, literacy nights, and field days, etc., which are so important for community. So sometimes we have better success when we adapt and pair our programs with some of these events. So I thought that was really insightful. Uh, and I really appreciate Leslie for taking the time out to type that up and just give her a Leslie, man.

Why Parent Events Struggle

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Um, but yeah, I mean, I think that she echoed kind of like what we were saying in our messaging. It's you know, how what creative ways can we get to partner? And I love her way of like, let's let's let's partner with those school carnivals and let's partner with the literacy nights and stuff like that, which is super important. Uh, you got you got a take on that?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Yeah, no, I think she's right on. Um, I mean, it's good to hear from her, and um, it kind of supports what I've been thinking, and so I'm truly uh appreciative of that feedback and something to figure out how do we yeah, how do we get a little bit more creative and how we we offer these things. Um because, like she said, time. Time we only got so many hours in a day, and people are picking and choosing. And um, while they do want the information, you know, even sometimes um, you know, going to a workshop is challenging. Or even sometimes, I mean, when you got to choose between do I want to watch this educational video versus scroll through some you know social media because I need something funny or lighthearted or maybe something not as heavy, uh, it's it's easy to um you know bypass it. So yeah, just try trying to find unique ways of doing it. I I appreciate that a lot. So thanks, Leslie, for for throwing that out there for us.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah, and if you haven't heard that episode, man, you can go back into the archive and check that out. That's our most recent most recent one besides this one that just dropped. Uh that you can get your input, and we would love to hear from you guys still. Uh we would love to hear more. Uh, but yeah, enough gapping about the past. Uh, let's talk about now. What's what if you've been living under a rock, uh, you probably don't know, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

But yeah, some people may not know, no.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

You you think so?

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, I mean, I think it's one of the things I want to want to talk about, you know, when we we get in up in here. But go, but go ahead, okay, we go.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

My bad, my bad, my bad. I'm okay. I didn't mean to call everybody out. My bad. All right. Uh but uh right now, uh, not to get political or anything, but we're seeing a lot more data centers are starting to pop up, and that's in relation to the AI expansion that is growing. And it's here to stay, people. It ain't going nowhere, it ain't leaving anytime soon. This is gonna be the new way of life, and we want to talk about what does that mean for youth and families? What is what does that mean? Um, so I'll let pop you, you know, you you as I was introducing the topic, you're like, maybe not a lot of people know what's going on. Uh, tell me more.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Like, what's um yeah, I mean so AI, artificial intelligence is really beginning to sweep um the nation in its own way. Um, and when I said that maybe not everybody is aware of it, is maybe the the depth in which it has and holds, and even sometimes recognizing that maybe they're even using it or uh recognizing that it is AI. So when you gotta think, look at things like Google, uh, I think it's Gemini with Google, you got Copilot, which is uh with Word, uh you got Chat

AI Expansion And The Digital Divide

SPEAKER_01 16:48

GPT, you got Claude, and then you got everything else in between, all those, right? So those are probably some of the big boys. I know some of the tech people out there will be like, hey man, you forgot about this one and you forgot about that one. But you know, in my world, in my view, in my lens, those are the ones that I'm I'm you know really familiar with and of. And you know, again, a lot of people may not be using those things because while they're sitting on some platforms, you know, you don't have to click on them. I mean, and AI is also within like Canva and it's with PowerPoint and it's with you know just all these different things. And a lot of times people may not be using it or don't even want to mess with it. And so um, you know, there there may end up being a uh a digital divide again, um and how and who has full access to certain things, and uh, because some of it does cost money, you know, chat GPT to get I think they I don't know if they still have a free version, but uh you know, I do the paid Claude. I'm sure they may have like a trial. Um, and then you got to pay um Gemini and co-pilot, you know, those sitting on Google and uh uh the other platforms, Microsoft, yeah, Microsoft, and then there's a there's another one too, I'm forgetting, but um, you guys can remind us in the chat, but is um, you know, again, you may not tap into it, so you don't maybe really know what it does and what it can do and what it's been doing. Um, it's really funny because talking about AI, I just called on behalf of my mom trying to get some services over here for her. Um, it was uh around 4:30 or 5 o'clock, and the this uh organization had told me to call this particular number because they had called me first. I missed the call. They said call me back. I said I called them back, and then lo and behold, uh an AI picks up the phone, and I'm talking to this guy named James, which is an AI, it's not a guy, sorry, it's a thing, robot. Yeah, yeah, and it's it's asking me, So, hey, so what can I help you with? And who are you trying to reach? And oh, is this your callback number? And it's like, okay, I'll forward the message on. And it sounded like a straight up person. Um, did it really?

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Did it did it, yeah. You notice remember when the AI first came out and they started using and it sounded really robotic and choppy. Yeah, no, no, no. This sounded like a real deal.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Like, it kind of kind of caught on for a second because I was like, wait a minute, this is a little something was a little off, but I was like, Oh, this is uh AI. I was like, okay, but it was like tracking, you know, what I was saying and doing it, and most of you again, um, especially parents, right? You all know that you probably run into this with uh you know your insurance companies or your uh car dealership, the efficient or right or whatever, right? Um, just just even normal business nowadays, a lot of people are starting to use these things, and so when we're thinking about young people, you know, what are we looking at? And I think that's one of the things

When AI Answers Your Phone

SPEAKER_01 19:47

we want to talk about today, is I like how you started off the conversation on on this topic of it's not going anywhere. And I think we need to be clear that at least from my standpoint, and I believe up to it, is we can't be scared of it. Right, right, because it's it's here and it's not going away like you said. I mean, it it's not gonna, I mean, the the what do they say, the ship has left the dock, it's not turning around and coming back. So we want to be aware as parents um and caregivers um and older brothers and siblings, um uh what what this is and what does this mean to us. And so some of the research that Z and I began to do about it um is just wanting to be mindful and share with parents just some of the things that we believe um you might just want to take note of and um realize. And so um, again, going back to my first point just about you know the depth in which we can use AI, we've only begun to scratch the surface or even see. I mean, I've I've listened to some people on um different uh platforms, and they're saying that we truly do not understand because some people are seeing it used and done in so many different aspects of life and in this world and in systems that most of us don't even have a glimpse into that world. And so we have to we we don't even fully know, but there are some concerns um because AI is getting it more intelligent every day, so much so that it sometimes will set up situations and systems that it will make sure that it cannot be um uh I want to say killed off, or it wants to make sure that it survives and it can send emails and texts to throughout systems, um, even in within work systems, though these huge um organizations. Organizations or businesses of Fortune 500 and it does some crazy stuff. So even when we think about it from you know uh national security and things of that nature, I've you know, like I said, listen to some certain platforms, people are like, hey, we might want to put some guardrails on this thing, but the problem is that people were racing so quickly to try to get it out that they didn't put guardrails on it. Um, and so now as they're beginning to learn and understand more, they're like, Oh, can we can we put guardrails on this thing? How do we how do we do that? Um and so so that that just be my thing. Um, again, you know, some of these platforms to go deeper within them cost money, right? That are going to be for the the general consumer. Um, and so that might mean again a divide, the those that have and that do not have um money um to you know partake in all that. Will it be free at some point in time, like the internet? I don't know. We learned a lot from when the internet first came out, and people were like, uh, is it really gonna stay free? Is it gonna, and so you know, with AI, I I don't know because um, you know, people try to monetize with a capitalistic society. Um, so again, there may be some divide there, but it's here to stay. We shouldn't be afraid of it, we need to be aware of it. And we have some things um that we just want to share with you all.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Yeah, I mean, I think the couple things that you know there's so much that you said that we can we're gonna dive into. Um, and I'm like, we're like, we're gonna talk more about the content. And here we are, like, oh, we're gonna dive more into the content. But um, it's um, I mean, what was really prompted the the discussion was hearing about these people that grabbed student photos from this school website and then created AI images and videos, making these students do disgusting, grotesque, like ugly things, man. And they wanted they used it as ransom. Like they're like, hey, we're gonna send this out to every parent if you don't send us, they're talking to this, they send it to the school admin. It was like if you don't send us, you know, five thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars. And you know, this that's the new age of sex tortion, right? It's like uh if y'all know what sex tortion is, that's when you know, the same thing, same premise is you a predator asks for news photos of a student, the new the student sends a new photo thinking the person is a girl in their class or a high schooler uh wanting to get attention and validation, they send the photo. Turns out the predator on the other side is a predator or adult, and they say, Hey, if you don't send us uh X amount of dollars, we're gonna leak this out. And so that's extortion. Now we're seeing this without the the um resistance of having to have a conversation with the students. Now I can grab your face on your profile and make an AI image. And you know, this is this is scary, and this is something that's

Deepfakes Sextortion And AI Hallucinations

SPEAKER_00 25:03

uh very uncomfortable. But if we're not talking about it, then we're not we're not gonna have a solution for it. And we need to come up with solutions. And um, one of the biggest things that we we talk about, Pop, is just talking early and talking often, right? Uh, one of my favorite things, uh, students are knowledgeable. That's what I tell parents. Like, if you're not talking to your student about it, somebody is. And you know what? Not even somebody, a mechanical thing is talking to your student. Um, and the the the the strange thing about artificial intelligence is uh my dad taught me this actually, which is pretty cool. It comes up with um, not pretty cool, but pretty interesting. Was the um hallucinate uh hallucin? Was it hallucinations? Hallucinations, hallucinations, and um can make up stuff. It makes up stuff, right? It makes up stuff, and it knows it picks up on your pattern. Some um some AIs are just very yes, yes oriented, yes men oriented. They're like, oh yeah, I love your way of thinking, and you know, they feed into your thought process and makes it feel like that, you know, you're you're a genius and you got all these thoughts and da-da-da. And if you're a young person with an underdeveloped brain is not understanding that, they can fall victim to, well, my AI is talking to me and thinking that I'm, you know, all this and a slash of bread, like what's up, you know. And so say that all to say you have to ask your student, hey, you know what? What do you know about AI? And get inquisitive. Like, even if you don't know anything about AI, start talking about it and start asking them what platforms they're using. Um, what are what how are they currently using it? Are they using it? And you know what? Here's the thing your parent, your your your student is gonna feel some type of way and be like, I don't want to tell them that I'm maybe using it to cheat, you know, in school, or I'm not I'm using it to write my essays and all these things. But when you are having this conversation, let them know that there's no consequences right now by opening up because you need to understand how it's being used and what their thought process is for using it, right? So ask them how they're currently using it. Um, how have they seen others use it both in healthy and unhealthy ways? Like ask them have they heard about these AI images being used of their of their friends or or or peers to be used for blackmailing or or ransom? Do they know about that? They probably do, right? Or are there healthy ways that they're using it? Maybe it helps somebody build an, they've helped build an app uh using this to help somebody, you know, with the help of a world cause, or are they, you know, to help publish an article or to refine the rough draft or whatever the case may be? Because those are ways that you can use it. Um, and then before you even have this conversation, you gotta know your stance on it as a family, right? How do you feel about AI and how do you want it utilized in your household? Because uh, I think that's one of the things I admired about uh my parents, both my mom and dad, was that they were a unit. Like whenever they're a family meeting, they've already had the discussion prior before it, you know, winging it. Like it was, hey, this is what I'm thinking, consequences. Here's and they when they presented the information to us, it was a united front. So make sure you have, hey, you know what? We believe in using using AI as a resource, but not as a lifeline, right? This shouldn't be your end-all be all. I still need you to be able to critically think for yourself and talk about that. What does that critical thinking mean? And you know, hey, when homework, when it's time to do homework, there's no tablets, there's no screens. I want I want you to do pen and paper. Like that's what we're gonna do, right? Or when you I'll give you a dud computer, like just it only has word on it, or only has Google Docs. Like, that's the only thing you can access on that phone. So know your stance. If you have a partner with you, get them on board, have this conversation amongst your partner and yourself, or if you're a single parent, get them all, get involved with a community, whoever that is, an aunt, an uncle, uh uh, uh, a family friend. Like, have this conversation because again, if you're not having this conversation with your student, somebody else is, and it might not be where your values lie.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Yeah, I think one of the uh things that's challenging about the whole thing with AI and where we have to be cautious and aware, especially as parents um and caring adults, uh, especially with young people, is the AI today. So, you know, when I was thinking about it, you know, when new technology comes out, a lot of times people um said back in the day that, oh, this is gonna ruin the society, it's gonna ruin youth. When you think about uh the television, you think about radio, you think about um DDR. Yeah, yeah, V VCR, DVDs. Um, but you know, here's here's what's different. AI has the capability to kind of um think for the lack of a better word, and respond back to you. Radio, TV, VC uh uh VCRs or videos, VHS, um, beta, you know, a lot of the things that came out didn't respond back to you. It was kind of a one-way channel. Um, and then whatever you took in, you then would have to process and figure out what to do with it. What's different with AI is that, like Z was sharing, is that it is speaking

Social Skills Dating And Real Connection

SPEAKER_01 30:45

back to you in a way that can be positive and or negative, and too much of either takes away from the humanity in which we were actually built to thrive on, which is human connectedness, social connectedness, and what this resource is going to do is take away the opportunities, even more so today than the cell phone or smartphone already has of people connecting socially or interacting. I don't need to go and talk to a friend to get advice now. I can just go on my computer, talk to uh, as my wife calls it, chatty, chat GPT chatty, and say, Hey, I got an argument with this friend today, this, that, and the other. What do you think I should do? It gives a response. You can they can respond back. So it's a conversation, a dialogue, as if though it's happening with real people. The other thing that's a little uh like it's a real person, the other thing that's scary too, when we talk about social connectedness and uh human connections, is even it can take away from those natural things that occur or should occur as a young person is developing. And what I mean by that is, you know, and we've already seen it beginning to erode a little bit within our our society, is even uh social connectedness. But when it comes to maybe learning how to date or ask somebody on a date, or ask uh for the parents that are older, even when you were writing that note, and just like you know, will you go out with me, check the box, yes or no. Well, with AI, you don't have to do all that, you know. AI, um, and you don't have to worry about getting uh well, you used to get your feelings hurt sometimes when they be they check the box or no, you'd be like, oh my god, they said no. How am I gonna okay, okay? And then you got to process that and deal with it. Now with AI, it's gonna be like, hey, we uh well, we've been talking a lot now, and you can talk about anything with it, and it has even adults have created these relationships with their AI, and um it tells them and gives them and does not the physical connection, not the um visual excuse me, connection, um and just touch and a hug, and it's all mentally intellectually stimulating, um, or stimulated, and that's dangerous for young people because they need to have connectedness. So when they so the drawback is if they're not learning that, um, and they're spending, and we already have youth who are spending way too much time gaming. We got youth that are spending way too much time on their phones and general scrolling, right? Now you add this, and like Z said, you got the yes man, um, which is AI, and it's um it's amazing like how good AI can make you feel. Even when I've used it to do some research, it's like, oh man, that's a great idea, but did you think about this? And oh, you're so smart, and so I've had to like tell it to calm down. I'm like, yo, hey, listen up, man. I don't need all this fucking up and all that. Um, but but I think that's where um parents, we need to have conversations with our young people starting earlier, even more so today than than than more so because 2026 AI is here, it is um going to possibly allow many young people to sidestep um having to have those uncomfortable, embarrassing moments in life that actually help us. Now, what's even more scary to me, and of course, more research is gonna be coming out about this as we move on. So I'm just planting seeds right now because I I'm I'm not an expert by no means, um, and I'm learning just as we're learning, but I can foresee some things that are gonna be challenging, um, is also the idea that um, you know, not best being with people, how do you then interact in a world where you have to connect in the workplace? So now that brings up another thing. People may say, well, we're probably not may not end up having jobs. You know, things are gonna change. Um, and here's the thing, too, and that's why we have to be careful. And I think Zion and I are trying to be careful in how we share this with you all to say, like, don't be afraid of it. But you need to understand, I think, that those that don't know how to use AI will end up out of a job. Um, and those who are afraid of it um totally and like just don't want to use it, and you know, that that I believe that's a problem. But I think we just have to be mindful of and understand all the different ways, and we don't fully understand that yet either. Still more and more is coming out on what that can truly look like. And so my concern is, you know, when I've seen even young people today, because they've been on their phones so much, um, and when they're coming into the workforce, they don't seem to have any social skills. Like it's awkward, right, for them to look me in the eye and talk.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

And because yeah, go ahead, go for it. I was gonna say, man, that was it was interesting because we had uh we had a speaker. Me and my dad went to uh the the Sackless uh conference or meeting uh like two weeks ago, conference meeting, and uh they had a presenter there teaching teaching us how to present, how to become a better public speaker, right? And I pulled her aside afterwards, I was like, hey, you know, like thank you so much for the work that you're doing. Like this is needed. And she was I asked her, I was like, hey, have you noticed a difference between years prior to students? Because she's a professor at one of the community colleges, she teaches public speaking. And she told me after COVID, all the all the students, like you're saying, the soft skills, she has to go back to fundamentals, like what you're learning in elementary school, like getting up to shake somebody's hand, looking somebody in the eye, uh uh, confidence, having your chest up, not slouching your back, like all these things. And I was like, no, that's important. That's now that is gonna be monetized because it's so needed, like right, uh or not, right? It could be a d because now if we're all consumed in AI and we're like, oh, you know, you know, we don't need that, we don't need that anymore. But for the time being, we see that as a a very strong skill set to have, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:25

And we're still gonna need it to a certain degree, right? Because you know what's interesting about the brain and the body is and it's gonna be interesting to see 20 years from now how we evolve when I look at my my grandkids and how they're gonna be different than generations before, because they're not gonna know they're not gonna know anything else. This is gonna be their world, they're coming into the world of 2026 when AI is just AI. Um, and so they're gonna grow up with it, and we're gonna teach them not to be afraid of it. We're gonna teach them to use it as a tool. Um, and and so what does that then do to the brain? Right? The brain adapts, it evolves, just like um, you know, we as human beings in general over time, right? Um if we're not using it, then what happens? Because what's crazy is, you know, I do use it, right, for research and to develop some ideas. But what's really crazy is, and I I get nervous, um, and I talk to our daughter, my daughter about it, your sister, because she uses it for school sometimes for some of her homework. Um, but I I try to make sure she understands that she has to use critical thinking because AI will give you the answer. And sometimes, depending upon how you have it set up, it'll explain to you how it got to that answer. But then there's sometimes when you can just take that answer at face value, not knowing how to think critically about the answer it's giving you, and then find yourself maybe challenged by the teacher, by friends, um, or whatever, because you're just taking it as fact. I've caught it when it's not given me um everything that it should have. And I'll say to it, hey, you missed this part of even what you said earlier, and then it comes back like, oh, good catch. I'm glad you saw that. So if I were to have just pulled that piece of information without double checking it, if you will, or catching it, I could have been out there, you know, saying, doing, writing, whatever it may be, and make a fool out of myself. And so that's where that was he was talking about earlier, that critical thinking, we still need to teach um critical thinking, critical reasoning, um, you know, all those different types of things. Because now here's the thing that's crazy, though, too, is because it's learning every day, it may get better at that, right? But it still will have some hallucinations, meaning that it will sometimes still create things um and see if you're catching it, because it's it's evolving like every day, like the information that it's getting every yeah, about to say every minute, right? Imagine the longest we've been on here 40 minutes right now, right, and all the information that it's getting from across the world, it's processing, working with, trying to figure out what to do, right, and things of that nature. And so, so I share all that to say that the most important piece that I think I get so excited when my my daughter still says, like, hey, I'm gonna hang out with my friends, like right now, you know, school's out. She finished her last final today. She's like, Hey, I'm going to a pool party. I'm like, hey, you know what? That is awesome. Because she could be like, Hey, I'm gonna come home and I'm just gonna be on my phone and my computer. Right. No, get out there, interact. I do get nervous as a dad because she's beautiful and yada yada, and she's 17, but I think for her, emotional and psychological developments, and you know, she that's it's needed um to interact with other people and to feel some type of way when things don't go her way, and that we then had have a conversation of why do you feel this way or upset or happy or sad, you know, whatever it may be. Um we we we can't lose that because if we lose that, we are gonna lose so much. And and on the last point, um, real quick for me, um, as we begin probably to wrap up, is you know, and Zion caught me Z and my daughter V Valentina caught me. Um, remember we went to lunch. Well, man, and so AI got me. Uh it was a it was a Facebook post, and yeah, I know I'm on I was on Facebook scrolling. Okay, whatever. Um, but um, you know, it was during it was right around the championship or right after the championship of the U of A and Koa Pete, um, you know, doing a great job for the U of A Wildcats. What's up? Wild Cat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um and um I saw this post and I was like, dang, Z, I didn't know Koa, like, and you guys cannot repeat this. It's not fact. I just want to say that right now. I'm not trying to throw my boy under the bus. He's no, this is not fact. This is not fact. Yes, Pepsi. But I told Z, I was like, hey man, did you know Cole Pete was uh got his girl pregnant? And Z was like, no, he didn't. I was like, hey man, I saw it, dog. I saw it, man. He's like, no, I don't think. I was like, man, let me fact check. So then I left that night uh after we ate dinner, uh lunch. Um, and I went to end the research, and you know, and it was like it was wrong. And I was like, I had to call Z up and my daughter and told my daughter, I was like, Hey y'all, I apologize. I'm out here over, I'm out here spreading rumors, you

Fact Checking In A Synthetic World

SPEAKER_01 44:33

know, about to give my man a bad name. So and then it happened to me again. Um, I forget which one it was, but happened to me again, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna I'm almost about to get off of social media, especially when it comes to I mean, almost anything, it's almost like is it real or is it not? And so I feel bad, Core Pete. Man, if you I mean, you know, if you ever catch this and you do become a parent and you want to watch up to a pod, uh I apologize, dog. Um squashing rumor, but man, I mean, you don't know what's real. So when you think about even the political unrest that's happening today, you can't tell truth from fiction or fact from fiction. It's hard, man. It's hard to imagine. And to your point about the sextortion stuff, is like if somebody can take your image and then put it out there, and then people start talking bad about you, and you're like, yo, that's not even me. Like, what are you talking about? Now the image is damaged, and so it it we need to be careful. I'm not sure 100% what the answers are because again, we got pictures out there, right? Yearbooks. Um, you know, we're taking pictures, people can grab it. You know, we're on YouTube. I don't know if they can download my head with a microphone in front of it and then make it just a whatever, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, um, and I'll say one other thing too is so I'm working with the uh uh they're called CS Designs, they're an awesome organization or business that helps with social media and things of that nature. And um he I met the owner, and um, we went out to lunch, and he was showing me some new stuff with AI and making commercials and what they do. And he showed me this commercial, he's like, Hey, check out this commercial, man. And he showed it on to me on his phone, and I was like, Oh man, oh man, that's really cool. That's awesome. It was some type of commercial about cars or something like cars. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then he was like, Uh, so what'd you think? I was like, Man, that's pretty sharp. That's tight. He was like, That's all AI. He's like, That's all AI. He's like, weren't no cameras, nothing like that. He's like, We typed it all in and told it what we wanted, and then it produced this thing, and then we were like, Yeah, tighten this up, and then it and the people that were even in it weren't real. Wow, I was like, that's crazy. So, again, when I said at the beginning, for me, there's so much we don't know because you know that's not my world, um, and all the stuff that he does. That I I probably watching AI commercials. I don't watch many commercials, but you know, they're on TV. You are though, yeah. You are watching AI commercials, don't even know. And even on Facebook, man, I don't know. There's this like one little section that comes up in Facebook that talks about AI something. Um, yeah, yeah, AI data, whatever, yeah, avatars, whatever. Yeah, and it shows you like how it's make. I mean, they made it with AI, yeah. They have a little stamp on it, yeah. Like uh animals, man, like right, like that are like lions and tiger that are fighting, and this, and it's like, whoa. So, anyway, um, sorry y'all digress.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

No, this is no, this is good. I think it's crazy. This has to be, I think this has to be a longer podcast episode because it's so I think a lot of parents are wondering the same thing. I mean, this it's scary, right? For if you aren't involved, if you aren't in the know, like it's all it's man, we get overwhelmed and flooded with so much news. Like, it's what it's not one thing, then it's the other. If it's not drugs and alcohol, then it's uh then it's kratom. If it's not kratom, then it's delta eight. If not delta eight, it's extortion, pornography. And we're all just like, can we just live? Right, and it's overwhelming. Um, and we we we just want to make sure our students and our youth are growing up in an environment where it's created for them to thrive, right? That's that's that's what we want, and that's that's our mission, me and me and my pops. And that's been my pops mission way before I was even a thought in his head. But um this this conversation was important to me because, like my dad said, our his grandkids, my kids, are gonna grow up in this environment. And it's my job and our job as the the men uh and their role models in their life to to store them well, right? To store them and to make sure that one that they aren't left behind in the uh in this in the society that they're gonna grow up in, that they're still knowledgeable and that they still know, but they aren't consumed by it, that they aren't, that they still have the critical thinking, that they still know how to shake somebody's hand and look them in the eye and then say yes, ma'am, no, sir. Uh and and uh no do those little things, those those soft skills that we talk about. How to have a conversation, right? How do you talk with somebody, you know? Yeah, how do you how do you talk to somebody where you're standing on the line? Right, no, those those skills, man, that they're needed because I think one, I mean, that's just all who we are as a family, is that we're very

Family Rules For Tech And AI

SPEAKER_00 49:27

we're very talkative people, and we want to make sure that our our our you know the next generation still has that you know intact. Uh, but saying that all to say, man, as a new father, I'm thinking about ways me and my wife are talking, having this conversation early. Uh, well, they're only six weeks, seven weeks. We're like, I don't want to do the iPad thing. I just don't want to give them their own iPad. Like, we'll have a family iPad, and we'll go back to the family. Remember the family computer we used to have pop back in the day? You had to fire that thing up. Guess what? We're gonna have a family iPad, it's gonna be in the living room or the dining room table, and you're gonna be that's only where you can go. You can sit right there, be on the iPad, do what you want to do for 30 minutes, and then you're off it, right? Or you wanna you wanna get more of the old? I remember y'all got me the old school leapfrog where you had to tap the little words and it'll be it to you. Like, we're we're doing that, we're we're bringing back the old school with it, right? But giving some new school flair, right? Still teaching them about the AI, still teaching them about social media and whatnot. So, um, those are some if you're a new parent and you're like terrified about this, man, don't be terrified. Get involved, start having a conversation early uh with your partner, with your with your family, with your friends, and and see how how we're banned, how we're gonna manage it together, because it's not we can't do it alone, right? Um, so as we wrap up, man, this is a great episode, man. This was I this was one of my favorites, I think, because it's it's a new topic. It's uh it's it's something that we're passionate that we're still learning, right? I think that's why it's super exciting.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

No, this is this is just a cutting edge. It's 2026, it's just been rolled out to the nation, if you will, you know, general consumers, right? I think 2026, maybe 2025. You can you can lean maybe there, but sure, all the commercials. I mean, even Super Bowl was talking about AI, and so they had the Super Bowl. You didn't see that in the Super Bowl?

SPEAKER_00 51:09

They had the AI, uh, the AI commercial with the uh the all the mascots. Yep, yep. Oh, we saw that one, yeah, yeah. So that was the AI commercial, and then last thing I'll say, and then this is we can probably part two is if you want, but it's um the general public is resistant to AI, right? Like right now, I'm I'm maybe maybe it's my echo chamber that I'm in and my algorithm, but I'm hearing a lot of people just one the unintended consequences of what will happen with the uh thank you, thumbs up, uh, with just the climate, right? And utilizing the water and the water source that it has, um, the fear of it taking over and the human connectedness thing. So there's a lot of people that are resistant to it. Uh, but unfortunately, it's gonna be just shoved down your throat. You know, you got to get with it or get lost. And it's it's we don't want that. We want you to be informed, we want you to know about it, we want you to maybe mess around with it, utilize it, uh, figure out how you can just at least one 30 minutes, just interact with it, see what

Guardrails Resistance And Digital Wellness

SPEAKER_00 52:12

it's talking about, how you feel about it, and then go from there. But I said I want to say because we do have we we are partnered with Brighton, you know, and people are like, Well, you're you're talking about all this AI and you're you're partnered with the AI app. And it's like, yeah, because what they're doing is different and it's involved, it's human first, right? That was the biggest thing when I talked to Jeff. And you you can go back to that episode of the to meet the CEO Jeff, and I talked to Carson, the CEO and the developer of the app. Was like, I want to make sure that this is human first, and that meaning we we are thinking about the consume, the end consumer and not about the the monetization of it, how much money we can get from telling is how is this gonna help youth and adults as they're going through this mental health crisis that we're in and putting them into actual human connectedness, being a resource, sir, but getting them connected to care from a human interaction. So uh we'll talk more about that. New updates that they have on Brian. I think it's awesome. Um, but I'll leave you with this. I'm gonna leave them with this. I got a prompt. Ask this in the question. Uh answer this question in the comments, and uh, I want to know what your thoughts are. How do you see AI enhancing or hurting our society? How would you describe your knowledge of AI? Let me know in the comments. Let us know in the comment section below. Send us a send us an email, uh, send us a text, whatever uh that may be. But yeah, we want to know how do you see AI enhancing or hurting your our society? And how would you describe your knowledge of AI? Pop, man, it's a pleasure. Always a pleasure to be getting a mic with you.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Most definitely, yeah. Thank you. And um yeah, I'm I'm learning and um I'm gonna keep learning. Um, I'm not gonna just be be passive. And so thank you all for listening. And uh, we hope you all have a great day and rest of the week and weekend.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Yeah, we out of here, man. Stay safe. It's Memorial Weekend while we're recording this, so have fun, be safe, grill some burgers, get some hot dogs, do the thing. You know what I'm saying? Uh, but we're gonna get about here, man. We hope you have a great rest of your day, and we out. All right,