Many people have come to rely on chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot to help them prepare speeches, have a reply ready when confronted with a rude comment or question, prepare for job interviews and more.
Co-parents are increasingly using conversational artificial intelligence (AI) to help them communicate with each other, whether in writing, over the phone or in person. Chatbots can help keep emotions and negative feelings out of communications so that parents can focus on the topic at hand, which is typically the children.
Whether you need to respond to an angry or accusatory communication from your co-parent, remind them that they’re not sticking to the parenting plan or ask a big favor, getting chatbot input can be extremely helpful. For example, you may craft something you think is perfectly acceptable and get chatbot input saying it’s rather harsh.
Chatbots can also be used to help with parent-child conversations. They can help prepare for telling your kids about the impending separation, for example. They can also help address children’s questions or concerns about their co-parent and life in their other home without saying negative things about their other parent.
A few precautions
It’s important to protect your privacy when typing anything online. With chatbots, there’s also a slim chance that personal or confidential information could potentially show up in someone else’s response. Therefore, it’s best not to include things like names, addresses and court-related information that could identify you to someone else or compromise someone else’s privacy.
Further, no one should rely on chatbots for accurate legal information. The information that goes into chatbot responses comes from a wide variety of sources. Not all may be accurate.
Finally, while chatbots can help in the early, often difficult, days of co-parenting, it’s crucial to learn to communicate with your co-parent, their family and others on your own. This ultimately will benefit you and your children. So will having experienced legal guidance to deal with co-parenting agreements.