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Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello

 : and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there friends and welcome to my favorite time of day getting to spend time with you prescribing Hope for Healthy Families.

We are going to talk about some of the positive uses of artificial intelligence today

Listen, we got a great topic today. It's a topic actually that you might think that, that I love to hate on. And sometimes that is true. But we are going to talk about some of the positive uses of artificial intelligence today. And I will tell this story forever because it will never not be funny to me. But when AI first started coming out, and it's abbreviated in print, which I know a lot of people still read print or still read print on screen, and when you look at it, it's a. It looks like a big A and a little L. And I'll never forget my mother in law calling me, saying, I've been reading about this guy Al who is just messing up everything for kids. It seems like he's developed some new technology. I have no idea who is ow. It is AI It's a big A and a, a big I. A artificial intelligence. And it is also a really big influence in our homes. And I talk a lot about the dangers, about the risks, but today we're going to explore some of the benefits. I know that might be surprising to some of you, but there we go. And AI isn't coming. So someday it's not something that you're thinking about, maybe I'll adopt. It is already here. It is already in your home. It is in your school. It is in your workplace. It is all around our children. And that's one of the scary things about AI is that we're really kind of not even thinking intentionally about the ways that it is already shaping us. Now many parents and especially younger kids assume AI is simply a better search engine. Instead of Google becoming a verb. And we Google something now, kids just chat it. They chat something. That is their verb of looking it up. It's a smarter version of who I call she who shall not be Named. You know who I'm talking about, that virtual assistant. I can't say her name or it will activate everywhere here. Mine too. But today's AI has the capacity to tutor your kids, to answer their spiritual questions, to write essays, to create images, to offer emotional companionship, to recommend purchases, to influence beliefs, and increasingly become an unseen voice helping shape how our children think. Now, this is good, and it is also reason for caution, because AI is a tool, but it is not a neutral one. We have to be intentional in the way that we implement and monitor it. And for me, as a pnp, as a pediatric nurse practitioner, I think about this from a clinical perspective. We know from decades of developmental science that children learn through repetition. Now, those repeated interactions come through relationships. They come through interactions with the environment, with the people around them. And their brains are wired by what captures their attention, which is why we have a whole rewiring of brains from screens that's going on now and much of the hoopla that has gone on about the anxious generation. Now we know things like executive functioning, which is mature decision making, critical thinking, emotional regulation, empathy. All of these things develop best through human connection, not just consuming information or interacting with a robot that mimics human emotions. And now we're introducing conversation AI into that developmental landscape. Now, again, tech is a tool, but AI is not a neutral one. There are risks and benefits, and these are the things we're going to explore today. Not so much is AI good or bad, but does the way we use AI help us grow in wisdom, or is it just cutting time at other cost? Is it supporting our relationships or is it replacing them? Are we using it intentionally? Or is it shaping our family without our awareness? And is it strengthening our children's ability to think and create and discern? Or is it just making them more dependent on technology? We need them to have life skills just in case the computers go down. I say that from a, nursing based perspective and we'll talk about the faith implications of this, because I don't want to drive a conversation that's all about fear. You know, that's not me. We're not going to be fear driven. We're going to be faith centered. And every generation has navigated transformations with technology. And so we, we are going to talk about ways that it could potentially be leveraged for good to strengthen your family and your faith. And we are joined by someone today who is uniquely qualified to help us navigate this moment.

Sarah Dooley is helping families become AI literate

I'm talking today with Sarah Dooley. She's the founder of AI Empowered, Mom. She's an AI strategist, she's an educator, she's a technology leader. She has more than 20 years of experience building enterprise AI solutions for Fortune 500 companies, including a long list of. And today she's helping families become AI literate. That is what we all need so they can confidently use these tools without being controlled by them. She hosts the AI Empowered mom podcast. She has an upcoming book that will come out next year, the AI Empowered Family. And she explores practical, responsible AI adoption for everyday families. She's got deep technical expertise and real life parenting experience. Sarah and I spoke at the same conference earlier this year, and I was really fascinated by what she has to say. And Sarah, I'm so glad that you agreed to join me to talk about this on air.

Sarah Dooley : Oh, thank you so much for having me. And likewise, I was so inspired by your conversation at that conference, talking weaving technology and humanity and Christianity. So it was wonderful to learn from you and I'm glad to be here today.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, Sarah, it felt like, you know, we were definitely in our own lane in that conference. We were two moms who were there. Like, we're moms. We are. We also have this professional expertise. We're concerned about technology, but we really both have a heart to equip families. And I, I love that. And when we look at AI and the changes that are happening, I mean, we talked even at the conference, there were questions from the audience about how technology is fast, but AI is lightning fast. It's like dog years. It is so, so, so fast.

Give us a little, little working definition of what is AI

And so let's just talk about what is AI, because I think we're still not all on that. And when I read in your bio that you've, you've done AI for 20 years, people are going to be like, wait, what? I thought this was just last year. Give us a little, little working definition of what is AI.

Sarah Dooley : Sure. I've been working in technology for 20 years, and gentlemen, that I worked for a few years ago used to remind me that artificial intelligence has been around since I started working and long before, in fact, before I started, before I was even born. Artificial intelligence. The term was first coined in the 50s, and it was just used to describe thinking systems. A group of professors gathered at Dartmouth, and they had an idea that they were going to create a computer that could think like a human over a summer. Now, you can see here today, we're still on our journey with AI and how it is rapidly developing, but so many things have happened in those seven decades since the term was first coined. And but really what changed things for so many families is when in 2022, ChatGPT came on the scene and put AI right at the fingertips of families, of children, of seniors. ChatGPT is just one type of AI. Ah, it's generative AI means it's a prediction machine, is trained on those huge amounts of data that you and I talked about when we were at that conference. And it can predict patterns based on what's in its data and training. And if it doesn't have something in the pattern to answer the prompt that a person or a family member gave it, it'll generate something, it'll create confidently create some new text or content to respond to that. Generative AI is built on decades of new AI, ah, advancements like machine learning or natural language processing. But in that time in 2022 when ChatGPT came on the scene, it mean families using their own language, using just their fingertips or their voice, could interact with AI. No technology training, no coding needed. It brought it into our homes and it really changed things. And it's become the fastest adopted technology, faster than social media, faster than computers, faster than the Internet. Just like you were saying, it's been like a rocket ship changing our lives and our families in just the few years since it's been out.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, Sarah, I think there's families who think, well, we don't use that. But I'm really stunned. I'm stunned at the ways I'm using AI and maybe not even aware of it, give some practical examples of how AI is coming into our homes, maybe without, even us being actively aware of it.

Sarah Dooley : Sure. It, one of the things that AI is really good at is predictions and recommendations. And a lot of families might not understand the algorithms that are driving their choices and behaviors. If families use social media, if they watch or stream content online, if they're readers and take a recommendation on what they should read next, what book or, what podcast they should listen to, AI is behind all of those things. And even if you're not avid in social media or you're using less technology, when your water comes into your house, AI has been involved in the testing of that water. When your packages are delivered, AI has likely solved the logistical challenges to get that from whoever created it to whoever ordered it, the communications, even if you're reading a newspaper, a lot of that content has been trained on our personal data and created so that it could deliver something to us so that people would buy it. So that people could sell advertising. So even if you're not logging into ChatGPT or other AI tools every day, it's very likely that from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, AI has had some hand, not just, not necessarily generative AI, but, AI more broadly has had a hand in the decisions and the purchases and the you know, just everything that's touching you throughout the day.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And that's what we're seeing debated in the policy arena right now is what is the duty of a company to disclose when you've had an interaction with AI? Because right now there aren't very many laws or policies that govern that. And so this is a lot of people saying, hey, I'm. I pulled up and this happened to me, Sarah. I pulled up to a fast food restaurant in another state when I was traveling. I was going to grab something quick to go when I got into a city late. And I thought, I think I'm talking to somebody from AI. I think I'm talking to an AI generated assistant. But I'm really not sure. And so I started looking it up. I googled it because, you know, I'm Gen X, I didn't chat it, I googled it. And I thought, sure enough, yes, that they were using that, but that they would pick personalities and dialects and everything that would match where they were so it would seem more authentic. And this is all like we're thinking, okay, when are we interacting with AI? When are we not? And to do a little bit of, forward looking. I know you and I talked about this at the conference. This, you're talking about generative AI. Give a little peek to what's ahead with agenetic AI. I think this is something that's important for parents and families to keep on the horizon.

Sarah Dooley : Agentic AI combines the powers of generative AI to create new content based on that, that data that it was trained on, the training that it has received, and the power of automation to take action on its own. So really at its heart, agentic AI is AI that can act without human oversight. It can potentially for a regular family, maybe search for something that you wanted to purchase and make a purchase on your behalf for a company. Agentic AI could serve as a customer service representative and help resolve your issue with your tech. You know, with your home Internet, for example, when you have a problem, it could connect to your system remotely. Agentic AI is really exciting to think about. The promises of how it could help people, how it could reduce costs of technology, how, how it could provide new learning. But it's also very frightening to think about AI without human oversight. Now in 2026, a lot of people said this is the year of agentic AI we're halfway through the year and we're still learning so much about this new technology. We're not seeing it in the way that a lot of people predicted it would show up in homes or that companies would use it. So I think we're actually still a long way off from really harnessing the power of agentic AI but it's so important to learn about it now so that we can be prepared for our family when AI might really be, you know, sitting right next to us in our, in our homes or when we can't tell who we're talking to, whether it's a human or an AI agent.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, and thank you so much for catching me on that. I can't get the nurse out of me. I keep saying agenetic and it's agentic, I know that, but I can't get the clinical terms out of my head. But it really feels like that there is no DNA. This is not a human entity. We're talking about really incredible the capabilities of things like robots. And I'm following stories like now we have robots that can go along with AI that can really feel more personalized and humanoid and all of these things.

First reaction most parents have to AI is fear, says Dr. Jessica Peck

Sarah, they really, I think the first reaction that most people have, most parents have is fear. There's some people who are really excited, who are early adopters and think, oh, this would be amazing, but there is an undercurrent of fear. And we're coming up on our first break here, but give a little preview to where we're going to go with that. Where we don't want to have a fear based approach. There are ways. You're called the AI M empowered mom. There are ways to leverage it for good.

Sarah Dooley : Well, I'll say first that fear is well founded because the risks are real. But the best thing that we can do as parents, as family members, as leaders in our communities is to learn about AI increase our AI literacy so that we can have empowered conversations with those that we care about. So that's the first step. If you're feeling that fear, which I really believe is, is well founded, and I feel it myself.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, absolutely. Well, that's what we're going to talk about. There are lots of things coming up. I have lots of question. And again, let's remind ourselves technology itself is not the enemy. And Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. And I believe that even as I'm talking to Sarah about things like AI and like agentic AI and generative AI and all of these technologies that are coming, the heart issues behind them, the relationship building principles, these things are all the same. And that is a comfort that we can take, is that we are equipped for such a time as this to serve our families well. And when we come back, Sarah's going to talk some more about how we can have wisdom when using AI, when engaging with it instead of fear. She's also going to share some really practical tips that she's using and leveraging AI to help with things like, like meal planning and budgeting and all those kinds of things that can really take our time and energy. More with Sarah Dooley, the AI Empowered mom when we come back.

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Graves Into Gardens by Brandon Lake and Elevation Worship: But it couldn't fill me there's empty breaks and treasures in faith are never enough then you came along

 : and put me back together and every desire is now satisfied Here in your love hey. Oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you Lord there's nothing nothing is better better than you

Dr. Jessica Peck: welcome back friends that is Graves Into Gardens by Brandon Lake and elevation worship.

Sarah Dooley talks about ways we can wisely engage with artificial intelligence

And we are talking about a really encouraging message today. I am Talking about something you may think that I love to hate on. But I do talk a lot about the risks of artificial intelligence, of AI. But today we're talking about some of those benefits and how we can engage wisely instead of run away in fear and abject project terror. I'm talking to Sarah Dooley. She is known as the AI Empowered Mom. You can find her at aiempoweredmom.com she's a tech leader, she's an author, she's a strategist, and she's a mom. And she's here talking about ways that we can wisely engage with AI. And before the break, we started talking about some of the fears. And you heard Sarah say that those fears are well founded. We definitely agreed on that. We both presented on that, at a conference. We were both at that. We talked about a lot of the risks that are associated with AI and replacing critical thinking and giving us false confidence and believing something that seems authoritative but is known to hallucinate. We see emotional substitution. I've been talking about this a lot, how AI is competing with parents, because AI has seemingly endless supplies of time and attention, and it doesn't forget things. It asks about things, and it tells you what you want to hear instead of truths you might need to hear. We have concerns about privacy. We have concerns about erosion of human connection. We have concerns about exposure to violent, explicit content, all kinds of things, and environments where kids are moving in and their thumb moves faster than the prefrontal cortex in their brain. It's also, we're not sure how to use it ourselves as parents. So how do we model that? So, Sarah, let's go back to some of the risks of that.

It's important for families to really be up on their AI literacy

And I want you to be able to finish that and talk about that, about what you see as the, as the risks and why it's important for families to really be up on their AI literacy.

Sarah Dooley : You know, some of the risks that I really worry about are they are just the same ones that you alluded to. The erosion of human connection, the lack of the removal of friction from our lives so that our brains aren't as sharp as they used to. You know, some people are saying now that the way we encourage folks to exercise their bodies, to work out, you know, in the past, people didn't need to do that because they were working out, working with their hands, working with their legs, working with their arms. And now we have to exercise our bodies because often we're not moving them as much. A lot of people are saying now with AI, we're going to in the future, need to exercise our minds because AI Will remove a lot of friction. And I worry about what that means for families or for people who might not be up on their AI Literacy and might not know that this is coming. I also worry about bad actors. I worry about humans who use this technology, who make bad choices and use it to harm and hurt others. So these are the things that keep me up at night, which is really my mission, why I started AI M Empowered mom. To help families become aware of the risks, to know about the potential benefits, and to move into this new AI Era with confidence and with a little bit of clarity so that they can communicate with their families.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Moving with confidence. I think some of us are getting dragged kicking and screaming, if I'm honest, Sarah. We're like, no, we don't want to learn a new thing. And we see this wave of nostalgia, the, what were you like in the 90s? And I see now this whole new genre of social media reels of like, you just watch Christmas in the 80s and maybe you go shopping at Sears and you're going to, you know, rent a video or something like that. We want the world to be different, but it's not. What would you say to the families who feel just really overwhelmed? How could they take some meaningful, practical first steps forward in being determined to develop AI Literacy so that they can help translate the world for their kids?

Sarah Dooley : I would say first, I hear you and I feel it. I had three kids under in 18 months, now that they've grown a bit. My twins are six and the big girl is eight. But, you know, I know that feeling of, like, I just can't take on one more thing. I can't learn another thing. I don't want to engineer a prompt, but truly, I think two things are so important here. One, learning is easier than you think. And two, we've got to stay out ahead of our children and our elders, who also are, most at risk when it comes to AI fraud. and for us as parents, if there are parents out there listening, grandparents, it's important, too. But to stay out ahead and protect our family members, I think is so important. So I hear you. I know that feeling where you don't want to learn one more thing. And it's called a double bind. You know, when there are two statements that both could be true, but they have negative impacts on each other. So if we say we don't have time to learn something, I can't take on one more thing. And I could learn this thing, and it could really make my life easier. Both of those things are true. They seem to conflict with each other. But I believe that if parents invest in AI literacy and learning a little bit about AI, they can use it to reduce their mental load, make their life a little bit easier, and be empowered to have those conversations, whether it's with their kids or with their elders, especially when it comes to teenagers. You know, teens can spot a fraud a mile away. And if we try and have a conversation with our teens and we don't know about AI ourselves, maybe we call it al, like you mentioned when we were getting started here, the teens will never listen to us. And that's why learning about AI literacy, learning it and figuring out how to use it to make our lives a little bit easier, to make that space, to keep our families safe and for more human connection, that's really what I believe in.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm so glad you mentioned elder people. and really, when I say elder, I'm talking anybody Gen X and up, because we did not. We are the generation that did not. I say we is Gen X because I'm Gen X. We did not grow up as digital natives. And I have seen elderly people fall prey to scams because they look so real. And Sarah, even when AI first started coming out, my kids would say, oh, yeah, it's really easy to spot what's AI, but they've even come to me, told me it's harder and harder to do. We need to have these conversations in both directions with elderly friends and family members and loved ones, but also the younger age. Sarah, this is another really tough transition because parents have gotten used to talking about having a phone. How old should you be when you have a phone? How old should you be when you have social media? And the answer to both of those is, wait as long as possible. You know, put that off as long as possible. But AI is really not like that because we see teens and kids this Gen Alpha who are reaching the later teen years, and now Gen Beta, who is their temporary. I think that's going to stick. Gen Beta is now being born after them. We're really going to have to talk about this much younger than we would probably like to, don't you think?

Sarah Dooley : Think I do. AI conversations began in my family around age 4, when my children were 4 years old. And that might sound crazy, but if folks use she who must not be named, like you mentioned before, if you have a household assistant, a voice assistant, or one in your mobile device that you speak to, an AI where kids have awareness and are hearing you interact with AI, that's the time as soon as they have awareness that you are talking to, an AI tool or a voice assistant, that's the time to start having these conversations and talking about what is human, what are we as a family and what an AI assistant is. It's not our friend, it's not our family member. It's a thinking machine that can help us, but it can also make mistakes. It doesn't have hands. You know, one of the big things that I talked to my girls about when they were little, they said, is it right handed or left handed? You know, the devices that we would talk to. When you say it doesn't have hands, it's not made with hands. It's not a person, it's not our family, it's not our friend. It can help us, but it can also be wrong. So enforcing those messages as young, as young as kids are, gaining awareness of these systems in their lives. And I would really say that you can't start too early because having these conversations often and early shows to be better.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, that's such a great example. You wouldn't think like asking, oh, is it right handed or left handed? That's such a great illustration, Sarah, of how kids are thinking. They're developmentally limited in their ability for abstract reasoning. And even as adults, I'm having trouble getting my mind wrapped around AI and, and what are the human, like, dimensions? We don't even have vocabulary when we talk about even, like, do we say he? It's not really a he. It's not a person. I don't want to personify it, but, you know, it's just, it is, it feels like just completely uncharted territory.

Give us some more practical examples for how you are talking that out using AI together

Give us some more practical examples for how you are talking that out and using AI together. I think that's one of the most important things for parents to do is when they engage with, AI technology, Turn around and then translate it and explain exactly what you did and why you did it.

Sarah Dooley : First I say, you know, talk. When I'm using AI, I'm talking to my daughters, just as you mentioned. And I'm saying, here's what I'm doing and here's why. You know, whether it's getting, voice directions. If the computers went down, I would have trouble getting home from the studio that I'm sitting in today because I relied so heavily on navigation when I'm using that. I'm talking to my kids about like, we use this because I don't know my Way around. I'm in a new city, and I want to keep our family safe while we're driving or in. When it comes to meal planning, I talk to my kids about. I use this. I use AI to help us with meal planning so we can spend more time enjoying our family dinner together. We can eat more wholesome meals at home. Because I've used AI to make a plan. and I do it for party planning too. And I always talk to the girls about that because one of our family values is celebrating. We celebrate life's little moments. That's something that we always talk about in the family. Honesty, curiosity, and celebrations. These are big things for my family. And I talk about using AI to help with planning these celebrations so that we have more time to enjoy each other and spend time together. And in. First, I started with the talking, and now we do a lot of AI experiments side by side. This summer, my kids went to acting camp. And you, know, they're just 6, 6 and 8, but they had all these lines to memorize. And it happened to be a week that I was traveling for work, going to talk to a group of PTA leaders about using AI safely in schools. And I wasn't going to be there to. To support them in learning their lines. And they had real expectation at that camp that the kids would learn these lines for their performance. So side by side, we sat down and built an AI assistant that they could practice their lines with. Now, they couldn't use it own because they need somebody to log into it for them. My husband did that, but we built it. And then the best thing that happened was it got some of the lines wrong. And that opened up a beautiful conversation about AI literacy. And AI makes mistakes and you're the person so you know what your lines are. you know, so you know, better than an AI system. But it's here to help us. So, you know, building those little AI things, we've built some little games together. Whatever they're interested in. When they got interested in different books, we could build a little, AI game that they could play. or even just. We've just come back from the beach and built a scavenger hunt. We worked together to build a scavenger hunt for a certain state park, and then we went to that state park, and we're able to find most of the things on the scavenger hunt, but it wasn't quite right. So doing that side by side helps us, helps them learn how to use AI and especially when AI makes a mistake. I Think those are the best, richest, most, powerful learning moments for our family that wouldn't show up. It's harder to do that, to just communicate an AI field to kids. But when we're working on it side by side and they see it, make mistakes, I'm like, oh, they're getting it. It's sinking in.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I know you've peaked a lot of people's ears, thinking, wait, you said recipes and what else? And one of the great things about AI is that it is showing early signs of being somewhat of an equalizer. Whereas, you know, before, you would have to. Maybe you don't have the resources to hire a coach or buy a certain piece of technology. There are certain things that are becoming more accessible, and we are going to talk about those before we finish. So don't go away, because we'll talk about those in the third segment. But you talked about some of those practical applications, Sarah. walking through. This is what I'm doing. This is. This is how I'm doing it. This is why I'm doing it. There's some more complex concepts there. There's a difference between information and wisdom and truth, and how do we use AI while also making sure those clear differentiators are there and they know where to go for each of those things.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Things.

Sarah Dooley: Talk to your kids about what information comes from AI

Sarah Dooley : I love this question. And, you know, we think about this a lot in, my family, like, what information comes from AI. And I love that distinction when you said, when you called those out. So for us, information is like data. You know, it's raw, and truth represents something real or something accurate or something that doesn't change. And wisdom is the ability to understand it in, our real life or in our real family. So for us, like, info is the what, and maybe truth would be the why. And wisdom can only come with a. With learning, with maturity, with values, with mission. And I love the idea of talking to my kids if you know the difference between information and truth. And, you know, AI gives us information, it does not give us truth. And the truth comes from what we believe in, what our family values, what our family mission is, what we stand for. And that cannot come out of AI so have. And that's complex. It's hard to talk to kids about this. That's why these conversations, I really believe they need to happen early and often so that they can see AI make a mistake, so that we can stop, say, see, that's information that is not the truth. That is not wisdom that comes from us as humans.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, when we look at where AI is trying to replace humans. That's really what I see as one of the greatest dangers, is that AI is integrated into a lot of toys. And we saw even in the last year, a bunch of major toy companies actually pulled back their AI rollout because I think, you know, they see it, they know it's experimental, and they've got to proceed with care, with caution. And I appreciate that. But it is in social media, media platforms, it's embedded in pretty much any electronic application that you use. There's this element of AI companionship, and it can be hyper personalized on many platforms where you can give it a certain accent that you want, you can choose the gender, you can choose the kind of personality that it has, and then it trains to like you. And that's what I'm concerned about, Sarah, because that's a pretty fierce competition with parents. How do we make sure that our relationship means primary and the most influence? Windshield.

Sarah Dooley : Okay, there's two ways to do this, and I'll start with one that's more technical, probably where you expect me m to go as AI empowered mom. But just in the same way that we can personalize these tools with a voice that we like or an accent, we can also personalize them with safer settings for our families. Whether it's setting up parental controls, setting up time limits, being clear that AI should not serve as a family member or offer therapeutic advice. For example, I include that in the instructions. And the AI tools that I use that do not set up, substitute. You are no substitute for a, doctor or, you know, do not provide me with therapeutic mental health or physical health guidance. And I, I personalize my tool, AI tools for myself and for my family to help keep us safe. I do those things now just to, just to safeguard my family for what might come in the future. And then I, you know, really, we can keep ourselves safe by personalizing the tools, but we can also set up, the right safeguards in our families by deciding as a family, what, what do we stand for? What is our goals? Whether it's. For some families it's to serve God. For some families, it's to raise independent children. For others, it's to serve their community. Thinking about what's most important, thinking about our values, and then thinking about the role that technology plays. This requires deeper reflection. But figuring out how technology plays a role in your mission and then setting up boundaries to support that is really the work that I want all families to do. So, for example, for my family, you

Dr. Jessica Peck: know what I'm going To hold you right there. I'm going to hold you right there. For example. We're going to come right back to that after the break. We'll learn more from Sarah Dooley. You can find [email protected] and everything that she's saying has the same thread running through it. It requires intentionality, and we're here to help you and give you some hope along the way. We'll see you on the other side of this break.

The early church fathers viewed the scriptures as divinely inspired

 : Here's Dr. Carl Trueman from the American Family Studios documentary the God who Speaks.

Dr. Carl Trueman: The early church fathers viewed the scriptures as divinely inspired. Often they would use the image of a, musical instrument, as if Scripture had been written in the way that, say, notes come out of a flute when it's played by a flute player as if the writer was the flute and the spirit was that which was creating the tune. Certainly they regarded Scripture as authoritative. When you look at the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, they're very happy to quote Scripture and consider that to have closed down the argument. So obviously, the Apostolic Fathers rooted tremendous authority in the actual words of Scripture itself, which implies they had a very high view of its inspiration.

 : Visit thegodwhospeaks.org.

Testimony by Terrian: This is the moment where everything turns. Didn't think I, would see it was hard to believe Heaven crashed is to earth? I've read the stories of all that you've done? Parted the sea and set captives free? Never thought I'd be one? I am a living, breathing, walking testimony. I am the living proof of what the Lord has, done. They call it crazy? But they can't take away my story? Cause I am a living, breathing, walking testimony.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Friends.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That is testimony by Terrian.

Sarah Dooley is founder of AI Empowered Mom

When we talk about writing our story, one of the forces in our world today is AI. And if we're not really careful, AI can write parts of our family story without us even thinking about it. Today I'm talking to Sarah Dooley. She is founder of AI Empowered Mom. You can find her@aiempowered Mom.com and she is really thoughtfully engaging with technology. She's a tech leader, a strategist, an author, and like I said, most importantly, a mom who's walking alongside all parents trying to navigate this world. That can feel overwhelming. And Sarah, right before the break, we were talking about being intentional with the use of AI and you were about to give us an example of how you think about your mission as a family and how that transition translates to AI adoption. So I'm going to give it back to you right there.

Sarah Dooley : Oh, thank you. Well, I was thinking about my mission and I think about it often as a family. Our, my husband and I have sat down and drafted our mission as a, ah, goal to set to, raise healthy, independent children in a safe environment. And to do that, we thought about how technology applies to that. And we've had to set some boundaries and limits to keep our kids while growing their independence, but keep them safe. So, for example, we have a strict no screens in bedrooms rule. I sleep with my phone downstairs, we don't bring our phones. I set the example and we don't bring our phones into the bedroom. My kids don't have them, but when they do, they won't be allowed in their bedrooms. And it's just examples like this where we think about, what is our mission, what is our goal, what are our values and what's important to us and then how can technology help or harm those? and setting that your boundaries, driven by your values and your mission, is the way that I hope all families will think about AI and other the new technology advancements that we can't even imagine right now that are coming in the future.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, Sarah, I'm sorry I keep referring to myself being Gen X, but I just can't get over it. I'm trying to translate this new world. And I think about growing up watching the Jetsons, and the Jetsons had robots that took care of them and robots who helped their family. But you have said that AI should function more like a helpful assistant, not another family member. And that may seem outlandish, that may seem absolutely wild to think about, but that is where some technology companies are going. And they're already building and creating and releasing technology that is like that, that can feel like a real person, that's there for companionship. What does it look in everyday life to use AI as a helpful assistant and not a relationship replacement?

Sarah Dooley : You're right. It's wild to think, but now you can sign up for a wait list where companies promise that in the next year they'll deliver a robot to your home for the low, low price of $35,000 to help with household tasks. And you know, it's just crazy to think about that. But already AI can do a lot of things to help with those, tasks and household management things that we have to do that sit on our shoulders and maybe drain us and take time away when we could be spending or on ourselves. Or on ourselves. some of the ways that AI helps me day to day is one does it manage my calendar? We have to keep a detailed family calendar. My kids have a number of activities. We're a very busy family and that calendar keeps us running. My goal is to never actually touch the calendar myself, just have it come back to me, have it. So I use AI to add things to my calendar to identify when we have clashes, when something needs to be rescheduled. It helps us manage our pickup and drop off schedule. So AI, whatever. If you're using a calendar powered by Microsoft or Google, there are already tools embedded both of those that can help you with calendar management so you can spend less time calendaring and more time with family. I also do subscribe and save for different purchases that won't go bad, things that are non perishable. So I don't spend any more time since my kids were in diapers. I just subscribe and save and automated my purchasing for all household products. And think of, you know, it doesn't seem like a lot today that I would save since I don't order my paper towels or buy them in the grocery store. But think about that over a lifetime that since you, know eight years, I haven't spent any time buying any of those things and I've saved 5% while I'm at it. So a lot of grocery stores or online retailers will allow you to subscribe so that those purchases just come to you. Saving time and using AI also to save money. I also have an AI driven grocery list that comes out Sunday morning and an AI created meal plan. And when that meal plan falls by the wayside like it does in the best of weeks, you know where I start out on Sunday and think that I have a great plan and then by Wednesday I've forgotten to defrost it. I also use AI to snap a picture and upload it to an AI tool and say, okay, I missed defrosting. So what can I make with what I have on here? Hand. It needs to be on the table in 30 minutes and it needs to accommodate all of our picky preferences. And AI knows us well enough to help me solve any of those. Help me plan in the big picture and resolve a meal crisis in the small term.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I know you, like I said, I think that there are a lot of ears that are perking up and thinking, oh, I want to learn how to do that. But what you've described, Sarah, I've heard you say it over and over again. You were really intentional about how you decided to use a tool. You learned how to use it and then you evaluated its use in your home. And I think that's really important. And what you're describing are, all of the things that take the mental load. You mentioned earlier, Sarah, about how in previous generations, you know, we moved our bodies a lot more, and the concerns were really more physical. We're seeing a resurgence of a new remake of Little House on the Prairie. I mean, people were worried about the crops and getting destroyed by hail and things like that. We were worried about those physical things, things. Now it's the mental load of parenting. It is the scheduling, the eating. And we're trying to eat healthy, but we're also trying to eat on a budget. And you're trying to balance all of these things, that mental load. And a lot of the practical tools you just described really are helping with that. So what are the ways that you see A.I. really offloading some of that mental burden that you might feel so that you might have more mental and emotional capacity to deal with the meltdown that comes in the grocery store or the fears that come at bedtime or some of those other more relational elements of parenting.

Sarah Dooley : You know, I think of the mental load in three buckets. I think of the anticipatory labor that families need to do to think about what's coming, whether it be an opportunity, something good, or a potential risk, or something that could m be a challenge for the family. There's a lot of work that family leaders have to do to think about what is coming next. When seasons change, when kids grow up, when our elders age. All of those things that carry is a tax on, you know, decision making and thinking about that, what's coming up for families is taxing and fatiguing. Next, I think about cognitive labor, and that's actually like thinking about the options and making a decision. For the millions of things that we do as families every day, from what we're going to eat to how we're going to get somewhere, to what our goals are, you know, where we're going to go for a summer vacation, to if college is on the in the future, to what does technology mean for our family that requires weighing of options and making decisions, decisions. And then third, I think about emotional labor, all the feeling work that we need to do for families. And I love using AI to help me with anticipatory labor, thinking about seasonal changes or anticipate, you know, health challenges or health opportunities that might come up. I use AI a lot when it comes to those things and with helping identify options and support me in my decision making. So that there's more of me left to do that emotional labor, like you said, to be there at bedtime or when there's a nightmare at night, you know, or when my kids really need me to show up and listen to them. I need more in my tank so that I have time and emotional capacity to do that. And I create that capacity by using AI to help me with the anticipatory and cognitive labor of modern life.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You also talked earlier, Sarah, about reducing friction with AI and some of those things are great. Just like you talked about we can reduce some friction and some mental offload pieces. Like, I love the thought of being able to upload a picture. Just this is what I have, what can I make? And just somebody making that decision for me so that I don't have to think about that. That's, that's really great. But you also talked about some of the dangers that we have in kids, you know, having that friction reduced and their ability to think. And we're having, going to have brain gyms now instead of just body gyms. What are ways that you use AI for help with your kids while also being mindful not to remove every friction point so that they are still engaging in critical thinking and learning how to make wise decisions within intention.

Sarah Dooley : For my kids, it's mostly about communication and conversations. You know, I'm talking to them about AI and sometimes we're using it side by side and we're doing it a lot to have fun and bring joy into our lives. But I'm also really intentional about that. And I was thinking about it over the weekend. I was visiting my in laws and we went to their church carnival. They had a, their big annual fundraiser where they had a lot of games that you can play. And the games, you know, just like regular carnival games like throw the ball and knock three over. Knock three can over, something like that. And some of the games you could win a prize no matter what and other games you, you might lose. And some of them were pretty challenging, like throwing that ball at those three cans. I think they're weighted on the bottom. Like. It was very difficult even for my little softball players. And it turned out my girls didn't want to play. We, I was trying to steer them to the games. Like, look, if you do that one, you're gonna get a prize. What don't you want to get a prize? And they said no, they didn't want to do that. They wanted to do the others. And it just dawned, dawned on me like that was this is the moment. This is what I'm seeing where my kids need that friction because the they get joy in trying. And then if they win a prize, then it's so much more gratifying than everybody wins. So, you know, when we were leaving, I was like, girls, you see how it feels to work hard, to try hard, and then actually get rewarded something versus automatically that's, you know, that this is something that's important in our family. Working hard. So just looking for those little moments, moments every day that I can talk to the girls about our values, about what's important. And then when, without wearing them down too much, when I can apply it to AI, I like to bring it back to them because I don't want to remove friction from their lives. I want to remove friction from our household admin so that we have more time to go to a carnival and try not those three cans over.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I agree. I think those games are really hard, but it's good for kids to have to have some effort. Like, we talk about that a lot. And I love the way that you're just seamless, seamlessly working in conversations, using those environmental prompts to have a discussion. This is, you know, this reminds me of the verse from Deuteronomy 6. Like, talk about these things as you walk along the road, as you walk through the church carnival. Talk about all of these things that we're trying to teach them, which is so great.

AI can be really helpful for working parents who are strapped for time

Let's talk for just a second about working parents because we know that the environment, the economy is tough and we're talking about rising price of food and gas and all of those things. And there are a lot of parents who are really working hard. They may be working too. Jobs, jobs and. And maybe feel like they don't have as much time to dedicate. I know there's some who are maybe thinking, I wish I had more time. I wish I could stay at home or whatever it would be. What are some ways that you found AI to be really helpful for working parents who are specifically really strapped for time?

Sarah Dooley : AI has been helpful in prioritizing, helping me manage my time better. And I hear this from a lot of working parents. When there's too much to do and you're carrying it all in your mind or on your shoulders, just talking it out with an A. AI tool while being mindful of your data privacy and getting some help with prioritization. Just thinking, I have all of these things to manage. And as a working parent, we juggle so much getting a little support from a thought partner like AI to think about how you can prioritize do the most valuable tasks first think about when you have the most energy and when you should apply your energy to the work that you have to do. I also have found great thinking about the tasks that don't require a heavy cognitive load. And how can you give those over to AI like, like taking notes or summarizing meetings if you work in an in knowledge work type of job. I haven't taken notes in meetings since I got my first license for Microsoft Copilot in 2024. You know, I, that is something I delegate to AI because it was a low value task for me and now I can be much more focused in my work meetings. I don't need to worry about taking notes. And that's just one example. And one thing I would encourage family members to do who are thinking about how do I stretch my time and stretch my budget is you can use AI to help you, even just writing the prompts, you know, if you know you have something that you need to, to work on and you want AI to get a, get a little bit of support from it, but you don't even have the energy or the thought that left in the tank to write a prompt. You can ask AI to write a prompt for you. And I do this all the time. I know I need to create a strategy for a terrible overflowing, email my downloads folder for example at work. It's just where everything is stored. And I know it's a risk for how I'm storing all of my files and documents instead of coming up with a way to deal with that myself. I just went to AI and said write a prompt to help me organize my digital files so that I can find things more easily so I don't spend so much time searching. And this applies to anything whether you're, whether it's real or physical or something in the digital realm. But you can use AI to help you with those things that are slowing you down. You can ask it to even do the work of writing the prompt for you all so that we can spend time as humans in the high value activities that really require us and our thinking and our humanity.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And you teach people to do [email protected] we're almost out of time, Sarah.

Sarah says she delegates low value tasks to artificial intelligence

But I love the way that you said that you delegate low value tasks. What would you not delegate? What are those relationship value things? What would you not give to AI to do?

Sarah Dooley : I'm not giving AI my deepest thoughts, my big questions, the deepest things that make me me. I and my husband and I have agreed about this in our marriage too. We talked about to each other. We don't talk to AI about our marriage. We don't talk to AI about deep questions about our children. we cannot be assured of any data privacy when we're doing things online. So when. When it comes to deep thinking or the really thoughts inside my heart and soul and mind, I keep those to myself. I don't share that. And of course, parenting decisions, leave it up to me. AI can give me some advice, but I'm in charge of my family.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Sarah, I'm so grateful for you. I'm grateful there's a mom out there who gets it, who knows what parents are facing, but also is using your technical, academic and expertise to help translate wisdom into our application of AI. And you're doing that with such intentionality. And AI is changing so fast. But the foundations of healthy families have not changed at all. Children and families and spouses, they still flourish through secure relationships. Truth still matters. Wisdom matters. Character matters. And our hope isn't found in our hope of keeping up pace of with technology. Thank goodness for that. And we have a hope in a much higher place. Our. Our hope is found in raising children whose hearts and minds are anchored in Christ, even while technology is changing. Ah. And as wherever you are in your AI intentionality, I pray, as I always do, that the Lord will bless you and keep you. And I'll see you right here tomorrow. We'd like to thank our sponsors including PreBorn. PreBorn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion. And every day their network clinics rescue two-hundred babies lives. Will you join PreBorn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com/AFR the views and

Jeff Chamblee: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Sarah Dooley, founder of the AI-Empowered Mom, talks with Jessica about using AI (Artificial Intelligence) to lighten the mental load of everyday life and ways that we can raise wise families in an age of intelligent machines. 

https://aiempoweredmom.com/