Parents Still Matter in the Machine Era

contact@corebaseit.com (Vincent Bevia) — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0100

A line in the April 2026 issue of IEEE Computer stopped me mid-read. N. Kshetri and J. Voas point out that for earlier generations, parents, teachers, clergy, and professors were the primary educators, and that for the current generation, artificial intelligence and social media are also playing that role. That should make every parent stop and think.

Explain, yes. Form, no.

A model can walk through algebra in several ways, build study guides, run quizzes, and return feedback on demand. In many families, tools like ChatGPT are already a default for homework help, and a human tutor is not always the first option when the schedule is tight or the cost is high. The part I do not outsource is the difference between information and formation.

A chatbot can help draft an essay. It does not model integrity in the room with you. An algorithm can tune pacing. It cannot love a child, work through a bad attitude with patience, or pass on wisdom through example. I am not trading those roles for anything that runs on a GPU.

The slow slide is the failure mode

Children using AI is a manageable problem on its own. The larger problem is when adults, step by step, let systems replace conversation, mentorship, and attention. Helper becomes tutor, then default interlocutor. Children can end up more informed and less formed: more answers, thinner practice at thinking in front of another person, recovering from error, or caring about someone else’s dignity. Technology is an amplifier. What it amplifies depends on the structure and the values around it. Work on AI in education is consistent on one point: these tools tend to do best when adults stay clearly in charge, the tool sits inside a designed program with human coaching and ethical ground rules, and it is not standing in for a parent’s presence.

The part you cannot delegate

Being present is not the same as being in the same building. It means knowing which tools your children use, and what incentives those products optimize for. It means teaching that a fluent answer is not always a wise one, and that convenience is not the same as truth. Children do not only need answers. They need examples. They need to see adults who think carefully, act responsibly, admit mistakes, and live by principles they can name. A language model is not a substitute for that. A feed is not a substitute for that. Ordinary life with a trusted adult is still how most of that transfers.

Formation is the job that outlasts the syllabus

These systems may become some of the most powerful educational technology of the century. Parents are still responsible for something larger than grades or throughput. We are responsible for formation. If we blur that line, a child can grow up surrounded by the most capable systems in history and still miss the human guidance that mattered most.

Reference

Kshetri, N., & Voas, J. “Parents, Teachers, Clergy, and Professors.” Computer (IEEE Computer Society), April 2026.

Books: The Obsolescence Paradox · Point-of-Sale Systems Architecture — Volume 1.