Parenting meets AI Agent technology

Background  

The most fundamental relationship a child can have is with their parents. Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) we are excited to be investigating how new AI agent technology, trained on PLH's evidence-based programmes, and co-designed with parents, can improve child development outcomes, reduce family violence, and promote mental health.

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Summary  

The Parent Prep Lab is part of a broader ParentText AI Roleplay project under Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH). It explores the use of generative AI for roleplay-based parenting support. The project created a dual-mode system where AI personas – representing both a child and a facilitator – engage parents in roleplay scenarios to help them practice evidence-based parenting strategies.

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Goals

The primary goal is to determine whether AI caneffectively conduct roleplays by assuming the roles of both the child and thefacilitator in a chat format. Indicators for success include the development ofrealistic and contextually appropriate AI behaviors, the creation of structuredscenarios, and the ability to provide meaningful feedback to users. The bar for “good enough” is defined in part bysubject matter experts from PLH and eventual user testing.

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Main Results

The primary goal was addressed by the project – and AI was found to be surprisingly capable in assuming the role of child and facilitator in a parenting roleplay scenario after carefully tweaking it to match our needs.

The project successfully developed a chat-based experience where users can engage in parenting scenarios with AI characters. A specific instance, the "GivePraise" scenario, demonstrates the system's capability to simulate realistic interactions. These outcomes align well with the project's objectives, showcasing the potential of AI in parenting education.