The Night I Watched Google Replace a Mom
Abhinav Girotra
Day 17 of #100WorkDays100Articles
Last Tuesday changed how I think about AI forever. And not in a good way.
What Actually Happened
I was at Seema’s house watching her put her kid to bed. Normal Tuesday night. Then her 8-year-old asked if they could use "that Google thing" to make stories.
I'd been reading about Gemini Storybook for my research. Figured I'd see it in action.
90 seconds later, the kid had this gorgeous illustrated book. Professional narration. Perfect pacing. The works.
"This is way better than your stories, Mom."
I watched something break in Sarah's face.
The Thing We Lost
Seema’s family does these weekend story jams. Everyone adds one sentence. Build ridiculous adventures together. Last month they created an epic about a time-traveling sandwich that solved crimes.
It was chaos. Made zero sense. They were crying laughing.
Google wants to turn that into: "Create a story about a time-traveling sandwich."
See what happened there? The whole point was building it together. The mess. The terrible plot holes. Sarah's daughter adding random stuff like "And then it started raining cheese!" while Sarah tried to figure out how that could possibly work.
That's not a bug. That's the entire feature.
What I Found When I Dug Deeper
Spent the week testing this thing. Reading every review I could find. Talking to other parents.
Turns out Google built something that's technically impressive and potentially harmful at the same time.
The good stuff:
Makes stories in 90 seconds
Supports 45 languages
You can upload your kid's drawings and it builds stories around them
Free (for now)
The concerning stuff:
Produces inappropriate images for kids (topless characters, nude figures)
Makes psychological assumptions about children that could be dangerous
Characters randomly change appearance between pages
Only available to adults 18+ despite being "for children"
Can't edit anything - have to regenerate the whole story
The heartbreaking stuff:
Turns creative collaboration into content consumption
Kids prefer it to human interaction
Parents celebrate being replaced
The Pattern I Keep Seeing
I've been implementing technology in companies for 25 years. This is the same movie every time.
First: Technology solves a real problem (busy parents need bedtime stories)
Then: Technology becomes easier than the human alternative
Finally: We forget why the human alternative mattered
Email solved communication problems. Then we stopped having actual conversations.
Social media connected us globally. Then we stopped connecting locally.
Now AI creates perfect bedtime stories. So we stop creating imperfect ones together.
Why This Scares Me
I watched Seema’s daughter with that AI story. She consumed it. Listened passively. Asked zero questions.
When Seema tells stories, her daughter interrupts constantly. "Why did the elephant do that?" "What happens if he gets scared?" "Can I add a part?"
Those interruptions? That's where learning happens. That's where relationship gets built.
Harvard research backs this up. Kids ask fewer questions and share fewer thoughts when interacting with AI versus humans. The "child-driven" parts of conversation are critical for development.
But here's what research can't measure: When your mom makes up terrible stories just for you, you learn that someone thinks you're worth the effort. You're worth the mental energy. Worth the stumbling and the bad plot holes and the trying again.
AI teaches you to be a consumer. Human storytelling teaches you to be a creator.
The Choice We're Making
Every parent now faces this same choice every single night.
Take the easy path. Perfect AI stories. No mental energy required. Kid gets entertained. Everyone wins.
Or choose the harder path. Make up stupid stories together. Struggle through plot holes. Ask questions. Let the kid drive the narrative into weird directions.
The first path optimizes for convenience. The second path optimizes for connection.
And here's the thing: once you choose convenience enough times, the connection option disappears. Kids stop asking for your terrible stories. They just want the good AI ones.
Game over.
What I'm Seeing Work
Seema is experimenting with a middle path now. Sundays, they use Gemini to create story starters. But bedtime? That's human time. Her voice. Kid's interruptions. Shared imagination.
AI provides inspiration. Not substitution.
Takes longer. Stories are worse. But they're building something together instead of consuming something apart.
Why This Matters Beyond Bedtime
This isn't really about bedtime stories. It's about what we're teaching kids about human value.
If we automate every difficult interaction, what's left that's uniquely ours?
If we optimize every moment for efficiency, when do we learn patience?
If AI can create better content than we can, why do we matter?
These are the questions no one's asking while celebrating the technology.
What Comes Next
We're at the beginning of this. AI will get better at creating content. Kids will prefer it more. Parents will choose convenience more often.
Unless we decide that the messy, imperfect, effortful parts of human interaction are worth preserving.
That building something terrible together is better than consuming something perfect alone.
That being irreplaceable isn't about being the best. It's about being present.
What’s going to be your story?
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