When washing machines were introduced to the general public nearly a century ago, advertisements hailed them as technological wonders that would 鈥渆nd the drudgery of washday鈥� for appreciative, apron-wearing housewives everywhere.
Could artificial intelligence likewise be used to tackle tedious household tasks鈥攁nd, in the process, level the uneven balance of domestic work that exists between men and women to this day?
鈥淭he better these technologies become, the more they will help people who are managing families, children and households,鈥� says Assoc. Prof. of Management Elizabeth J. Altman. 鈥淭he question is: How does that affect the conversation about domestic labor?鈥�
Altman and Assoc. Prof. of Management Beth Humberd explored this question in a recent research paper for the Brookings Institution, a policy think tank. While they don鈥檛 predict an immediate future of robo-nannies and self-driving cars taking kids to soccer games, they can see AI improving quality of life.
鈥淵es, AI is likely to provide some time-saving, but we think that the unique promise is in reducing some of the cognitive and mental load,鈥� says Humberd, referring to the management of household tasks like scheduling doctor鈥檚 appointments, compiling grocery lists and paying bills.聽
They also found that when a family member uses AI, it can have 鈥渟econd- order effects鈥� on others in the household. For instance, a father looking to do something with the kids at home can ask ChatGPT for ideas rather than bothering mom at work.
鈥淭he technology isn鈥檛 reducing the woman鈥檚 workload directly, but she benefits from the fact that her family is using it at home,鈥� Humberd says.
Fittingly, as an experiment, Altman and Humberd decided to ask ChatGPT to provide an outline on the topic of their paper before submitting it to the Brookings Institution.
"We had never done this before, but it turned out to be a useful way to check if we were missing any key ideas,鈥� says Humberd, who was happy to see that they were not. 鈥淚 suppose it could become a good best practice for academics going forward鈥攁 way to rake the landscape that you鈥檙e researching and see if you鈥檝e missed any spots.鈥濃�擡B