AI-Empowered Mom

You vetted the app. You checked the settings. You decided it was fine. Then one day an AI chatbot showed up inside it, and nobody sent you a note.

Titania Jordan has spent close to two decades in online safety, and she is the first to say parents should not have to keep up with every feature drop. She is the chief parent officer at Bark Technologies and the author of Parental Control: A Guide to Raising Balanced Kids in the Digital Era.

A parent can now ask a chatbot to walk them through every parental control setting in the house and get an answer in seconds. The same technology is being misused to generate abuse material from a single photo of a child’s face. Titania says both are true at once.

She shares the 3 things she leans on instead of tracking every update, why her strongest recommendation costs nothing, and what she said at dinner when her son asked whether he could escape student loans by moving to another country.

I also read a passage from her book out loud and asked whether her thinking has shifted since it published. And for any kid who has decided AI took the career they wanted, her oldest is applying to art school for illustration. Her answer to him is in here.

Chapters

00:00 The app you approved already changed
00:17 Meet Titania Jordan
01:46 From radio and Facebook groups to online safety
05:56 What Bark actually does
07:00 Why Bark is free for every school in the US
08:28 Easier or harder for parents? Both, because of AI
11:16 You should not have to keep up
12:26 House rules, gatekeeping, and ask to buy
13:20 The relationship is the real parental control
14:15 Sarah reads a passage from Parental Control
15:08 Learning AI side by side at dinner
17:26 What to say to a kid who thinks AI took their future
19:18 Bathtub and bathing suit photos in the deepfake era
20:30 Chatbot mode: the emoji and acronym decoder
22:19 Thoughts on Meta’s new AI assistant
23:59 The one control to turn on today
25:03 Please do not think “not my child”
26:11 Where to find Titania and the book

About Titania

Titania Jordan is the chief parent officer at Bark Technologies and the author of Parental Control and Parenting in a Tech World. She founded the Parenting in a Tech World Facebook group in 2017, now around 700,000 parents strong.

Book: on Amazon and wherever books are sold
Bark: bark.us

Connect with AI-Empowered Mom

Newsletter: https://www.aiempoweredmom.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiempoweredmom Email: [email protected]

What is the one app you thought you had figured out until it changed? Send it to me. A follow and a rating help other parents and caregivers find the show.

Children's author Katie Eisenhart Schaeffer was at a happy hour for third grade moms when her phone buzzed. A family member had sent screenshots and a message: her brand new children's book had been ripped off. The screenshots were Google AI search results describing her book accurately and crediting an Instagram handle that was not hers.

Host Sarah Dooley was standing right next to her.

What happened next is the part worth hearing. Katie searched the handle and found nothing. She tried to recreate the search and could not. The result had been generated, and it never appeared again.

We walk through that night, what she checked, and what she does now before she believes an answer. We also get into the real version of this problem, where authors do have their titles copied and resold, the privacy settings worth reviewing if you use AI near your own work, and how Katie found an illustrator who paints in watercolor and does not own a computer.

At the time of recording, roughly 1 in 10 AI search results still contains a factual error, and the wrong ones look exactly like the right ones.

Chapters

00:00 Sponsor message from Nookly00:49 The text that said her book was stolen02:02 Meet Katie Eisenhart Schaeffer03:51 What she checked first05:07 How to spot an AI result in Google06:58 The 1 in 10 problem and the real book scams08:15 Privacy settings worth reviewing08:38 What AI helped with, and what it did not09:52 Inside Red Elephants and Blue Donkeys10:54 The illustrator who does not own a computer12:29 Circling back to the family member14:06 What to do when a result feels off14:49 Chatbot mode17:18 One takeaway for parents

About Katie

Katie Eisenhart Schaeffer is an Austin author and mom of 2. She spent years in PR and communications before writing her debut picture book, Red Elephants and Blue Donkeys, illustrated by Charles Fuge. Written for ages 4 to 8, it is about setting petty differences aside to solve a shared problem.

Find the book and sign up for preorder news: redelephantsandbluedonkeys.comInstagram: @authorkatieeisenhartschaeffer

This episode is sponsored by Nookly

You tell Nookly what you are working on with your kid, and it builds personalized stories, activities, songs, and videos around that goal. Visit nookly.com and use code AIMUM25 for 25 percent off.

Connect with AI-Empowered Mom

Free weekly newsletter, every Sunday: https://www.aiempoweredmom.com/Instagram: @aiempoweredmomEmail: [email protected]

Have a story about an AI answer that sent you down the wrong path? Send it to me. A follow and a rating help other parents and caregivers find the show.

Amanda Benson spent 20 years in emerging tech running one strategy: do more, then do more than that. When AI arrived she used it the way an overachiever would. Then her body told her the strategy was finished.

What came next is the framework at the center of this conversation with host Sarah Dooley.

"Remember. Release. Intentionally Add."

Amanda walks through what it means to remember who you were before the world told you who to be, release what stopped serving you, and add back only the support you actually chose, whether that is AI, a therapist, a teammate, or kids who finally fold their own laundry.

We also get into the question I could not resist asking. Can you be a systems person and a breath work person at the same time? Amanda says yes, and the story she tells about a field of rabbits in the Swedish countryside is the reason.

Her company is called AI+You Studio, and the name is the whole thesis. AI is at its best when you are at your best.

• Why Amanda went all in on AI at the end of 2022
• Training AI to be your executive coach when overwhelm hits
• Remember, release, and intentionally add, explained
• Why adding more tools can leave you more overwhelmed
• Why the future of AI is human led
• The case for picking one AI tool and going deep
• 2 apps vibe coded in a single weekend

00:00 A word from Nookly00:51 Welcome to AI-Empowered Mom02:18 Meet Amanda Benson02:47 20 years in emerging tech, and one big hunch03:40 Using AI to overachieve, and why it stopped working05:00 AI as an executive coach06:14 What stays uniquely human06:37 Remember, release, and intentionally add08:10 Waking up from the bubble at the end of your thirties10:50 The girl in the field12:50 Systems and breath work in the same room13:06 Chatbot mode13:27 One Swedish habit worth borrowing, plus fika14:16 What is in her tech stack14:46 A win to celebrate15:53 Where to find Amanda16:34 Sarah's takeaway

"AI is at its best when you are at your best." Amanda Benson

WholeSum app and podcast: wholesumos.comSocial: @whatsnewamandaAI+You Studio

Instagram: @aiempoweredmomFree weekly newsletter, every Sunday night: aiempoweredmom.comEmail: [email protected]

If this episode gave you an idea or made your mental load feel lighter, follow the show and leave a rating or review. It helps other parents and caregivers find us.

Nookly. You set the goal, Nookly builds the plan with personalized stories, activities, songs, and videos for your child. Visit nookly.com and use code AIMUM25 for 25% off, or visit here.

Top Shelf. A 3-day retreat for ambitious women in tech and go-to-market, built around one idea: you deserve a real reset. Career and personal brand sessions, sound baths, wine country, and room to think about what is next. Co-founded by Jennifer Ortegon, visit https://topshelfretreat.com/

The Stepmom Summit. Now in its 6th year. This year's theme is Out Loud. It is free, fully virtual, and fully live, with 30 or more speakers including therapists, lawyers, professors, authors, and AI experts. Sarah is speaking this year. Register here: https://thestepmomsummit.com/registration?am_id=sarah8379

This episode is sponsored by Ask Proxy™, a personal AI assistant for your parents' generation. Gift a free month: https://askproxy.com/gifting/ (code AIMOM) or explore Proxy for yourself: https://app.askproxy.com/purchase (code AIMOM)

Do you consider yourself ambitious? In a room full of accomplished women in a program literally called Women Who Mean Business, that question turned out to be surprisingly divisive.

This week, host Sarah Dooley sits down with Dr. Anne Welsh, licensed clinical psychologist, executive coach, and author of the new book Ambitious Mother, to talk about why the word ambitious feels so loaded for so many mothers, and what it actually means to want something for yourself.

Anne shares her own winding path, from an acceptance letter to medical school she turned down, to building a dream job at Harvard, to walking away from that too when she asked to go part time after her second child and was told it was not an option. She talks about reframing ambition as a web instead of a ladder, why motherhood can expand ambition instead of shrinking it, and what happened when she asked an AI tool to change the font color on her book cover and it renamed the whole thing instead.

In this episode:

1. Anne's path from medical school to psychology to Harvard to building her own practice

2. What a portfolio career actually looks like, and how Anne built hers one piece at a time

3. Inside her book, Ambitious Mother: the ambition paradox, the motherhood advantage, and healthy striving

4. The question that divides a room: are you ambitious?

5. Reframing ambition as a web instead of a ladder

6. How motherhood can expand ambition instead of shrinking it

7. Where AI helps, where it doesn't, and the gender bias in how AI use gets judged at work

8. The day AI renamed Anne's book, and what it revealed about bias in AI

9. Rapid-fire round with Anne

About Dr. Anne Welsh: Anne is a licensed clinical psychologist, certified executive coach, and author of Ambitious Mother, available now everywhere books are sold and on Audible. The book profiles 8 women who are ambitious for very different things. Find Anne at drannewelsh.com or on Instagram and LinkedIn at Dr. Anne Welsh.

If this episode gave you a little more clarity about your own ambition, follow AI-Empowered Mom and leave a rating or review. It truly helps other parents and caregivers find the show.

Have a topic you want us to cover? Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Instagram @aiempoweredmom.

Think about the last time you went somewhere brand new all on your own, and had to figure everything out yourself. Now think about the last time someone said, let me take you, I'll show you around. That difference is what this episode is about.

If you have been on the fence about AI, if you have never heard of Web3, if you have no idea what blockchain means, this is your invitation.

This week, host Sarah Dooley sits down with Megan Murray, finance and operations strategist, founder of Leoluna Finance Collective, board member of the Austin AI Alliance, and co-founder of ATX Women in Web3.

Sponsored by Ask Proxy™

This episode is sponsored by Ask Proxy™.

My friend Christine built Ask Proxy™ after watching so many of us become the tech support line for our own aging parents. Proxy is a personal AI assistant that works entirely by text message, so there is no new tech for your parents to learn. It checks in on them proactively with reminders and stays available for questions, which means fewer of those calls land on you.

Check it out yourself by signing up at https://askproxy.com/ for only $39 per month, or gift a free month to your own parents with code AIMOM so they know I sent you.

Chapters

00:00 Your invitation to try something new00:27 A word from our sponsor, Ask Proxy™02:28 Meet Megan Murray03:17 Why the AI gap may be about invitation, not resistance04:04 Does this pattern hold everywhere?05:33 The fear cycle that comes with every new technology06:36 Web3 explained, starting all the way back at Web108:35 Where AI and blockchain solve each other's problems10:51 The same gap, showing up again in Web313:14 Femme Founder Bootcamp and the Austin AI Alliance14:49 One small thing to try this week

In this conversation:

Why the gap in AI use has more to do with who gets invited than who is willing

A plain-language primer on Web3, starting all the way back at Web1

How stablecoins are already changing what small businesses pay to accept your payment

Why blockchain may become the thing that puts real guardrails on AI agents, including spending limits before your agent books a flight

The smallest possible first step for anyone who has used AI zero hours this week, using what is already in your fridge

Connect with Megan Murray: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megankaymurray

Austin AI Alliance: Events calendar and fall in-person sessions: https://austin-ai.org/

Femme Founder Bootcamp, Season 3: A 6-week virtual cohort from ATX Women in Web3 and AI for femme-identifying founders at any stage, including idea stage. Sessions run Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 to 2:30pm CT, kicking off September 29 and wrapping with an in-person Founder Showcase in Austin on November 4. Founders get expert-led curriculum, mentorship, a founder community forum, hands-on work applied to their business, and partner resources.
Full details and early bird registration: https://www.atxwiw3.com/bootcamp

Free in-person info sessions:Houston, Wednesday September 16: https://luma.com/md44uj83Dallas, Thursday September 17: https://luma.com/ebupl0wz

Connect with AI-Empowered Mom
Website and Newsletter: https://AIEmpoweredMom.com
Instagram: @aiempoweredmom
Email: [email protected]

If this episode gave you a little clarity or taught you something new, please follow the show and leave a review. It really helps other parents and caregivers find us and means a lot!

AI is already showing up in your kids' classrooms, and most parents don't know it. In this episode, host Sarah Dooley sits down with Shreya Gulati, founder of Moms Build AI, a community of more than 3,000 moms learning, using, and building with AI, to talk about what's actually happening with AI policy right now, where the guardrails fall short, and what parents and caregivers can do about it today.

Shreya spent a decade in corporate tech building data and partnership ecosystems before becoming a mother, and now works as an angel investor and startup advisor alongside running Moms Build AI. She and Sarah get into the lessons AI regulation should be learning from social media, the disclosure gap behind tools like Gemini reaching classrooms, how other countries are approaching AI guardrails for kids, and two simple things any parent can do to start advocating today.

In this episode:

• Why AI policy needs to learn from social media's slow, reactive regulation
• The disclosure gap behind AI tools reaching classrooms without parents knowing
• Why opt out isn't good enough for kids, and what opt in could look like instead
• How the US, the EU, and individual states are approaching AI guardrails differently
• Two things parents can actually do this week to start advocating for their kids

Episode Chapters
0:36 Meet Shreya Gulati, founder of Moms Build AI
2:13 A day in Shreya's life: motherhood, a cross-country move, and a career pivot
3:38 What Moms Build AI is, and why moms need to lean into AI
5:32 What parents actually picture when they hear "AI regulation"
6:54 The biggest lesson AI policy should take from social media regulation
8:54 The Google Gemini classroom rollout and the disclosure gap it exposed
11:04 From opt in to opt out: how tech permissions quietly shifted
12:29 Why kids need different protections than adults
13:35 How the EU and other countries are approaching AI guardrails
16:35 What this looks like in practice: two things parents can do this week
19:52 Chatbot mode: rapid fire with Shreya
23:52 Closing thoughts and where to find Moms Build AI

Connect with Shreya Gulati and Moms Build AI on Instagram at @momsbuildai, browse free resources including her return to work AI kit at momsbuildai.com, and subscribe to her Substack newsletter for ongoing insights on kids, AI, and family policy.

Follow AI-Empowered Mom on Instagram and TikTok at @aiempoweredmom, subscribe to the newsletter at aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.com, and send your questions or topic ideas to [email protected].

If this episode helped clarify what's happening with AI policy, follow the show and leave a quick rating or review. It helps other parents and caregivers find us.

My daughter told me a YouTuber saves puppies for a living. She was so sure of it that we sat down and watched the video together, and it turned out to be a character, a bit, nothing close to real. That one small moment cracked open a much bigger conversation, and it is exactly why I wanted to sit down with Jim Festante.

Jim is the Executive Director of Health-e-Habits and a 20-year veteran of the video game and tech industries, with a background that runs through Slate Magazine, Xbox, Microsoft, Adobe, and Meta. He is also a dad, and he built this work after his Big Brothers Big Sisters mentee started repeating outlandish claims picked up from YouTube.

We get into where AI actually lives inside video games, the difference between what Jim calls a sandbox and a casino, and why free-to-play games can end up being the most expensive games in the house. We also talk about the emerging link between certain game mechanics and gambling, and what Jim's new tool, the Video Game Mini Map, is built to do for parents who do not know where to start.

If you have ever felt behind on the games your kids play, this conversation will hand you a real framework instead of more guilt.

WHAT YOU WILL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE:

00:12 Welcome02:15 Jim's path from web design to Slate, Xbox, and Meta03:39 The Big Brothers Big Sisters moment that started this work04:33 Sarah's own YouTube moment with her daughter07:12 Living in the messy middle, and building media literacy with local schools08:28 Where AI actually shows up inside video games09:59 Why parents get scared of games, and the sandbox versus the casino11:44 Free-to-play games and the most expensive hat you will ever buy12:52 One household, two different starting points on gaming13:27 Why getting your own profile changes everything15:27 Building the Video Game Mini Map18:16 The link between game mechanics and gambling20:48 What companies know and why nothing changes without regulation21:53 Jim's one word for parents: communication23:52 The CapCut conversation with his 8-year-old son25:17 Quick Chatbot Mode with Jim26:34 Where to find Jim and the Video Game Mini Map27:16 Closing thoughts

CONNECT WITH JIM:
Website: health-e-habits.org

CONNECT WITH AI-EMPOWERED MOM:Instagram: @aiempoweredmomNewsletter: https://aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.com/
Email: [email protected]

Sarah also mentions her upcoming live webinar with collaborator Carla Greenan, Your Best Self, Empowered by AI, on August 25. Find details on Instagram @aiempoweredmom or by emailing [email protected].

New to AI and not sure where to begin? The AI-Empowered Mom free mini-podcast is a low-pressure place to start. Six short episodes for parents and caregivers who want to get started without the overwhelm. Find it at aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.com/mini-podcast

If this conversation shifted how you think about your kid's screen time, follow the podcast and leave a quick rating or review. It helps other parents and caregivers find the show.

Katie Blouin built an inventory system to keep small businesses from drowning in spreadsheets. Then she pointed that same systems thinking at her own kitchen table and built a chief of staff agent that reads school newsletters, tracks groceries, and makes sure her kids never miss crazy hat day.

Sarah sits down with Katie Blouin, CEO and co-founder of Larken and founder of KLB Advisory, to talk about what happens when a founder's business systems meet a household of three kids. Katie walks through how she built her household AI agent using Claude and MCP connectors, why she still keeps financial information locked down even as she automates almost everything else, and what she says to parents who feel guilty about handing tasks off to AI.

They also dig into a viral article about a mom running her household with a full staff of named AI agents, whether that is where all of our homes are headed, and how Katie's background as a former IP attorney shapes the way she thinks about who owns the tools we build. Plus, her honest take on non-technical AI adoption, one hard rule she will never break at Larken, and a recent win from the founder community she just launched.

If you have ever wondered whether the systems thinking that runs a business could also run a household, this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS00:00 Welcome and introduction01:14 A day in the life of a founder and mom of three02:39 Building an inventory system with AI at Larken05:06 The chief of staff agent she built for her own home06:25 How she actually built it, tools and connections08:04 Why you do not need to be technical to start08:41 The Cut article and a household run by named AI agents10:51 The guilt parents feel about handing tasks to AI12:37 Crazy hat day and other wins at home14:21 An IP attorney's take on who owns your AI agents15:36 Chatbot mode with Katie17:17 Where to find Katie and KLB Advisory18:22 Quick hits and a McDonald's order18:46 One takeaway for parents and caregivers

CONNECT WITH KATIEWebsite: katieblouin.comSubstack: substack.com/@katieblouinLarken: shoplarken.com

CONNECT WITH SARAHNewsletter: aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.comInstagram and TikTok: @aiempoweredmomEmail: [email protected]

Join Sarah for a live webinar, Your Best Self, Empowered by AI, on August 25th. Details on Instagram @aiempoweredmom.

If this episode resonated with you, please follow and leave a rating or review. It helps other parents and caregivers find the show.

Most families have a project manager, they just never got the job title or the paycheck. This week, Hannah Morgan, founder and CEO of Heron House Management, joins the show to talk about the mental load, where AI genuinely helps carry it, and where the real relief still has to come from people, not tools.

Hannah shares how she built the first virtual house management service designed to sit between a family assistant and a full time house manager, why she is known as the pit bull of project management, and what it actually looks like when a family outsources the anticipating and planning, not just the tasks. We also dig into 2 recent pieces, one from The New Yorker and one from Wired, that take opposite views on whether AI can truly lighten the mental load or just reshuffles it, and Hannah gives her honest take.

In this episode:

• 00:00 – Welcome, and introducing Hannah Morgan
• 01:00 – A day in Hannah's busy season with 3 kids
• 01:48 – Where "pit bull of project management" came from, and the origin of Heron House Management
• 03:24 – What it actually looks like to work with a house manager
• 05:07 – Why the mental load lands disproportionately on women
• 08:35 – Reacting to recent New Yorker and Wired pieces on AI and family labor
• 11:18 – Using a RACI chart at home to bring clarity instead of nagging
• 14:03 – Chatbot mode: favorite AI tools, paddleboard vs. walking pad, top productivity books
• 15:34 – Celebrating 3 years of Heron House Management
• 16:12 – Where to find Hannah and Heron House Management
• 16:36 – Hannah's final takeaway for parents

Connect with Hannah Morgan:
Heron House Management: heronhousemanagement.com
Listen to her podcast, Destress the Nest

Connect with AI-Empowered Mom:
Newsletter: aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.com
Website: AIEmpoweredMom.com
Follow along: @aiempoweredmom

What happens when the thing you built to save you time still needs you to catch its mistakes? Danielle Matarasso found out the hard way, over a school lunch order.

Host Sarah Dooley sits down with Danielle Matarasso, founder of Numeriq Advisors and writer of the newsletter AI After Carpool, to talk about the day AI ordered her son a cookie instead of lunch.

It starts as a funny mix-up and turns into a real conversation about where AI can lighten the load for parents and caregivers, and where it still needs a parent's judgment. Danielle and Sarah talk about the pull that led Danielle to leave a stable career in tech to build something of her own, the business she almost bought because AI kept agreeing with her, and how she keeps her kids' personal information out of the algorithm at home, even as she leans on it for family trip planning and age-appropriate activity ideas.

They also get into what Danielle hopes and fears for her 3 kids growing up with AI as a normal part of life, a few ways to catch AI when it is just telling you what you want to hear, the AI tools actually in her weekly rotation, and a low-tech parenting hack that has nothing to do with AI at all.

In This Episode:

• The cookie: what happened and what it taught her
• You can't outsource intuition
• How Danielle got introduced to AI
• AI as a work companion versus a family companion
• Keeping kids' information out of the algorithm
• Hopes and fears for her 3 kids in 10 years
• Leaving a stable tech career to build her own path
• The business she almost bought, and AI's blind spot
• How to avoid AI's yes man tendency
• Chatbot Mode: Danielle's go-to AI tools

• What Danielle hopes parents take away

If you have ever built a system to make family life easier and watched it half work, this episode is for you. Danielle's story is a reminder that AI can carry real weight in a busy household, but the judgment still belongs to the parent holding the calendar. Whether you are weighing a career pivot of your own or just trying to keep school lunches straight, there is something here to take with you.

Connect with Danielle Matarasso:Newsletter, AI After Carpool: https://www.aiaftercarpool.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-matarasso/

Connect with AI-Empowered Mom:Newsletter: https://aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.com/ Instagram: @aiempoweredmomWebsite: AIEmpoweredMom.com