Michelle Fang was visiting her father last year in their New Jersey home when she noticed he used ChatGPT to help him write emails and make work presentations. It was a departure from how she used to print out his PowerPoints and help edit his English.
“I would go in with a pen to mark everything up,” said Fang, 25.
But now, the San Francisco-based tech community manager’s skills are, apparently, getting phased out by technology — at least at home. And it’s a shared experience for other adult children of immigrants, they say.
“He doesn’t ask me to help with English, grammar and technical language anymore — he’s replaced me with ChatGPT,” said Fang, whose father is a first-generation Chinese American.
Others say they’ve also stepped in as translators for their parents during their childhood — and that these duties continue into adulthood. But the launch of ChatGPT is offloading some of their responsibilities onto the artificial intelligence tool.
Monica Mikael, a 30-year-old nurse practitioner in Los Angeles, said her Egyptian American parents have struggled with written English since they immigrated here 30 years ago.
Mikael started helping her parents with their communications in high school. Because they ran their own small medical practice, they needed to constantly coordinate logistics with patients and staff. She wrote and rewrote emails for them a few times a week, going back and forth with them to correct their spelling and grammar.
For parents like Mikael’s who learn English as their second language, even seemingly insignificant grammar mistakes can cause anxiety in the workplace. A survey of over 200 East, Southeast and South Asian women in the tech industry found that they feel discriminated against because of their accents and grammar usage.
When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, Mikael jumped at the opportunity to teach her parents how to use it. “I downloaded ChatGPT onto their phones and showed them how to ask it questions,” she said. “After a month or so, they were using it entirely on their own.”
Now, Mikael’s parents barely ask her for help. ChatGPT takes care of their lower-level communication needs like sending simple emails.
Mikael still supports her parents on important tasks, but she said many of their daily interruptions have stopped. “It’s net positive for our relationship,” she said. “Our interactions are less task-based, so it’s made us closer.”
Since ChatGPT’s launch, Asian American adults have emerged as its earliest adopters. A 2023 Pew Research Center poll found that they are the most likely racial group to have used the generative artificial intelligence tool for entertainment, work tasks or to learn something new — more than twice as likely as their white peers.
For adult children of immigrants, seeing parents adopt a new technology can be accompanied by a dose of skepticism. Sheeta Verma, 25, has guided her parents through both the advantages and challenges of ChatGPT. “AI tools aren’t always correct,” she said. “I had to teach them how to use prompts and to spot misinformation.”
tell me you have an indian mom without telling me you have an indian mom, ill go first:
my sister got waitlisted at Carnegie Mellon. tonight we taught my mom how to use ChatGPT and her first input was “how to get off Carnegie Mellon’s waitlist”.
— Sheeta Verma 👩🏽💻 (@sheetaverma) April 2, 2023
Verma, who is based in San Francisco and has seen AI shake up her marketing field, has other concerns as well: She worries that their co-workers might detect their AI usage or that AI might leave her aging parents behind. Her mother was laid off from her company last year, and is now navigating the new world of AI-scanned resumes. “There’s a lot of learning that has to accompany AI. It’s changing so fast, and there’s not a lot of time to walk older people through it,” Verma said.
It’s not all relief that adult children of immigrants feel toward being replaced with ChatGPT. Some miss the bonding opportunity that came with helping their parents. “It’s a little bittersweet, but I’m glad he has the 24/7 support that I can’t give him,” Fang said.
Verma, noticing the drop-off in calls from her mother, recalled wondering if her mother was angry with her. “And then I realized she and all my Indian aunties are using ChatGPT,” Verma said. “I’m happy that she’s embracing this new tool.”
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
