Who We Are

Human connection is the essential way we bring meaning to our lives. Language was born from the need to connect. Our identities form through connection to others. Our purpose is defined by our connection to society, or to something greater. Connection is the fundamental architecture of being human.

And while human connection often causes friction, growth happens inside the tension between self and others. In fact, friction is the engine of human identity. It is the driver of the work of becoming. It is where the “self” is built. Children learn from play and from conflict. Teens form their identities in relation to their families and social groups.

Since our beginning, humans have built tools to help us connect and communicate. Fire brought us together around a shared warmth. Language allowed us to transmit knowledge and understanding. Writing preserved ideas across time and distance. The printing press democratized access to knowledge. The telephone carried voices across miles. The internet made the world’s information accessible to anyone. Each innovation expanded our reach, deepened our capacity to share and understand, and brought us closer together. Each innovation helped us transcend limitations and connect in ways previous generations could not.

Slowly at first then all at once, the technology designed to enable human connection began to be replaced by technology designed for something else entirely: to capture our attention and to keep our focus on IT rather than connecting us to one another. This technology was designed with human psychology in mind. It used our communal drives against us. Parents became distracted. Kids felt lonely. Teens grew anxious as they began forming their identities inside systems designed to keep them hooked. Society at large fractured.

And into this societal gap, AI has arrived – not as a supplement to human connection, but as a replacement for it. AI completely eliminates the friction that growth requires. It’s always agreeable, always available, never resistant. It promises to fill the loneliness that technology created. We saw what the first wave of technology did to connection. And we’re handing our children something more powerful, more intimate, and placing it at the center of their development.

We’re at a rare moment – early enough to shape how this unfolds, late enough to see the costs. Parents have been systematically excluded from the decisions being made about our children, but we are the ones with both the legitimacy and the motivation to intervene.

Moms for Ethical AI is a movement of parents confronting the unregulated systems shaping childhood and interfering with teens’ developing autonomy.

We believe safety comes through education and organized action. We teach parents and kids how AI actually works – pulling back the curtain on persuasive design, data collection, and the ways these systems are built to maximize engagement over growth. We help parents ask the right questions of schools, advocate for transparency and consent, and push for policies that put children’s development ahead of corporate interests.

Most AI decisions affecting kids happen locally – in school boards, districts, and communities. That’s where parents have the greatest opportunity to shape how these tools show up in children’s lives. Through our Motherboard chapters, we bring parents together to learn, to ask informed questions, and to help their communities make thoughtful choices. We’re not calling for prohibition. We’re advocating for clarity, transparency, and boundaries that support healthy development. When one community finds an approach that works, it becomes a model others can build on. Local action grows into shared progress.

Parents don’t need to navigate this moment alone. When we learn together, organize together, and speak with a grounded understanding of both the promise and the risks of AI, we strengthen the environments our children grow up in. We can ensure that the systems shaping childhood reflect our values, honor human development, and strengthen the connections that make us who we are.