For makers and artists navigating the creative economy, the rise of “momfluencers” signals a critical shift: AI is no longer just a tool for productivity, but a proposed solution for the invisible labour that consumes the most time and energy. While tech giants often market these tools as the next frontier for efficiency, a growing cohort of women is positioning generative AI as a necessary co-parent to manage the relentless mental load of household management.
The viral pivot to AI parenting
Lilian Schmidt, a brand consultant based in Zurich, faced a crisis of exhaustion. Despite trying white noise machines, blackout curtains, and massages, her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter took two to three hours to fall asleep daily. The situation was a cycle of screaming, fighting, and mutual frustration.
Desperate, Schmidt turned to ChatGPT. The model suggested the exact opposite of standard advice: it recommended increasing stimulation by having the child chew gum or jump on a trampoline. To Schmidt’s astonishment, the strategy worked within five minutes, and her daughter drifted off immediately.
“I was freaking out,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, nobody was able to help me except ChatGPT.'”
By June 2025, Schmidt had declared herself an evangelist for the technology. A TikTok video captioned “I Turned ChatGPT into my coparent” went viral, swelling her following to 27,000 in three weeks. She subsequently launched her own custom GPT, Coparent, selling access for $37.
Her content defines a new archetype of the digital motherhood influencer. Unlike previous generations who aestheticised the drudgery of parenting, these creators question whether that labour is necessary at all. They promote prompts and handbooks designed to offload tasks, positioning AI as a partner that never forgets sunscreen or asks users to manually log details.
The reality of the mental load
In Schmidt’s videos, her partner is notably absent from the parenting labour, which includes meal prep, grocery shopping, and arts and crafts. This mirrors the reality for many households in the US. A 2022 Department of Labor survey found that employed mothers spend an extra 13.5 hours per week on chores and an average of 12.5 hours on childcare—a 40 percent increase since 1975.
While Pew data indicates fathers now spend more than twice as much time on domestic duties as they did 50 years ago, the expectation remains that women shoulder the majority of the burden. Schmidt notes that her audience flocked to her page because she used AI to be more present and emotionally regulated, allowing her to avoid being a stressed-out parent.
The gender gap in AI adoption
Despite this enthusiasm, a significant “AI gender gap” persists. One 2025 study suggests women are more than 20 percent less likely to use generative AI in their daily lives than men. Stephanie Leblanc-Godfrey, founder of Mother AI and a “maternal technologist,” attributes this to a “PMS” problem—meaning generative AI tools remain “pale, male, and stale” because the companies building them do not reflect the society using them.
Erin Grau, cofounder of Charter, speculates that “mom guilt” plays a role, with some working mothers viewing reliance on AI as a form of cheating. This has prompted prominent figures in tech and media to frame AI as a tool for female empowerment. Mel Robbins recently partnered with Microsoft Copilot, stating that women must not be left behind, while Reese Witherspoon’s Instagram posts praising the technology’s ability to make life easier sparked commentary on the “girlbossification of AI.”
Critiques and limitations
Dooley and Schmidt regularly face backlash from critics who point to the environmental costs of training models and the risk of displacing 15 percent of the workforce. There are also valid concerns regarding the impact of these tools on children’s development and mental health.
Leblanc-Godfrey rejects the framing of AI as radical feminism, arguing that using women’s insecurity as an entry point loses the plot. She describes the current narrative as “productivity porn,” a toxic focus on efficiency that ignores the structural issues at play.
While most influencers concede these risks, they often take a backseat to the promise of liberation from household drudgery, similar to the historical adoption of the vacuum cleaner or washing machine. Schmidt argues that women already have enough reservations about using such tools and do not need another one added to their concerns.
Why the onus remains on women
Questions linger regarding why the burden of learning AI falls on women, and where the fathers are in this conversation. While 95 percent of Schmidt’s audience is female, she receives private messages from dads hoping to ease their partners’ workloads. However, these are far fewer than the public comments from women. Schmidt attributes this disparity to the patriarchy, noting that “mental load is still considered a female problem” and that many men do not even understand what it is.
When attempting to use a chatbot for parenting myself, the process of entering lines of text detailing mundane tasks filled me with existential dread. The sheer volume of household responsibilities aggregated in the prompt felt like a tether to the home, rather than a path to freedom. It highlighted that while my husband uses tools like Claude for professional efficiency, he does not apply them to family logistics.
Ultimately, technology may alleviate symptoms, but it does not eliminate the fact that women still assume the majority of these responsibilities to begin with. As Leblanc-Godfrey points out, these tools were built for people with spare time, a luxury that most mothers do not possess.
Key takeaways
- Generative AI is being marketed by a new wave of “momfluencers” as a co-parent to manage the invisible mental load that disproportionately affects women.
- Despite the hype, a significant gender gap exists in AI adoption, driven by tools that lack maternal perspective and cultural barriers around “mom guilt.”
- While AI offers efficiency, it risks entrenching the status quo by asking women to learn new technologies to manage a workload that remains structurally unbalanced.
Stay ahead of AI. Get the most important stories delivered to your inbox — no spam, no noise.
