The Future of Marriage, Parenting and Childbearing in the Age of AI

Beyond changing how family services are delivered, artificial intelligence is redefining the role of parents and reshaping emotional relationships, highlighting the need to revisit AI regulation.

According to Mehr reporter; The review of the new report of the Majlis Research Center shows that the expansion of artificial intelligence, beyond changing the way family services are provided, is creating new grounds for shifting decision-making authority, redefining the role of parents and changing emotional relationships, which highlights the need to review the development and regulation policies of this technology.

The expansion of artificial intelligence applications in daily life has marked one of the most profound social changes caused by the development of new technologies. The systems that were mainly used in industrial, research and organizational environments until a few years ago, are now present in choosing a spouse, marriage counseling, children's education, caring for the elderly and making decisions related to having children. The importance of this development is that algorithms gradually participate in processes that previously relied on human experience, emotional relationships and family values.

The Research Center of the Islamic Council in the report number 21920 entitled "Futuristic analysis of the effects of artificial intelligence on the institution of the family" which was published on the 7th of October 1405, has examined the consequences of this development in the five areas of marriage, divorce, education, childbearing and family-oriented policies. This research, which was prepared by Ahmad Kohi Esfahani and Fatemeh Tahmasabi, emphasizes the need to pay attention to the family as one of the main areas of effectiveness of artificial intelligence.

The return of power to the family or the emergence of a new competitor?

One of the most important topics of the report is to examine the possibility of returning the functions that the family has lost during social changes and the specialization of modern institutions. The expansion of formal education, counseling services and support institutions caused a significant part of the traditional duties of the family to be transferred to specialized organizations. By providing the possibility of direct access to specialized services and personalization of education and counseling, artificial intelligence can provide the context for the return of some of these functions to the family environment.

However, the report identifies two conflicting forces, including firstly, increasing the family's ability to provide educational and support services and secondly, the competition of intelligent systems with family members to gain attention, trust and authority in this field. Based on this, three scenarios of strengthening the family, weakening family bonds and the formation of a combined family with the presence of artificial intelligence have been proposed.

The decisive difference between these scenarios comes back to the place of technology in family relationships. In a situation where the smart system becomes a tool for empowering parents, the possibility of strengthening the functions of the family increases. On the contrary, the gradual transfer of decision-making and emotional support to algorithms can create a new dependence that affects the human authority of the family.

Algorithmic marriage and the challenge of calculating compatibility against the complexity of human relationships

The entry of artificial intelligence into the field of choosing a spouse has changed the process of identifying and choosing a life partner. Platforms based on the analysis of personality data, interests and behavioral characteristics try to calculate the probability of people's compatibility and suggest appropriate options.

Referring to examples such as the Aphrodite International Project, the report explains that this university system, using matching and machine learning algorithms, introduces people to each other based on psychological criteria and common interests. In this model, limiting the number of proposals to one or two per year is considered a solution to reduce the consequences of multiple choices.

According to the experts of Majlis Research Center, the basic issue is the validity of algorithmic prediction in human relations. The statistical compatibility of people does not necessarily indicate the future quality of the marital relationship, and variables such as commitment, responsibility, cultural context, and common experience cannot be fully represented in computational models. From a regulatory point of view, the collection of sensitive psychological and emotional data increases the necessity of algorithmic transparency, protection of personal information, and performance monitoring of matchmaking platforms.

The role of artificial intelligence in the divorce process

One of the most key parts of the report is dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence in the management of marital disputes and divorce judicial processes. Dialogue analysis and compatibility assessment systems can identify early signs of conflict and provide the possibility of early counseling intervention. However, the quality of the data, the validity of the prediction models and the monitoring of the experts on the produced recommendations are of fundamental importance in determining the consequences of these interventions.

The report "Futuristic Analysis of the Effects of Artificial Intelligence on the Institution of the Family" further proposes the concept of integrated intelligent courts as the fourth generation of family courts. In this model, artificial intelligence can help judges in analyzing cases, identifying conflict patterns, examining judicial biases, and drafting legal decisions.

The importance of this proposal lies in the possibility of moving from the reactive handling of family disputes to the early identification of crises and the development of preventive mechanisms. Of course, the realization of such a model will require maintaining the judge's final decision-making authority, the possibility of reviewing and objecting to algorithmic results, and guaranteeing the confidentiality of family file information.

Smart education and turning artificial intelligence into a reference for parents

According to the report of the Majlis Research Center, the use of artificial intelligence in the education and training of children has provided significant opportunities for personalizing learning and identifying educational needs. By introducing tools such as "Khanmigo", "EduGPT", "ClassDojo" and "GoGuardian", the reviewed report points to the expansion of intelligent educational and monitoring systems.

These technologies can provide valuable information to parents and educators by analyzing academic performance and behavioral patterns. However, the increase of parents' reliance on algorithmic recommendations raises the possibility of changing their position from educational decision maker to implementer of intelligent system suggestions.

Another challenge is the expansion of continuous monitoring of children's behavior. Collecting data on concentration, emotions, and social interactions, along with possible benefits for early detection of problems, can affect a child's privacy and gradual independence. Therefore, the design of these systems requires simultaneous attention to technical accuracy, children's rights, and the necessity of maintaining the educational relationship between parents and children.

New opportunities and hidden dependencies in smart parenting and care

In the field of childbearing, the report has addressed the capacity of maternal and fetal health monitoring systems, wearable equipment and biological data analysis tools. According to experts, these technologies can increase families' access to health information and provide the basis for early identification of some risks.

In the field of parenting, smart tools for analyzing a child's sleep, crying and behavioral patterns have made it possible to provide personalized recommendations. However, over-reliance on these tools may undermine parents' independent judgment. The issue becomes more important when algorithmic recommendations without expert evaluation become the basis of sensitive decisions related to the child's health and development.

Family-centered governance gap in AI policies

The most important political finding of the report is related to the limited position of the family in the country's artificial intelligence development documents. According to researchers' assessment, the dominant focus of existing policies has been on infrastructure, productivity, economic development and institutional organization, and the family consequences of technology have been less independently investigated.

To compensate for this situation, the Majlis Research Center proposes a series of legislative and executive measures, the most important of which are the formulation of family reunification for national artificial intelligence projects, strengthening family data protection regulations, requiring companies to clarify information processing methods, promoting technological literacy, and creating a mechanism for continuous monitoring of the social effects of technology.

From a policy perspective, the effectiveness of these proposals depends on transforming general cultural considerations into specific and measurable requirements. Determining the responsibility of service providers, evaluating risks before offering products, and making it possible to handle user complaints can be the operational basis of such a framework.

The future of the family depends on the quality of technology governance

The report of the Majlis Research Center presents a forward-looking picture of the change in family relations in the face of artificial intelligence and connects the five main areas of the effectiveness of this technology in the form of a system of issues. The value of this research is in the early identification of issues that can become wider legal, cultural and social issues in the future.

At the same time, the forward-looking nature of the report requires us to distinguish between technological capacities, possible risks, and proven empirical results. The research itself also points to the lack of field data and the necessity of developing interdisciplinary studies in Iran.

The result of this study shows that the future of the relationship between artificial intelligence and family will largely depend on the quality of technology design, the level of user awareness and the efficiency of regulatory mechanisms. In such a situation, the central issue for policymakers is to ensure that the development of intelligent systems leads to increasing the decision-making power of families, protecting the rights of its members, and improving the quality of human relations.