HUMAN RAISED

From New York Times bestselling author Dana Suskind, a timely, urgent guide to parenting in the age of artificial intelligenceand protecting what matters most in childhood.

As AI enters nurseries, playrooms, and classrooms, parents are being sold a "smart" childhood at every turn. This book is a guide to protecting the most important label of all: human raised.

In her groundbreaking book, Thirty Million Words, Dr. Dana Suskind revealed the extraordinary power of parent talk and interaction in building children's brains. Now, with the advent of artificial intelligence, the stakes of that nurturing interaction have become even clearer. New AI applications demonstrate what technology can replicatebut they also illuminate what it cannot: the capacity of human interactions to build not just children's skills but their very capacity for human connection.

HUMAN RAISED reveals the possibilities and perils of using AI and related technologies for child-rearing. From monitors that decode cries, to smart cribs that soothe babies to sleep, to interactive chatbots designed to engage an inquisitive toddler, the parenting landscape is shifting fastand Dr. Suskind helps parents navigate this uncharted territory with clarity and confidence.

This book offers a concrete evaluation framework to help parents (and anyone shaping children's environments) assess individual technologies, along with evidence-based guidance for fostering the skills children will need to thrive in an AI-driven future. Critical thinking, empathy, creativity, and resilience form what Suskind calls the Human Edgecapabilities no algorithm can replicate and no artificial teacher can cultivate.

Drawing from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and the lived experience of countless families, HUMAN RAISED prepares parents to act as essential guardians to the gateway between AI and their children's developing mindskeeping human connection, in all its beautiful imperfection, at the center of childhood.

Dana Suskind, MD, is Founder and Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, Director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program, and Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. Dr. Suskind is the bestselling author of Parent Nation, Thirty Million Words, and over 45 scientific publications. She is a member of the American Academic of Pediatrics and a Fellow for the Council on Early Childhood. She is an advisor to Hillary Clinton's Too Small to Fail initiative and her work has been profiled by numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, The Economist, Forbes, NPR, and Freakonomics.