New research by Dr Laura Tolton and Dr Judith Bishop examines the risks associated with AI-powered post-separation co-parenting apps.
“There are a range of emerging AI-powered apps that seek to manage highly complex human behaviours and conditions,” explains Dr Bishop.
“Our research examines how these life experiences are represented in app design, with a focus on post-separation apps recommended for co-parents in Family Court.
”Using a popular post-separation app as a case study, Dr Tolton and Dr Bishop found that the app’s design and marketing framed conflict as a problem of mutual poor communication.
“By bringing together expertise in AI, linguistics and gender-based violence, we demonstrate that these tools position litigating co-parents as engaged in mutual conflict,” Dr Tolton explains.
This framing, she says, contradicts the reality of Family Court in Australia, where 80% of Family Court parenting applications allege family violence.
“Research has shown that this misrepresentation is prevalent in family courts and is detrimental to the safety of women who are separating from violent partners. By using the ‘mutual conflict’ narrative, post-separation apps risk unintentionally reinforcing the same harmful assumptions.”
Dr Tolton says the research highlights the need to proceed with caution when using AI-powered apps for complex social problems.
“Our study highlights the importance of understanding how these AI-powered apps represent, process and classify the language of conflict and abuse.”
“The next phase of this research will explore how ‘care’ is represented in AI-powered apps in the domain of family violence and post-separation conflict and the role of gender in how AI technologies detect abuse in language.”
