{
  "id": 7404264,
  "title": "The classic Chinese parenting playbook won’t survive the AI age",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/the-classic-chinese-parenting-playbook-wont-survive-the-ai-age-7404264",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-14T21:30:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post - Hong Kong",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post-hong-kong",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3366957/classic-chinese-parenting-playbook-wont-survive-ai-age"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "As AI continues to advance, many parents, like Ms Ng, find themselves investing time, money and energy in tutoring classes for their children, hoping to improve their academic performance. However, with the advent of AI, concerns are rising about the relevance of such efforts. Industry experts predict that AI will disrupt white-collar jobs such as finance, law, accounting and computing, while blue-collar jobs like plumbing, electrical work and construction remain largely unreplaceable. Psychologist David Geary explains the difference between biologically primary abilities - speaking, counting and basic social understanding - which develop naturally in all children with minimal instruction, and biologically secondary abilities - reading, writing and formal mathematics - which require sustained learning and only develop in specific cultural contexts. Richard Dawkins' concept of the extended phenotype suggests that genes also express themselves through a species' effects on its environment. For humans, culture and technology serve as our extended phenotype, enabling us to compensate for our biological limitations through accumulated knowledge, cultural products and technological advancements. In this context, while AI represents the culmination of our extended phenotype and will eventually replace our secondary abilities, it cannot replace our primary attributes. These include physical presence, face-to-face communication and the tangible performance of jobs that require a body in a specific place at a specific time. Tasks performed by large-language models, music AI agents and medical algorithms may generate briefs, write and sing, or perform surgeries, respectively, but they cannot replace the essential human qualities of empathy, connection and real-world interaction. Similarly, physical abilities such as athletic prowess, motor agility and any talent requiring bodily strength or dexterity cannot be replicated by AI. Social interaction also remains a distinctly human capability, with the ability to connect with others in person and communicate effectively becoming increasingly valuable in a post-AI world. As AI-powered goods and services become abundant, humans may find themselves without the need for work, as suggested by Elon Musk. John Calhoun's \"Universe 25\" experiment on mice, which thrived in an environment of abundance by focusing on grooming, maintenance and physical presentation, provides an interesting parallel. In a post-AI world, the new currency will be the presence and physical fitness of individuals, enabling them to resist diseases and stresses, handle crises, make sound decisions under pressure and recover from setbacks. Rather than solely focusing on the accumulation of knowledge, parents should prioritize developing critical thinking, creative problem-solving, inquisitiveness and sound decision-making in their children. These primary mental faculties define human cognition and will be essential in navigating a post-AI world where machines handle secondary abilities. Chinese parenting, known for its authoritarian, controlling and achievement-oriented approach with a focus on academic success, may need to evolve to better prepare children for the post-AI era. Such an approach would shift priorities away from the extended phenotype - the creations of humans - towards the physical person, who we truly are.",
  "summary": "Like many Hong Kong parents, Ms Ng spends her weekend shuttling her eight-year-old son from one tutoring class to another across the city, hoping to strengthen his academic performance. Across Chinese communities worldwide, parents travel the same journey, investing time, money and energy. But as we enter the age of artificial intelligence, we must ask if such striving is still worthwhile.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post",
        "title": "The classic Chinese parenting playbook won’t survive the AI age",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/the-classic-chinese-parenting-playbook-wont-survive-the-ai-age",
        "published": "2026-09-14T21:30:05.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}