Background:

The term ”helicopter parenting” refers to an intrusive style of overprotective parenting where a parent is constantly micromanaging their child’s every activity. (Metaphorically, the parent is “hovering” like a helicopter around their child.)

Proposal:

Until recently, this was just a metaphor: it was simply not technically feasible for a parent to supervise and express an opinion on their child’s activities at all times.

However, thanks to the invention of the miniature quadcopter and of advancements in AI technology, it is now possible for a parent to literally be present in helicopter form (Figure 1) around their child at all times!

One objection might be: how would a parent manage to live their own life while also constantly micromanaging their child? That’s where AI comes in: a machine learning system can constantly monitor the video and audio feed from the quadcopter and alert the parent whenever anything noteworthy occurs.

Conclusion:

Look for this technology to make it into grade schools, colleges, and workplaces in the near future! It’s actually very similar to what is already done at certain workplaces that automatically screenshot workers’ computers (and save images from their webcams) (https://www.google.com/search?q=employers+taking+screenshots+worker+surveillance) or how certain North Korean smartphones will periodically screenshot the user’s phone (https://www.google.com/search?q=north+korea+phone+os+screenshots).

PROS: May bring a sense of relief to worried overprotective parents.

CONS: It’s possible that in an average grade school classroom of ~30–40 students, the sound of 40 quadcopters might make it impossible to actually teach. Fortunately, this can be solved with earmuffs for each student plus an AI-powered voice-to-text system that can display what the teacher is saying onto subtitles at the front of the room.

Originally published 2025-12-01.