Distrusted Cooperation: Practices, Influences, and Tensions in AI-Mediated Co-Parenting After Divorce
Post-separation co-parenting requires former partners to continue coordinating shared parenting responsibilities across households and relational boundaries. As generative AI enters general-purpose systems and dedicated co-parenting platforms, little is known about how parents incorporate AI into these arrangements or how it shapes co-parenting practice. We interviewed 10 divorced parents in Canada and the United States who used AI in co-parenting. Our thematic analysis examines how AI enters existing technological, procedural, and human support arrangements; how parents organize its use through context management, judgment, and private or shared participation; how it reshapes the demands and dynamics of co-parenting; and what ethical boundaries and expectations emerge. We discuss AI's place within an existing co-parenting ecology, its influence beyond message production, and the boundaries of legitimate assistance. We derive design implications for organizing participation in AI assistance, supporting assessment of its contributions, and enabling accountability for AI-assisted actions.