Artificial intelligence promises transformative technologies, economic prosperity, and an improved quality of life. But staring down the great transition to an AI economy is a generation in their prime reproductive years, to whom AI represents something more visceral: the kind of economic unpredictability that spoils family formation.
The American birthrate is plummeting. We are inundated with headlines about young people “choosing” freedom over family. This is a convenient lie. The reality is a heartbreaking “fertility gap”: Millions of women are having fewer children than they say they want. When pressed for why, fear of financial security tops the list.
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Data from the American Family Survey confirms this, with 43% of those having fewer to no children citing “insufficient money” as the main reason. When job security evaporates amid rising costs, the responsible choice, the safe choice, is to wait. And wait. Until “later” becomes “never.”
According to a 2023 Gallup poll, the ideal family size for Americans remains 2.7 children, a preference that has held steady for decades. Reality, however, is disappointing for aspiring parents: the U.S. total fertility rate crashed to a record low of 1.6 births per woman in 2024, well below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. This gap of one full child per woman represents millions of desired but unrealized families.
Those sounding the alarm on our declining birth rates should address women’s biggest concerns with having the number of children they want: fear of financial insecurity. The cause of those fears is quite apparent.
Workers under 35 are significantly more anxious about AI-driven job loss, with 24% expressing deep concern compared to just 10% of those over 55, according to researchers at Deutsche Bank. More alarmingly, a Stanford University study found that those ages 22 to 25, the critical “family-founding” window, have already seen a 13% relative decline in employment within “AI-exposed” fields like software development and professional services since 2022. When the foundational rungs of the middle-class ladder are automated, young people don’t see efficiency — they see a future where career plans are impossible.
To solve this crisis, we can’t just “support” parents with platitudes. To actively de-risk parenthood, we need a signal from society that says: “We have your back, even if the market doesn’t.”
A great example comes from South Korea, ground zero in the birth rate crisis, where a mix of government and corporate solutions may finally be showing progress. Expanding workplace benefits to include direct cash to new parents in the form of a “baby bonus,” a substantial, direct cash infusion to mothers upon the birth of a child, sparked a statistically significant 5% increase in birth rates.
But the real winning solution came from the private market. Booyoung Group, a major company in Seoul, introduced a massive 100 million won ($75,000) childbirth incentive per child in 2024, and then saw an extraordinary 60% surge in births among its employees. The policy is so potent that it has triggered a fivefold increase in job applications, proving that when the financial barrier is completely removed, the desire for family rebounds and flourishes.
A baby bonus is the solution to AI anxiety and family formation fears. It provides immediate liquidity to cover bills for those who have high hospital bills post-birth or struggle with the cost of infant child care, but more importantly, it buys breathing room. It alleviates the immediate panic that a new mouth to feed will break the bank. While the new Trump Accounts provide future financial support for children to take off in adulthood, a baby bonus gives their parents a runway to bring them into our world.
Moreover, it’s a political winner. New polling by Cygnal shows a baby bonus would be tremendously popular, with a $2,000 bonus garnering nearly 70% support among all Americans as a boost to new parents.
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“Kids are worth it if at all possible,” says Elon Musk, who has promised to significantly increase childcare benefits at Tesla and SpaceX. But staving off the “civilizational collapse” that Musk fears will require more than daycare subsidies and flexible leave from him and other corporate leaders, however. The Booyoung model provides a roadmap: a direct, substantial baby bonus to every new parent.
We cannot legislate confidence in the future, but we can underwrite it. To bridge the gap between the families women have and the families they dream of, stop asking women to take a leap of faith. Start building the financial safety net that actually catches us.
Adrienne Schweer is a family policy advocate, former DoW official, and a mother of five.
