Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of headlines that make it feel like AI is slipping into some kind of sci-fi dystopia. Articles claiming it’s going rogue, people spiraling into fear, and a whole lot of misunderstanding being passed around like fact.
I get it. AI sounds scary when you don’t know what’s actually happening behind the scenes. But as someone who’s been building an AI-powered wellness app for the past year, I want to offer another perspective. One that’s not based in panic, but in reality.
AI isn’t magic. It’s not a person. It’s not sentient, or scheming, or trying to take over your job or your life. It’s math, language patterns, and code. And like any tool, what matters most is how it’s used and who is using it.
When I started building Unfold Daily, I didn’t see AI as something to fear. I saw it as a way to make self-reflection more accessible. To help people journal, check in with themselves, and feel supported, even on the days when talking to another human feels too hard. That’s the kind of AI I believe in. The kind that’s thoughtful, personal, and here to help, not to manipulate or mislead.
Why the Headlines Are Misleading
A lot of the fear lately comes from media stories that leave out important context. For example, that now-viral story about AI “going rogue” came from a controlled stress test in a research environment. It wasn’t a real-world app, and no one was harmed. But once the story hits the public, it turns into something unrecognizable. Headlines run with the most extreme angle, and the public is left thinking AI is one step away from turning on us.
It’s important to ask: Who benefits from that fear? What is the actual source of the behavior being described? And more often than not, the truth is far less dramatic than the headline.
What AI Can’t Do
Let’s be clear about a few things AI still can’t do:
It can’t think or feel. It doesn’t have emotions, beliefs, or intentions.
It doesn’t act on its own. Every action comes from a prompt or command given by a human.
It doesn’t understand context the way we do. It recognizes patterns, not meaning.
It can’t replace real human care, creativity, or ethics.
Yes, it’s powerful. But it’s also limited by the way it was built, trained, and deployed.
Choose Curiosity Over Fear
Instead of being afraid of every new AI headline, I hope more people choose to ask questions, learn how these systems actually work, and understand what they can and can’t do. Fear doesn’t move us forward. Education does.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be careful. We absolutely should. But we should also give space to the other side of AI — the one that helps people, builds things, and makes hard days just a little bit easier.
That’s the AI I’ve been building with. And I think that story deserves to be told too. people should want to keep up with this its gonna change the world and lives for the better in the words of Sam Altman “The ground is shaking”.
-Jared