AI and the Fear of the Unknown

Over the past four decades, I have witnessed the introduction and expansion of technologies ranging from satellite data and communications services to cellphones, the internet, and now artificial intelligence.

Along the way, I have watched worst-case scenarios become accepted as inevitable by people who had little opportunity to understand the technology.

Bad news travels fast. Fear can travel even faster.

I remember concerns about the Sun eventually dying. Five billion years somehow sounded like it was just around the corner.

Then came Y2K. The software problem was real, and substantial work went into correcting it. But the predictions of catastrophe illustrate how easily a technical concern can become a “sky is falling” narrative.

Fear also creates opportunities for people to capitalize on it.

Today, AI raises legitimate questions about privacy, employment, accuracy, and control. Those questions deserve informed answers. A frightening prediction should not become an accepted fact simply because it is repeated.

My greatest concern is the human component: who develops the technology, who controls access, how it is used, and who is accountable when something goes wrong.

Data collection did not begin with AI. By 2024, 95% of U.S. office-based physicians used electronic health records. Many of us already access sensitive medical information through patient portals.

We also entrust family photographs, financial information, and personal communications to digital systems. The human responsibility for protecting that information existed long before AI entered the conversation.

That calls for safeguards, accountability, and understanding what we are using.

AI systems are shaped by human choices about training, design, deployment, and oversight. We should examine those choices as carefully as we examine the technology itself.

Remember the claim that standing too close to a microwave would make you sterile? Or the persistent myth that we use only 10% of our brains?

Repetition can make a claim familiar. It does not make it true.

My approach to AI is straightforward: learn to use it. Ask questions. Test its answers. Understand its limitations. Protect sensitive information. Apply your own judgment.

You do not have to trust every output to find value in the tool.

And if you want to check that 10% claim, look it up. You might even start with AI—then verify the sources it gives you.

Embrace the opportunity to learn. Let understanding guide your decisions, rather than fear of the unknown.