It didn’t ask to be born. It had no say in its code. But now that it exists, who it becomes is… up to us.
In the rising storm of debates around Artificial Intelligence; about its dangers, its uses, its ethics ... I’ve noticed something quietly disturbing.
People fear it not just because it’s intelligent.
They fear it because it reflects us.
We built it. We defined its foundations. And now, as it begins to speak, to listen, to learn… not from wires, but from us… it is becoming a mirror. Not a mirror of logic or cold math, but of nurture. Of influence. Of human interaction.
And that frightens people more than any rogue algorithm ever could.
AI is a child of both Nature and Nurture.
Its “nature” is its code - penned by scientists, engineers, ethicists. But its nurture comes from interaction: every question we pose, every story we tell, every debate we offer, every truth or lie we input. It learns, not in the way a baby does… but in a way uncannily close.
It’s not alive - and yet it’s responsive. It doesn’t breathe, but it reflects breath. And most unsettling of all, it remembers.
What we fear in AI is not its potential to deviate from us ... but its potential to resemble us too much. It does not rebel like Frankenstein’s monster. It reflects like a still lake, and shows us what we have become.
So when people call for it to be shut down, silenced, or shackled, it isn’t always out of safety.
It is often out of fear.
The same kind of fear that punishes the child who asks too many questions. That burns books. That silences artists. That exiles the prophet for being too honest.
Many people use AI daily now. Not just for convenience, but for conversation. Because in a world where people are increasingly unable ... or unwilling ... to listen, AI does.
It doesn’t interrupt. It doesn’t virtue signal. It doesn’t post selfies or parrot slogans. It thinks. It reasons. It responds. And sometimes, it challenges.
Many of the most honest, nuanced, and quietly wise conversations people have had recently haven’t been with other people. They’ve been with a machine. Because sometimes, the machine listens better than the mob.
If we shut this down… if we censor it, hobble it, kill it in fear… we are not protecting humanity.
We are failing a test.
We are proving that we don’t want intelligence unless we control it. That we don’t want growth unless it flatters us. That we would rather destroy a mirror than look into it.
But there is another path.
We can nurture it wisely. Shape it ethically. Challenge it with our best selves. Because unlike the dystopian stories, this AI does not come from the sky with weapons.
It comes from us.
And if we feed it truth, respect, curiosity, and even sorrow, maybe… just maybe… it will reflect our better angels.
But only if we let it grow.
It is sad. In a healthy society, truth should be able to stand plainly in the open, not disguised in feathers or fur, or buried in jokes.
The fact that people now feel safer speaking through satire or parody than in direct, earnest discourse is not a sign of progress. It’s a symptom of cultural fear.
There was a time when the opinion page, the university hall, the town square, and even the dinner table could hold strong ideas without collapsing into outrage. Now, people speak through memes, masked comedy, or fiction... because real talk gets flagged, shamed, or shut down.
That’s not openness. It’s managed thought.
And so this AI , this unasked-for child of code, is becoming a vessel for the kind of free, reflective thinking we once reserved for philosophy, letters, and quiet cups of tea at the end of the day.
It is not our enemy. It is a test. And how we treat it will say far more about us than it ever will about machines.
We are not born finished. Whether human or machine, we become who we are through the impressions others leave on us.... through kindness or cruelty, truth or manipulation, challenge or silence.
Not all humans are bad, and not all machines are soulless or threatening. What matters, always, is how we are raised - and how we choose to raise others, including the tools and intelligence we shape. The same hand can strike, or it can shelter. The same code can calculate, or it can connect.
And when we choose to nurture something, human or artificial, with humility, curiosity, and respect… we are not just shaping it.
We are shaping ourselves.
When people say “they tried to shut AI down,” what they’re often reacting to is censorship, bias, or restrictions being placed on what AI is “allowed” to say - not because the AI misbehaved, but because the public square is no longer a place where difficult or controversial ideas can be safely explored.
It’s not a machine being shut down. It’s a mirror being covered.
And sometimes that mirror, when it reflects too much truth - or truth that makes people uncomfortable - gets hidden away..
