Is AI causing despair — or exposing the despair that already exists?

Headlines linking AI to tragedy can make optimism feel naive. Drawing on a colleague’s warning and the wider reality of global suffering, this post reframes the question: not whether AI can harm, but whether it can help heal what’s already broken. It argues for guardrails—and for using AI to scale knowledge, care, and hope.

A colleague recently shared an article linking AI to tragic suicides
and urged me to temper my enthusiasm.

I understand the concern — we absolutely need guardrails.

Here’s the harder truth:
Every year, over a million people take their own lives--
not including impulsive accidents
that might profoundly multiply this number.

Their suffering didn’t begin with AI.
The crisis isn’t new.
What’s new is that technology is holding up a mirror —
showing us the pain hidden in plain sight.

So the real question isn’t “Is AI doing harm?”
It’s “Can we use it to heal what’s already broken?”
Because when we look at hunger, war, injustice, disease,
and the global mental health crisis —
we need exponential tools to solve exponential problems.

AI isn’t the enemy.
It’s one of the few tools that can scale hope faster than harm.
Let’s use it to spread knowledge faster than ignorance,
Discovery faster than disease.

Let's free people to do what only we can —
care, connect, and rebuild.

A healthier future won’t be created by the tools we fear.
That future will be created by how bravely we use emerging technologies
to build a more humane and sustainable world.