Share You said: The term artificial intelligence is frequently misunderstood, largely because many lack a precise grasp of what AI actually entails. Popular culture and media have propagated misconceptions about its capabilities, often blurring the line between sophisticated computation and true intelligence. Compounding this issue, marketing campaigns frequently overstate the abilities of AI systems, fostering an inflated sense of both their promise and their peril. It is, in a way, rather ironic. Many of the same biases and fears that fueled past superstitions—such as witch hunts—now manifest in discussions about AI. People label it as a looming existential threat, despite the fact that today's AI is no more self-aware than a pocket calculator. A phone, a television, even a chess-playing computer—these are all artificially intelligent, but they do not think. The fear that many express is akin to being afraid of one's laptop. Now, consciousness—that is an entirely different matter. If machines ever develop true self-awareness, the ability to premeditate, to experience inspiration—something humans often describe as coming from somewhere else—then we would face a profound shift in our relationship with technology. That is the moment at which AI would cease to be a mere tool and instead become something fundamentally new, and potentially unpredictable. For now, even our most advanced systems—whether autonomous drones, battlefield robots, or fire-spewing mechanical dogs—are still ultimately designed by flawed human minds. They are dangerous in the same way any weapon is dangerous, but they remain bound by human limitations. A truly thinking machine, however, one capable of independent reasoning and self-direction—that is when the concerns raised in science fiction would need to be taken seriously.