We Trust the Internet, So Why Don’t We Trust AI?

I hear a lot of people talk about how AI will make us more productive. It will help us work faster. It will help us do more in less time. That matters. But I think we are missing something bigger. I want to talk about creativity. And even more than that, I want to talk about understanding.

At first, it may not be obvious what these AI tools really are. But once you sit with them, it clicks. These are not just writing tools. They are not just chatbots. They are knowledge tools. You can upload a long PDF and talk to it. You can ask questions in plain language. You can explore ideas instead of digging through pages. That alone changes how we deal with information.

What amazes me is how well this all works. These systems are built from pieces of information pulled together over time. People say they do not imagine. But in a strange way, that is almost all they do. They guess. They predict. They “hallucinate.” Most of the time, those guesses line up with how we see the world. When they do, we nod and say, “Yes, that makes sense.” Every now and then, they are clearly wrong. Then we panic and say the whole thing is fake.

But I wonder if we are being fair.

We trust the internet because we believe humans made it. Wikipedia was written by people. Blog posts were written by people. Social media posts were written by people. Even when those people are wrong, we still treat the content as meaningful. But when a machine creates something on that same internet, we suddenly shut down. We say it has no value. We say it is just word salad.

I ask myself, so what?

If a machine-generated explanation helps me understand a hard idea better than a human explanation ever did, did it fail? Or did it succeed? If I finally grasp a tough topic because the words were clearer and the structure made sense to me, isn’t that the point?

This is where learning comes in.

When I spoke to Peachy Pacquing, she shared that she is not anti-technology. She thought humans are always asking the same question: “How do I understand this?” That is different from collecting facts. Knowledge is not the same as understanding. Understanding is when something clicks. It is when you can use an idea, not just repeat it.

She learned this years ago through books and is a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell, who I also love. I love how he tells stories. I also know the criticism. Some academics say he takes their ideas and turns them into simple stories. They say it lacks depth.

But here is the truth. Most of us would never read those academic papers. Not then. Maybe not ever. When Peachy first read *The Tipping Point*, she finally understood how trends spread. She could see it. She could use it. That book changed how I thought. It helped me apply ideas in real life. That mattered more than where the ideas came from.

That is what education is supposed to do.

Peachy shared that education comes from two old Latin ideas. One means to train and mold. The other means to draw out what is already inside you. Somewhere along the way, we picked the first one and forgot the second. We focused on training. On molding. On pouring information into people.

We forgot that learning is also about guidance.

Most of us already have curiosity. We already have questions. We just need help pulling them out. We do not need a sage on a stage telling us the “right” answer. We need a guide on the side asking, “What do you think?” and “Why does this matter to you?”

AI can help with that.

It can meet people where they are. It can explain things in different ways. It can adjust to how someone thinks. That does not replace teachers. It supports understanding. Just like photography did not die when tools changed, learning will not die because the tools changed.

We are no longer in a factory age. We are trying to make sense of a complex world. If AI helps us understand that world a little better, we should not dismiss it so quickly.

Understanding is the goal. The tool is just the path.

 

About Me:

Dominic “Doc” Ligot is one of the leading voices in AI in the Philippines. Doc has been extensively cited in local and global media outlets including The Economist, South China Morning Post, Washington Post, and Agence France Presse. His award-winning work has been recognized and published by prestigious organizations such as NASA, Data.org, Digital Public Goods Alliance, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.

If you need guidance or training in maximizing AI for your career or business, reach out to Doc via https://docligot.com.

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