People once feared their ignorance… today we fear our intelligence.
Not because machines have started to think, but because humans have begun surrendering their conscience the smarter their tools become. Technology now performs tasks on our behalf—until we nearly forget why we do what we do.
Our children today know how to ask artificial intelligence to write, draw, suggest—
but who teaches them why they are supposed to do any of that?
The ethical question has stepped out of the frame,
and the technical question now stands alone in the spotlight.
Recent reports on human–AI interaction point to a dangerous trend: excessive reliance on AI systems.
A large-scale review from a Microsoft research team found that users tend to accept AI recommendations even when they are incomplete or questionable—so long as they appear confident and fast.
Such dependency turns the human into the final line of defense…
and then quietly retires him without notice.
On the other side of the story, research shows what happens to the souls of our children in a screen-saturated world:
A study from UCLA found that children who stayed away from screens for just five days—and spent that time interacting face-to-face—became significantly better at reading facial expressions and understanding others’ emotions compared to peers glued to their devices.
It is as if the screen not only steals time… but steals the ability to read another human being.
The problem is not artificial intelligence itself;
it is the human who wants to hand it the steering wheel and settle for riding along.
Analytical pieces in Harvard Business Review warn that no matter how advanced AI becomes, it cannot grasp non-measurable human factors: intention, compassion, moral intuition.
Leaving delicate decisions entirely to AI is a gamble—not only with outcomes, but with values.
But the research is not all written in the language of fear;
it whispers a simpler truth: conscience can be raised even in a digital age.
Studies in Moral Education and digital learning show that embedding ethical literacy and digital citizenship into curricula—training young people to think before they click—improves their decision-making online and reduces their susceptibility to harm, bullying, and blind obedience to technology.
So the idea is not to turn devices off… but to wake the human up.
We want a generation that does not fear artificial intelligence—
but knows how to put it back where it belongs: as a tool, not a leader.
A generation that asks before using:
Is this right?
Is it fair?
Does it leave a clean mark on myself and others?
To the parents of this era:
Do not fear that your children may become more technologically skilled than you.
Fear the day their devices become faster than their conscience.
And to teachers:
Bring back an old lesson to your classrooms—
that no matter how many tools a human possesses, he remains answerable to his own reflection before trusting the outcomes of his algorithms.
For intelligence without conscience may build a more efficient world…
but it will never build a more merciful one.
