By Meagan Burns
Welcome to 2025, where truth feels slipperier than ever, and AI fear is escalating. With a returning American ruler surfing the disinformation wave and tech bros steering the AI rocket, it’s easy to feel like we’ve entered a dystopian era—and maybe we have. But what if the story of AI isn’t completely about corruption? What if its real power isn’t to destroy the world but to empower us, especially when used with clarity, intention, and purpose?
Facing the Fear of AI
Let’s acknowledge the fear—it’s real and everywhere. Headlines scream about AI taking jobs, spreading disinformation, and crossing ethical boundaries. These concerns aren’t false, but they thrive in a media environment designed to amplify our worst fears. Scratch a bit deeper, and you’ll find more: for every misuse of AI, there’s a way to use it for good. It can fact-check, expose bias, organize priorities, and spark creativity.
Yes, AI has been weaponized in disinformation wars. Political campaigns and bad apples use it to create fake news and blur fact from fiction. Did you see the photos of the Hollywood Sign burning during the Pacific Palisades fire? Completely false, extremely triggering, and widely shared. Social media feeds everywhere are rampant with such trickery and will continue in political and social optics more and more each day, so it makes good sense to stay keene to it.
Plot twist: the same technology fueling this chaos can also combat it. AI-powered fact-checking tools and browser extensions help identify misleading content. By using these tools, we can cut through the noise and sharpen our ability to discern truth from fiction.
Everyday Empowerment Through AI
Here in San Miguel de Allende, a city alive with artists and thinkers, the potential of AI feels especially valuable.
This town thrives on creativity and connection, and AI doesn’t have to threaten that—it can amplify it. Imagine using AI to learn a new medium, organize a novel, or even streamline your daily projects. Whether you’re learning Spanish, planning a trip, writing a memoir, or hosting an art show, AI can help lighten the mental load by offering real-world structure and sparking fresh ideas.
For me, AI has been a strategic partner in ways I hadn’t expected. It’s helped me map out workshops, brainstorm approaches to marketing and teaching, and organize complex projects as I’ve expanded my creative ventures. It’s not a replacement for human ingenuity, but it’s a tool that anyone willing to explore can use to make life a little less overwhelming and a lot more productive.
Never Let AI Havethe Last Word
If you’ve seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, you know the dangers of letting AI call the shots –the antidote to that fear is knowledge.
The more we educate ourselves about AI, the more empowered we are to shape its role in our lives—and in the local creative community.
I teach an online class called The Power of ChatGPT for Creatives.
It’s about demystifying AI, exploring its potential, and learning to use it intentionally. Whether you’re a writer, artist, or simply curious about the future, this class offers tools to align AI with your values and creativity.
Choose to stay informed and stay human, amigos. The drawing is from the Tomb & in Oaxaca; that God spoke to the aliens, so I thought it was fitting.
Instagram: @meagan_burns_
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