Has an AI ever "lied" to you?

A man told a story about his wife asking an AI for a recipe. The AI generated one. The photo looked perfect. The meal was awful.
His wife asked, "Why would it lie?"
It didn't. It can't.

AI doesn't understand truth. It only predicts the next word based on complex math. It generates text that looks like meaning. We are the ones who mistake its fluency for understanding.

This is the central problem.

We created this confusion with the name "Artificial Intelligence."
That name is a metaphor. It's a "hack" on our own minds. We immediately started using human words for it: "thinking," "deciding," "learning." Our brains projected a mind where there is none.

Let's be precise.
Machines do not think. They compute.
Machines do not understand. They calculate.
Machines do not have intent. We do.

Language shapes our reality. When we call these tools "intelligent," we start to believe it. In doing so, we risk devaluing our own unique human intelligence.
AI is not a threat. It is a mirror.

What we fear in it is a reflection of our own uncertainty about purpose and value.

The solution is not technical. It is linguistic.
We can unhack ourselves by changing our words.
Stop calling it Artificial Intelligence.
Start calling it Assistive Technology.
Call it a tool. An amplifier.

Technology is not inevitable. It is intentional. It is something we choose to build and direct.

When we speak about it with precision, we shift the narrative from fear to empowerment. We move from being "replaced" to being "partners."
The future doesn't happen to us. We write it. One word at a time.