AI Isn’t The Threat — Our Hesitation Is

InnovationHealthcareAI Isn’t The Threat — Our Hesitation IsByBrian Castrucci,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Brian Castrucci is the president & CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation.Follow AuthorApr 20, 2026, 10:47pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Electronic brain and Concept of artificial intelligence(AI).Graphic of a digital brain and Human head outline made from circuit board, connecting on dark blue background.gettyWhen Bernie Sanders warned in an April 2 Wall Street Journal op-ed that artificial intelligence is “a threat to everything the American people hold dear,” he gave voice to a real and growing unease. Americans are worried about jobs, power, misinformation and what all this means for how we live and relate to one another. But framing AI primarily as a threat doesn’t just reflect public sentiment. It reinforces a kind of paralysis at exactly the moment when engagement matters most.Because here’s the contradiction: Americans are already using AI, even as they say they don’t trust it. More than half report using it for research, and many are using it for writing, work and analysis — yet only about one in five say they trust AI-generated information most of the time. That’s not rejection. It’s adoption with hesitation. And left unaddressed, hesitation tends to harden into disengagement.You can see that dynamic clearly in the public health field. This is a profession that has every reason to be careful — high stakes, sensitive data, real-world consequences. But caution has a way of blurring into avoidance. While public health professionals debate AI in broad, abstract terms, other sectors are already building it into how decisions are made, how information is delivered and how people experience the system. If public health leaders wait for certainty, they won’t be shaping those systems. They will be inheriting them.The...