The Next Big Shift: AI for Good and the Future of Life in 2026
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By Kate Doerksen
CEO and Cofounder of Sage Haven
Artificial Intelligence: The Beginning of a Big Shift
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly the emerging technology that will most impact quality of life in 2026. Like the powerful game-changing technologies that came before, from the printing press to electricity to motorized cars to the internet, Generative AI is the next massive shift rapidly changing how we work, live and play. We are at the very beginning of feeling the many ways it will impact our lives. Generative AI today is like the internet in the late 1990s. It’s awesome to see the new applications emerging but it’s nothing like what will happen in the coming decades.
Like the internet, AI will open up new opportunities for both profit and purpose as well as create new risks. I’m AI-optimistic and believe the good will outweigh the bad if we anticipate risks, regulate thoughtfully, and move swiftly to support the changing workforce dynamics. I’m particularly excited about AI-supported breakthroughs in self-driving cars, carbon capture, workforce productivity improvements, delivery (and firefighting) drones, pharmaceutical industry and medical diagnostics breakthroughs, and cybersecurity.
I’m a serial entrepreneur focusing the next chapter of my career on using AI to build a safer internet for kids. This is very near-and-dear to my heart given a teen family member who went through a mental health crisis largely due to cyberbullying. I’m also a parent thinking about how to build digital experiences I want for my own family.
Technology is making Parenting Harder…So Far
To date, much of the internet’s technology shift has made parenting even harder. According to a Pew Research Center report on Parenting Children in the Age of Screens, two-thirds of U.S. parents say parenting is harder today than it was 20 years ago, with many citing technologies – like social media, smartphones, and AI – as reasons. The top two parental concerns are 1) kids struggling with anxiety/depression and 2) kids being bullied.
My cofounder and I spent over a year doing deep interviews with over 500 parents and kids. We heard significant pain regarding kids’ current use of technology due to excessive screen time, cyberbullying, social comparison, inappropriate content, and creepy strangers. It was clear that navigating technology is the #1 parenting pain point of our time.
The emergence of AI will only make this worse if we aren’t careful. Chatbots that have already caused serious harm to kids by encouraging them to self-harm and providing incorrect and age-inappropriate answers to kids.
Social media feeds are quickly filling up with realistic-looking AI fake videos that erode trust in what’s real. I’ve been outspoken that the early AI leaders, like OpenAI and Meta, haven’t done enough to keep kids safe online - launching easily circumnavigable parental controls that do the bare minimum years too late!
Building AI for Good
That said, AI is giving us increasingly powerful tools to support parents, moderate content, verify age, and build healthier, non-addictive digital experiences that support genuine connections and joy.
AI enables the emergence of new entrants, like my newest company, Sage Haven, a safer messaging app for kids that uses sophisticated AI to block harmful messages before they are even sent and nudge kids towards kindness and best practices. We also make parental supervision easy with AI alerts and recaps.
There is a major trend and groundswell of technology-conscious parents delaying access to smartphones, setting screen time boundaries, and actively looking for safer, non-addictive digital spaces for their children. AI is going to help me and other entrepreneurs help these parents by building a safer internet for their kids.
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