In South Africa, a woman built an AI “Aunt” — a digital guide designed to support women facing violence. It’s a beautiful innovation born from heartbr
In South Africa, a woman built an AI “Aunt” — a digital guide designed to support women facing violence. It’s a beautiful innovation born from heartbreak.
And it tells a story much bigger than technology.
Photo by Ismail Suleiman
It tells us that once again, women are filling the gaps left by systems that should protect them.
Women have always invented safety in the dark — safe words, maps in quilts, coded glances, “text me when you get home,” group chats, and now, artificial intelligence.
Every generation of women creates tools to survive what the world refuses to fix.
The tragedy isn’t that we need AI aunties.
The tragedy is that human beings — family, communities, and nations — continue to fail women so profoundly that digital compassion sometimes feels safer than human touch. Even with social media women still feel the need for such an outlet.
With all of our innovations we are still leaving people in pain and we are failing at responding adequately as human beings. Even social media devolved into another space for people to be teased and bullied for natural human responses to pain and trauma.
As for this innovation, there is room for critique, sure — but let that critique fall where it belongs:
on humanity’s lack of care, our lack of compassion, our failure to prevent violence, our apathy toward the lives of children and women.
If there’s a subpoena to serve, serve it to humanity.
This invention deserves celebration.
But it should also call us to repentance — to ask why so many women still live in danger, why help still arrives too late, and why protection is still seen as innovation rather than obligation.
The future of safety shouldn’t depend on code alone.
It should depend on conscience.