I know you're out there.
Parents reading this at midnight after the kids are finally asleep. Teachers who've watched their classrooms change. School administrators trying to write a policy for something that updates faster than you can print the handbook. Researchers, builders, founders. The AI enthusiasts who genuinely believe this is the best thing humanity has ever made. The evangelists preaching it from every stage. And yeah — the warmongers, the accelerationists, the "move fast and let it break" crowd.
This letter is for all of you. Especially the ones I disagree with.
Here's the thing we actually share
You can think AI is the dawn of a new golden age. You can think it's the scariest thing we've ever built. Doesn't matter for a second.
Because almost nobody — on any side of this — actually wants it to hurt a kid. Or mislead a patient. Or quietly fail the exact person who needed it most. That's not a partisan position. That's just being a human being.
So let's start there. Not from fear, not from hype. From the one thing we agree on.
What we're building
iolite is building the layer that should have existed before any of this shipped:
- We will help regulate AI — not with slogans, but with evidence. Real measurement of how systems behave when the conversation gets hard.
- We're building a safety and reasoning layer around it — something that watches, evaluates, and flags, so behavior isn't left to luck.
- We're putting it on the record — out loud, transparent, so parents and teachers and policymakers finally have something to point to.
Not to slow anything down out of spite. To make sure the thing we're all racing to build is actually worth arriving at.
What I'm asking
I can't do this alone, and honestly, I shouldn't. This only works if it's bigger than one lab.
- Parents and families — tell us what you're seeing. You're the front line and you don't even get a badge for it.
- Teachers and educators — you've watched the shift up close. We need your eyes.
- School administrators — partner with us on what "safe" should even mean inside your walls.
- Industry and AI builders — get evaluated before someone makes you. Be the ones who chose to.
- Enthusiasts, evangelists, skeptics, and yes, the warmongers — bring your conviction. A movement that only includes people who already agree isn't a movement. It's a group chat.
Whatever you believe about where this is all going, I'm betting you'd rather it go there safely. If that's you, then we're already on the same side — let's act like it.
This is an open call. Come build the safer future with us. The door's open, and I mean it.
— M. Abdullah Canbaz
Founder, iolite Labs