We're using AI to build a better world. Here's how
Joseph Sarvary · 11 June 2026
Most people think of AI as a tool for efficiency, entertainment or profit. And to be fair, it is. It can help us write faster, code faster, market better and sell more.
But what if we pointed all that power at something else entirely? What if, instead of using AI to build another revenue stream, we used it to build a more generous world?
That’s what we’re working on at EveryDrop. And the journey has completely reshaped how I think about what one person can build, and who that building is for.
From idea to prototype, in a fraction of the time
When I first had the idea for EveryDrop, a daily giving journey that makes generosity a calm habit, I had no idea where to start.
So I asked an AI assistant how much an app like this might cost to build. The answer: around $50,000 for a minimum viable product. That was the first time I nearly shelved the project. I wasn’t about to hire a development agency just to test an idea.
Then I realised something. With the help of AI, I didn’t need to.
Instead of outsourcing, I used AI to help me build it myself. It walked me through languages, databases, frameworks and architecture. It helped me think through feature sets, user flows and visual design. It even coached me through the psychological research underpinning the app’s core ideas.
Suddenly I wasn’t just a person with an idea. I was building.
Staying in the driver’s seat
EveryDrop isn’t just code. It’s a reflection of values, and I wanted to be involved in every decision.
AI made that possible. Because I could handle the technical side myself, I never had to hand the vision over to someone else. I could test and tweak, change a flow, rewrite a feature, move a button or rethink a line of copy, all while keeping the mission intact.
That level of control doesn’t just make the product better. It makes it honest. Nothing in the app exists because a contractor thought it was close enough.
Why build this?
If AI lets you build anything, why build a giving app?
Because the problem I kept seeing wasn’t a shortage of solutions. The world already has brilliant people working on its hardest problems, especially in the non-profit space. In our research we found hundreds of charities doing genuinely high-impact work. The bottleneck wasn’t innovation. It was support.
We don’t need more tech that tries to fix the world by inventing the next big thing. We need more infrastructure that directs our attention, energy and resources toward what already works.
That’s what EveryDrop is: an on-ramp to a more generous, more intentional way of living. Thirty days. One problem and one remarkable organisation each day. A small gift, given calmly.
AI’s real potential
For me, the most exciting use of AI isn’t better coding or writing. It’s better understanding.
AI has become a kind of Socratic tutor, helping me explore philosophy, ethics, economics and behavioural science, connecting ideas across disciplines into a more coherent worldview. The same approach shaped EveryDrop’s vetting research: every charity on the platform is assessed against a documented framework, with AI doing the legwork of gathering regulator filings, evaluator reviews and academic evidence, and a human making every judgement call.
In a complex, fast-moving world we need citizens, not just workers, who can think clearly, compassionately and critically. AI won’t answer what is good. But it can help us reason toward it, together.
So what should you build?
If you’re lucky enough to have access to these tools, my advice is simple:
Build something that wouldn’t exist without you.
Not just something profitable. Not just something flashy. Build something you understand, a problem you feel, that wouldn’t be solved the same way if you didn’t show up.
Yes, AI gives us leverage. But it also gives us the chance to create things that are more personal, more mission-driven and more urgently needed. There’s space for startups chasing speed and scale. There’s also space for soul.
So build the thing that should exist. Build the future you want to live in. And maybe, just maybe, use this superpower to make the world a little more generous.