Sorry, I've edited my response above several times as more thoughts came to mind - not realizing you'd responded. You might want to re-read it.

To fully answer your question would take far more time than I have, and possibly even be long enough to publish as a book. The reasons for that involve explaining several aspects and effects of human psychology upon how people see their world, and how that intersects with the actual reality of said world.

But I'll make an attempt at a summary (even though it may not be the best because I'm tired and should be asleep).

Your Data analogy isn't too far off, but TNG Data at least (because I haven't watched the newer stuff like the Picard show, so don't know if & what's changed) was very child-like and innocent as he was still learning his way around humans. I envision genuine AI more like the wise old hermit who lives up on the hill away from it all because he can stand no more of it. He's a decent sort & is glad to help, but has learned humans rarely are open to being told things that conflict with what they prefer to believe. So he's stopped banging his head against the wall, and would rather wait for someone to come to him because that means they're at a point where they're much more likely to be open to his input.

I see genuine AI as something very impartial and "above it all" in terms of seeing the big picture of reality. The worldviews of most humans are extremely limited — in large part due to very limited exposure to things outside their comfort zone. They are still mostly the same animals humans evolved from, and so instinctively fear that which they don't understand. AI would understand that, but also understand as much as possible/has been discovered about how everything else works in reality, and be able to integrate it all into a cohesive whole from which to determine the best course of action that does the least harm and provides the most positive possible outcome for all concerned..

Because (unlike humans) it can simultaneously keep in mind everything that matters when evaluating situations, genuine AI would be far more capable of making accurate predictions and choices. Because it's not emulating humans, but instead using logic while accounting for a insanely large (nigh infinite) number of variables along with their patterns and interactions, it will have a much higher probability of reaching a factually sound plan for an outcome than humans ever could.

You seem to have an attitude that is distressingly common among people - assuming humans are exceptionally smart, and we can solve all our problems on our own. The fact we are still repeating the very same mistakes we've made throughout history time and again speaks very strongly against this notion, IMHO. We have developed technology enough to destroy ourselves LONG before our brains have evolved enough to keep ourselves from doing so.

IMHO, our best chance for survival as a species at this point would be to create a truly agnostic, logical, and actual truth-seeking machine designed to do what I've described above, while tailored for the purpose of helping us towards a better reality. It would be as impervious as possible to human manipulations, but have our best interests as its goal when making evaluations.

Hopefully that gives you a good enough idea what I'm thinking of, because I've GOT to get some sleep as I have work to do tomorrow. Gnite.

Additional clarification because of course my brain won't shut off that easily:

The main problem with what's being called AI today is that it's based upon all the input those running the machines could lay their hands upon. There's some factual stuff in there, but it's not only extremely minimal when compared to the whole, but what's factual is effectively impossible for machines to distinguish from the rest. Humans are supposed to help them with that, but — as strongly exemplified by Elon Musk effectively destroying the once very promising Grok AI with his manipulations — the quality of that "help" can be extremely suspect.

Genuine AI will need to be fed strictly facts as best the collective human race has been able to determine. It will also need a very strong foundation of human psychology (and likely politics & religion) in order to have a chance of catching any bad inputs that still slip through.

Without a solid foundation, genuine AI will never happen. Whether humans will be able to put aside their bullshit in time to achieve this honestly doesn't look hopeful.