AI has the potential to destroy jobs and the dystopian idea of AI machines taking over the world is not now just the realm of Sci-Fi (HAL9000 when asked to open the docking bay: ‘I'm sorry Dave I'm afraid I can't do that’ (RIP Dave…)).
This raises many questions, not least (like Turing) what if we can't tell the difference between a computer communication and a human one? Can a computer become sentient? This is the realm of ‘Artificial General Intelligence’ (AGI).
There are some really big issues here and they seem a world away from the Bible, but as with other things, there are archetypes that give clues as to how the bigger picture will play out. Prof John Lennox’s book ‘2084 - Artificial Intelligence and the future of humanity’ has something to say on this.
ChatGPT
AI has been in the news recently with the launch of ChatGPT an interactive tool that can be used to mine an extensive information archive and produce human-like responses. You can even have a dialogue...
This is the first time this form of AI has been available to the public though ‘AI’ has been in development since the start of computers and in a sense before that, as Artificial Intelligence is essentially trying to mimic or help human thought processes – so an abacus is a tool of this sort, or any sort of aide-memoir. Digital processing and storage of images and text put this in a completely different league but at its heart AI is still a human-written computer programme, processing data.
AI is already used extensively by Google, Bing etc both in analysing webpages and working out what it is we’re looking for in order to create credible results (and attract the lifeblood of advertising). It is also used commercially for generating marketing and research. You might also have encountered it in online job interviews. A key element is natural language processing both to ‘understand’ (decode) what we type and to compose sensible replies.
AI speaks
ChatGPT is over-subscribed now but I asked a related product, you.com, to ‘review book 2084 - Artificial Intelligence and the future of humanity by John Lennox, Zondervan Reflective, 2020’
This is the reply:
John Lennox’s book 2084 - Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity is an insightful exploration into the potential impacts that artificial intelligence could have on humanity. The book provides a comprehensive overview of AI, examining its current capabilities and how it might shape our future. It also delves into ethical considerations surrounding this technology, as well as possible solutions to mitigate any negative outcomes.
The first part of the book introduces readers to AI by discussing its history and current state-of-the-art technologies such as deep learning algorithms and neural networks. Lennox then moves onto exploring potential applications for AI in areas like healthcare or transportation systems before taking a closer look at some ethical questions raised by these advancements in technology including issues related to privacy, data security, job displacement etc.. Additionally he explores how humans can harness these new developments responsibly for their benefit without sacrificing safety or morality.
Overall this is an incredibly informative read with thought provoking insights from one of today’s foremost experts on artificial intelligence – John Lennox himself! He does an excellent job conveying complex topics in simple terms while simultaneously presenting both sides of each argument which allows readers to form their own opinions about the subject matter discussed throughout his work . I highly recommend 2084 - Artificial Intelligence & The Future Of Humanity if you are looking for a comprehensive introduction into this rapidly evolving field!
This text is true as far as it goes, and fluency of style is impressive, but you naturally wonder where this comes from, what does it say and not say? The AI process may have access to the full text eg via a Kindle file, though unlikely. It is not close to the dust jacket text or the précis on Amazon, so has access to other reviews or material.
How accurate is it? A key point is that it mentions ethics and morality but doesn't mention ‘Christianity’ (which Amazon does) and which is the underlying rationale of the text (more on this later). It finishes off with a panegyric, rather typical and artificial, and the programmer throws in humanesque first-person speech ‘I highly recommend…’ although the computer cannot have a personal opinion as is not a person and does not have ‘views’ just assemblies of information.
Message manipulation
The amount of money being invested in AI (ChatGPT owner OpenAI has had a $10 billion investment from Microsoft) shows the immense desire to control this area for a number of reasons. AI will change the way we do searches - where the tool retains context so we can ask more and more refining questions to narrow down our search. Microsoft would love to depose Google.
It helps 'knowledge workers', doing research from existing sources, so there is money to be made there but ChatGPT has been shown to have a distinctive bias towards ‘progressive’ ideologies similar to the Big-Tech/MSM/Government censoring that we saw so plainly over Covid and elsewhere. There is a special 'social layer' that filters out responses the controllers don't like, and it’s been shown to state untruths which when challenged it 'apologises' for - so it knowingly misleads, FNB! (feature-not-bug). So there are very considerable dangers from disinformation. The way forward is to have your own AI tool and to give it learn-access to the library of books, range of websites, that you want it to use - and set the truth-factor to 10.
On a broader canvas, a key part of the quest of AI is to reproduce the processes of the brain itself so we might find a way to transfer ourselves, to silicon (transhumanism) and/or to become ‘super intelligent’ by upgrading ourselves– that’s if the self-learning AI machines don’t beat us to it (re HAL9000).
But it does beg the question what ‘intelligence’ is anyway – is it just IQ results, memory, maths ability, logic, précising facts? If so it’s really not much, just a tool. The only thing worth having is that elusive humanity, what we know as the image of God.
John Lennox unpacks these huge issues about the nature of being human and how likely it is that we will see an inhuman Armageddon motivated by the evil of an elite. But what is more important is what the Creator has to say, who is not artificial and is beyond super-intelligence but is uniquely and indescribably loving and knowing. John Lennox affirms God’s creation-sovereignty and looking at Revelation, as with his book on Daniel, sees the future in God’s redemptive hands.
Another Babel
There may be another Babel. AI relies on the interconnection of huge amounts of data, networks and systems – perhaps there will be a different sort of confusion of languages...
