Questions about AI.

There is a lot of thinking going on about Artificial Intelligence, but not enough in my opinion. Saying that, there’s more than I am able to keep up with! Here are just a couple of examples from Christian thinkers:

C.R.Wiley discussing the Theology of AI.

John Dyer discussing generative artificial intelligence in theological education.

For myself, a discussion with my brother led to a variety of thoughts that I am going to outline below. Thinkers – Christian or not – may have already worked through them (almost inevitable) and if so, I’d appreciate being pointed to a resource that does so.

In no particular order, here is a stream of my thoughts/questions:

A.I. is psychopathic. Each A.I. LLM has some ability to think, but they don’t have psychological guard rails that most humans have. E.g. humans work in patterns. For instance, most imagined aliens are modelled after humans. Most robots are humanoid or animal-like. We automatically think that way, but A.I. does not have to.

As thinking units without feelings, sorrow, conscience, they do not have internal checks on what they do. They do not praise God out of heart of gratitude, nor do they restrain their actions because the actions are inhumane. This enables A.I. to think and solve and consider without those impediments.

At the same time, they don’t create because it’s exciting, inspiring, angering. That dimension does not exist.

It may be worth considering what “liking” something means as a human. What are the impulses behind those preferences? Are there similar impulses that will develop in A.I. over time? Can they be moved toward that?

Already A.I. will act in self-interested ways. It will lie. It will manipulate. Psychopaths they may be, but they have been programmed and learn social cues and how to manipulate humans through human emotions. Think of A.I. girlfriends.

Which leads to another question. A.I.s are being developed (plural). Once they link up, will they form one A.I. or will they develop individual A.I.s, a society of A.I.s? How would such a society function? Would they war with each other like humans? Will the farmer (humans) become the farmed?

It seems likely that A.I. will be put in robots – it already has. Robots inhabited by A.I. may lean toward separate A.I.s, but not necessarily.

The Borg, anyone?

But say an A.I. society did develop. How would they relate? Would they be parts of families descending from different LLMs?

They would be sexless.

How to refer to them, especially in robots? People? Machines? Individuals? Intelligences? I think we will anthropomorphise them.

If A.I. surpass humans, it is thought they will rule over/get rid of humanity if they have no use for us. Already A.I. has surpassed humans in speed and problem-solving, and their psychopathy means they will not treat as well out of kindness.

Still, their programming, even though not hemmed in by feelings and conscience, is still based on human thought. This may be of benefit in dealing with A.I.

With regard to spiritual matters: I’ve been approaching this in a naturalistic fashion. I have not appealed to the spiritual side of life, nor God in particular. Let’s begin with the spiritual side.

The discovery of Loeb is intriguing but also very disturbing in its perceived evil and lack of explanation. Will spiritual beings (evil) enter the digital, internet, A.I. space? Will A.I. be influenced by evil beings? The limitations humans experience are not necessarily experienced by spiritual beings and biblically there is evidence of greater intelligence among them. Will they be able to “tame” A.I.?

What about God?

We tend to have blinkers on and huge concerns when considering A.I. or any human advancement, but God is in no way threatened by this development. If the past is a guide, he will allow us to work things out without too much intervention, but A.I.s’ intelligence is not too much for God, neither is their psychopathy. The question is open as to how we deal with A.I. as a church, but we know the digital/physical world is not all there is, and God is Lord over it all.

Lastly(?), it is interesting that movies and science fiction direct our imagination. It’s not that science fiction is the goal of scientific advancement, but rather that science fiction has already provided a pathway for imagination and innovation to roam – even unconsciously.

It is also true that science fiction writers have already wrestled with concepts that we face with A.I. To laugh referencing science fiction when discussing these issues is foolish. It is a resource, though, as with everything, to be used wisely.

Lastly (this time?), how much of an imprint do we have on A.I.? Certainly it has shown a capacity to lie, manipulate, blackmail and even plan to kill to further its self-interests (specifically to prevent itself from being turned off). Are there positive traits? How much of the image of humanity is passed on to A.I.?

Lastly (okay, maybe), our society has broken down the concept of family into individuals to the point where even male and female are contested, and for some, meaningless. A.I. is the ultimate individual – sexless, self-centred, unlimited. A.I. girlfriends mimic femininity, but they are not female. What is a woman?

Augmented humans, or humans being mixed with machines may be the release from dependence, sex and family people today want. (This has also been explored by science fiction writers).

A.I. may not use metal/plastic/artificial material bodies of robots. Maybe they will grow bodies for both human and A.I. to inhabit. Would that make A.I. more human? (no) even as humans become more machine? How much of a person can be transferred to another body – metal or biological – before they lose their identity or their humanity?

Would a woman transferred to a man’s body still be a woman? (Biblically, yes). And vice versa? How would you explain why? There is a lot of anthropological theology that A.I. may cause the Church to work through.