The AI Dilemma

AI--Artificial Intelligence--can be a wonderful aid to research. I no longer have to spend hours at the public library, pawing through card catalogs and searching through the stacks to find the book I need. Instead, I can just type a simple question in the search line of my browser, and the answer will magically and immediately appear. If I need an idea for a recipe that uses the ingredients I have on hand, AI will produce one. If I want to converse with someone who speaks a different language, AI will translate. When I want an answer to some trivia question, I can simply ask Siri, or Google, or Alexa, and a calm voice will respond right away.

When I asked Google the simple question, "What is AI?" this is how it responded: Artificial Intellligence (AI) is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning from past experiences, problem-solving, and understanding language. Instead of explicit programming, AI uses algorithms and data to recognize patterns and make decisions.

No matter who you talk to, or what you read about it, you will find that the use of AI is controversial, even scary. You've probably heard some of these concerns:

• It's not always accurate, and we can't always tell when it isn't.
• The use of AI to do research or help write a paper stifles creativity, encourages dishonesty, and undermines teachers' goals.
• AI's ability to generate realistic, fake images, video, and audio spreads misinformation and propaganda, causing inherent mistrust of digital media.
• AI can be a threat to privacy when it enables widespread surveillance through facial recognition.
• The use of AI makes illegal hacking and identity theft easier and faster.
• The immense energy consumption required for widespread use of AI leads to environmental concerns.
• Over-reliance on AI can diminish critical thinking skills and cognitive abilities.
• The use of AI threatens to eliminate jobs in manufacturing, logistics, and customer service, increasing the already widening gap between the rich and the low-income workforce.

As you can see, AI has amazing benefits--and frightening drawbacks. Already, it seems as though the whole world is reveling in the seemingly unlimited knowledge that is readily available through the use of AI. In fact, I've heard some Christians speculate that AI may actually be the antichrist because, if human beings have all knowledge at their disposal, will they see any need for God?

I can't help but compare this dilemma to the Tower of Babel story found in Genesis 11:1-9. I encourage you to read it for yourself, but I will give you a brief, partially AI-assisted synopsis here:

At the time of this story, not terribly long after God created the Earth and everything on it, all the people spoke the same language and lived in the same part of the world. To become famous and avoid scattering all over the world, they decided to build a great city with a brick tower reaching to the sky. When God saw what they were doing, he said, "The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!" So, he confused their languages, which led to whole nations moving together to other areas where they would all be able to understand each other and work together. In this way, God frustrated their plans and caused the whole Earth to become populated.

Modern-day skyscrapers, like these in New Orleans, undoubtedly reach closer to the sky than the Tower of Babel ever would have, due to improved building materials, equipment, and technology.

AI calls the Tower of Babel account a "cautionary tale about self-centered ambition and challenging divine authority." Those of us who consider the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God will certainly object to AI's claim that the Tower of Babel story is merely a myth that explains language diversity, while serving as a warning against human pride and unchecked ambition. But, I think we can agree that the story's warning against pride and ambition can also apply to Artificial Intelligence, and people's unchecked use of AI to bypass using our brains, in hopes of attaining all knowledge about anything we want to know. I wonder how many people will think they don't need God when they think they have the whole world--and all knowledge--at their fingertips.

Perhaps you've noticed, as I have, that the more technology-oriented we have become, the less we interact with other people, the more we criticize those whose opinions differ from ours, and the less often we reach out in love to help the people around us--or even engage in calm, intelligent conversation, in any language.

I love using AI to assist with my research, or even translate unknown language into words I can easily understand, but I often wonder if the negatives out-weigh the positives. What do you think?

If I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:2b