As I write these opening words to my column today I am quite cognizant that I am being monitored by Artificial Intelligence (AI) eager to not only correct my spelling (see spell check) or my grammar (see grammar check), but quite likely making notes on my ‘permanent AI record’ that I am a ‘free thinker’ -- not to be trusted because I don’t utilize these ‘helpful apps,’ preferring to do my own composing, publishing and, dare I say, drawing my own conclusions based on research rather than on conjecture or because AI tells me so.
AI is becoming more integrated into our daily lives and thought processes and with it comes the enticement to have implanted portals to our brains so that we can send and receive input at record speeds (the speed of thought). But since the information superhighway goes both ways, is anyone considering that we will be subjected to non-stop programming – some good and others not so good -- and there won’t be any guardrails to separate one from the other?
As we cloud our minds with this new tech, AI will begin composing its own version of our thoughts, sentences, e-mails or reports ‘just in case’ we succumb to human laziness and choose to ‘click on the app’ and let it do the ‘work’ of thinking for us. And when that happens, will we be able to discern whether or not it truly is my thoughts or an AI rebuttal to them?
We will have become more machine than human.
Which raises the question, moving forward, how will the term ‘human’ be defined? And more to the point, who (or what) will define it?
Pope Francis raised these ethical questions in a 117-paragraph memo released on January 14th entitled, Antiqua et Nona (on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence).
He said that the “Christian tradition regards the gift of intelligence as an essential aspect of how humans are created in the ‘image of God” and that this “gift of intelligence should be expressed through the responsible use of reason and technical abilities in the stewardship of the created world.”
Pope Francis invites us to reflect on the anthropological and ethical challenges the use and/or overuse of AI raises for us, for the poor and, environmentally, for our planet. He asks if the human costs are worth it.
He advises that we should not look at AI as an “artificial form of human intelligence” but rather as “a product” of human intelligence. In this way we retain mastery over it and do not relinquish our responsibility by placing ourselves instead at the service (and mercy) of AI as a false god or golden calf.
Such things have happened before in human history and Pope Francis points to the need for ethical guidelines and shared responsibilities.
Before we allow ourselves to get lulled into compliance by the seductive lure of AI, perhaps we need to call a Lenten fast from the arbitrary use of AI in order to get a better handle on the implications of what this brave, new world will have on our collective humanity.
John De Gano is a deacon at St. Catherine of Alexandria parish in Riverside.