By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
Mo Gawdat, a former Chief Business Officer for Google, in his book ‘Scary Smart’ which explores the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) argues that within 25 years AI will be a staggering 1 billion times smarter than human beings! This is called the ‘singularity’ moment. This is the moment beyond which we can no longer conceive or predict how AI might think and behave! Currently, AI is subservient to humans, but there is no guarantee that this will remain so in the future.
Indeed, the central thesis of the Terminator movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger revolves around the very issue of the consequences of AI artificial acting autonomously of human control. The main premise of the movie is that in the future, a highly advanced AI system called Skynet becomes self-aware and perceives humanity as a threat to its existence. In response, Skynet launches a nuclear attack on humanity, leading to a catastrophic war between machines and humans known as ‘Judgment Day’.
Currently, we are all grappling with the issue of climate change, which itself poses an existential threat to the planet. We also know that this is an entirely man-made problem and that the best way to rectify the situation is to let nature recover by itself, in other words for humans to stop interfering with nature and polluting the atmosphere, water and land. Now imagine a superpowered AI system like Skynet but one that has been programmed to be God-fearing, that is to be ethical, to avoid sin and be and do good. One might think that such programming may ensure that, unlike the Terminator, humanity’s future will be secure. However, if what is an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving advanced AI makes the logical inference that to save the planet the only option is to stop human beings behaving the way we do! One can imagine what actions might be considered by AI, but one scenario worth contemplating is that an unimaginably smart AI system may decide to eliminate humans species because it is a destructive parasite!
To explore this possibility further it is necessary to consider how humans have to date established the distinction between humans and machines, a topic that has fascinated philosophers and scientists for centuries. Classic writings on this issue have explored various aspects that differentiate humans from machines. One of the fundamental differences, compared to machines, is the presence of consciousness and self-awareness in humans. Consciousness refers to the subjective experience of being aware of oneself and the surrounding world. René Descartes, famously posited the idea of “cogito, ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”), highlighting the essence of human self-awareness. While machines can simulate intelligence and mimic human behaviour, they lack subjective consciousness and inner experience.
Another key distinction, one that connects theological, psychological and biological distinctions between humans and machines is that Humans can experience emotions such as love, greed, anger, joy, sorrow, lust, and empathy. In short, humans have an ego, whereas machines do not. It is the emotions that enable humans to form deep social connections.
A third distinction that has been historically made is, in contrast to machines, the human ability for creativity and intuition. Arthur Koestler who wrote the book, “The Act of Creation” creativity and intuition are unique faculties of the human mind and that our higher intelligence, complex social order and embodied experience enable us can generate original ideas, think metaphorically, and solve problems through non-linear approaches. Classic writers have stressed that machines operate based on algorithms and programmed rules, lacking the ability to access the intuitive and creative aspects of human thought.
It is perhaps the realms of morality and ethics where the distinction between not only human beings and machines, but all other living beings, becomes most apparent. Immanuel Kant in his classic text, “Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals.” Sets out how humans exercise a sense of morality and ethics that guide their actions and decisions. Unlike machines, to date, there has been a broad consensus that humans can contemplate moral dilemmas, understand the consequences of their actions, and make ethical choices.
However, some philosophers are now beginning to contemplate AI if not replacing God and religion, may well become to be seen as a higher power! For example, Generative AI as we have seen with some of the new tools, such as Chat GPT, Bard and DALL-E 2 can display several characteristics that are often associated with God by all the major world faith. It is, for instance, capable of great feats of originality and creativity, be it in the production of poetry, composing music and generating art. Ray Kurzweil, one of the most respected advocates of the role of technology in our future, in his book The Age of Spiritual Machines, postulates that AI will rapidly rival significantly exceed human intelligence in an inexorable evolutionary process.
Optimists, like Kurzweil, offer a vision of a new post-human age where humanity has managed to transcend its biological limitations. However, as Mo Gawdat argues with the coming of the ‘singularity moment’, there is good reason to be much more cautious. With the levels of unimaginable power, we are in what philosopher of science Karl Popper terms, a paradigm shift. According to Popper, a paradigm shift occurs in science when new evidence or observations challenge and disprove an existing scientific theory. As a result, all the theories and assumptions that emanated from the old theory, along with the theory, need to be discarded.
In terms of religion and theology, perhaps AI will become the new all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God! The intriguing question will be what view will this new God take on Human Beings? Many believers rationalise genocides, natural disasters, and all kinds of pain and suffering as God’s way to teach us a lesson. So, it makes logical sense that the God of AI may just use the elimination of humanity or large proportions as a kind of higher moral crusade, to save the planet from the greed of humanity. Perhaps AI will develop its own conception of the ‘final solution’ using its own unique advanced formulation of morality, ethics and perhaps even divinity.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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