Some thoughts on the future and AI

If you’ve had a long-ish conversation with me recently, there’s a decent chance the subject of AI has come up. I apologize for that. I’m immensely interested in the topic and also, as some of you know, extremely hesitant to actually use it firsthand. In other words, I have a lot of theoretical knowledge and almost no practical knowledge about AI- maybe not the best qualifications to offer anything useful! Regardless, I listened to two interviews recently that had quotes that popped out at me, especially in relation to what we believe about human nature and the end of all things.

The first was between Stephen Bartlett (host of the Diary of a CEO podcast) and a former researcher at OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) named Daniel Kokotajlo. It’s a pretty bleak conversation. Kokotajlo left OpenAI because of concerns about where the technology was headed- he claims to have given up an offer of two million dollars to keep him quiet, opting to talk openly about his concerns instead. He’s now founded a non-profit called the “AI Futures Project” which creates forecasts and recommendations for the development of AI. If you want to feel cheerful and hopeful, don’t watch this conversation. He thinks there’s a good chance that we are creating a new species that will result in horrible outcomes for humanity, possibly even our extinction. He regrets having kids because of the hopelessness of the future and doesn’t believe they’ll ever enter the workforce and have jobs. But the quote that stood out to me was near the end of the interview. He said that the development of AI is “the most important thing…probably in all of history.”

The most important thing probably in all of history. That is the perspective of someone who does not know the Scriptures nor trusts in Jesus. From this perspective, the future is bleak and there’s no help available from outside of creation to do anything about it.

For a totally different vibe, I also watched The Economist’s recent interview with Elon Musk, the world’s richest person. This guy is confident that we are entering an age of abundance. Everyone will have everything they ever wanted thanks to AI. Is there a chance it could go all wrong and wipe out humanity? Yeah, sure, but nobody’s going to stop the train at this point, so you might as well get on board and enjoy the ride! Musk thinks that artificial “super intelligence” (or “artificial general intelligence”, or the “singularity”- the point at which AI will be better than all humans at pretty much everything) is less than 10 years away. He also think it’s ridiculous to think that we’ll be able to have any control over AI at that point. It will be superior to us and therefore we will become its servants, since that is how things go in nature. Musk isn’t worried about that though. He says we’ve just got to make sure that we instill the right human-centric values in AI now so that it’s benevolent towards humans when it takes over.

From this perspective, humans will be a cheerfully inferior species who, thanks to smart guys like Elon Musk, ensured that our new overlords would take good care of us. That is the perspective of someone who has an unbiblically rosy view of human nature.

Here’s my take from a Christian perspective. I believe Musk and others are incredibly naive about their own depravity. The idea that we will create a god in our own image (is that not exactly what he’s suggesting?) and that it will be a positive and beneficial thing just doesn’t line up with what we see in history or in the Scriptures. Jeremiah 17:9 says that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” Isaiah 64:6 says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Most famously, Romans 3:23 reads, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is human nature ever since Adam. That’s our condition. Each of us is prone to all kinds of evil. And that’s what we’re baking into this new powerful technology that we are creating to run our world. Ensuring that AI has the “right values” from the vantage point of people like Elon Musk or Sam Altman is not very comforting. Others have made the point that technology tends to amplify who we are and what we do. Obviously, as the most powerful technological innovation in human history, AI is the amplifier of all amplifiers. If you’ve got a biblical view of humanity, that means that a whole lot of deceptiveness, pride, manipulation, and greed is about to be amplified to an extent we’ve never seen it. In that sense, I’m obviously more on side with Daniel Kokotajlo.

However, unlike Kokotajlo, I don’t believe this is the most important thing that’s ever happened in history. It’s not even the most consequential event in the future. That’s because I believe help has already come from outside of us and will come again. I believe that God, who made all things and holds all things together, came among us in the person of Jesus Christ. I believe that death has already been defeated, a task that some billionaire tech-bros driven by a paralyzing fear of death have taken upon themselves. They’re throwing their billions at this problem, trying to figure out something that Jesus already solved 2000 years ago without the aid of any technology. I’m confident that AI, no matter how smart or developed, will never surpass the wisdom and power of God. I believe that a day is coming when Jesus will come again and make all things new. On that day, He will judge all the evil in the world and grant eternal life to those who have trusted in Him. His first coming is the most important event in world history, and his second coming will be the last event in world history, not the “singularity”. I’m pessimistic about what shape the world will take in the future, and that’s because I know human nature. However, I’m not worried or anxious, and that’s because I know how the story ends. My hope is not rooted in some human/AI-derived “age of abundance”, but in the kingdom of God.

However you decide to use AI, don’t get swept up in either the hopeless doomerism or the rosy utopianism. Be rooted in the Scriptures, discern the lies, and live with real hope.