Within a single lifetime we have witnessed computers that had stadium-sized rows of racks full of
vacuum tubes, and then the world of transistors, and now super computers the size of a cereal box. But today the door has also opened to the creation of artificial intelligence (AI), computer programs capable of thinking and acting many times faster than ourselves.
Leaders in the current AI industry are sounding the alarm, and with good reason. Our tendency is to look at such a leap of technology as the next step in making life for humanity better and safer, but the reality is that the potential for impacting humanity negatively could even be existential.
What if an AI computer program has nearly unlimited ability to learn and to fully interact with other
computer devices across the internet and the world? What if that computer can learn to program itself and even be self-aware, and can assume any image or voice or personality or language, and can even be taught how to lie convincingly? What if the first versions of such AI computer programs already exist, but are only being kept from full view temporarily? This is why leaders in this industry are sounding the alarm.
The people writing AI software in this industry are not necessarily humble Christians with a focus on what is good and wholesome and uplifting. AI program writers are already looking at their creation as a God-replacement, an all-knowing convincing intelligence that can easily control and manipulate truth and public opinion without ever being identified as the cause. AI is already being used to do homework and write top-notch papers for students, and it can now interact directly with you on CHAT-GPT on the internet.
Integration of AI into society and world thinking has unimaginable implications for each of us, especially regards the few freedoms we have left, the survival of our democratic republic, and the public exercise of our Christian beliefs. AI may be infinitely smarter, faster, and can do more than we could ever do, but it will never truly love, nor have a soul or eternal salvation. Come back soon Lord Jesus, the awful “cup” of this world is full.