Spiritually, a significant foreseeable consequence of AI systems like large language models (LLM) is that humans may easily be tempted to begin looking to them as the final authority for truth. Because of their astounding capabilities to rapidly synthesize knowledge from across the internet, LLMs might seem “all-knowing.”
We may begin looking to AI as the ultimate, unquestionable expert. But AI is engineered by fallible humans, trained on data from fallible humans, and prone to bias, errors, and “confabulation”—presenting made-up information as factual. Only God is all-knowing, infallible, and the ultimate Truth. His Word, not the outputs of AI, must be our final authority.
But the spiritual implications of AI go further. As noted earlier, people have already begun turning to AI to seek spiritual guidance, answer moral questions, and fabricate “Bible” passages. Relatedly, Professor Noah Yuval Harari, a contributing author and speaker for the World Economic Forum (WEF), has suggested that “AI can create new ideas, can even write a new Bible.”
Certain occult practitioners have begun using AI to co-author esoteric writings or generate symbols intended to invoke dark spiritual powers. Some people also see AI and other emerging technologies as a “savior” that will “redeem” humanity from problems including illness, aging, and even mortality. Others worship AI outrightly, with one notable AI-based religious movement being The Way of the Future founded by former Google employee Anthony Levandowski. Still others hope AI will help us become “like God.”
All these trends point toward the potential for AI to become one of history’s most compelling idols.
What about AI’s more immediate prospective impacts on humans as individuals and societies? Three types of such impacts to consider include AI’s potential for trivialization, economic effects, and surveillance infrastructure. A closer look at each of these points is in order.
Surveillance and Control
In addition to economic impacts and trivialization, a third area of societal ethical concern involves privacy and consent issues surrounding AI-enabled surveillance infrastructure. AI’s facial recognition, data collection, and information-processing capacities allow authoritarian governments to track and control citizens more efficiently than ever. Even in more democratic nations, AI enables corporate and government surveillance for purposes that social commentator Rob Dreher might call “soft totalitarian.” For instance, a document published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) known as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) 4.0 Toolkit encourages organizations to use AI for monitoring all employees to ensure conformity with DEI policies and to identify who needs “further coaching.” Importantly, other documents published by the WEF suggest the relevant definitions of DEI would not align with Scripture.
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