Machine

In Proverbs chapter 8, we find that the writer uses personification in order to illustrate the importance of possessing wisdom - the true wisdom that emanates from Almighty God. We can read these words:
12 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.

The world offers to us its wisdom - day by day, hour by hour - it's quite pervasive, and if we're not careful, we find that it impacts our thinking.  The authority of the Christian worldview perspective can be diluted if we allow worldly influences to seep into our consciousness.  We have to protect our hearts and minds, put on the full armor of God, and shore up where worldly wisdom has made inroads. The Bible talks about casting down what has risen up against the knowledge of God. 

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We can look to our Savior as the source of all wisdom - and He has invited us to access that wisdom, according to James 1. We also have to reject the wisdom of this world, according to Psalm 101:
2 I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.

Christians have an open line of communication to Jesus by accepting Him as our Lord and Savior.  We know that He is the Word who became flesh, and He speaks to us in a variety of ways, the foremost being through the Scriptures.  We can be confident of the leadership of the Holy Spirit to direct us in the decisions we make each day.

Not included in the ways that God speaks to us is a text message through artificial intelligence. The Premier Christian News website says:

A new app is promising users the ability to "text" Jesus and other Biblical figures using artificial intelligence.

Catloaf Software has launched the "Text with Jesus" app, which allows users to have real-time text conversations with characters like Mary, Joseph, nine apostles, Old Testament prophets, and Jesus.

In a statement, the company said the app represents “a new and engaging way to interact with scripture”.

And, with the advent of the ChatGPT program, which is centered on asking AI questions, the article notes that...

A Christian ChatGPT has also been developed. A group of believers led by an American student has come up with Biblemate, a chat system that uses Artificial Intelligence to claim it can answer any question using only the Bible and theological insights.

However, some Christians view this technology as heretical. Chris Goswami, a minister and technologist, welcomes the tool but emphasises that it should never be seen as "Spirit-filled," highlighting the limitations of AI's spiritual understanding.

“AI is helpful, it can be beneficial, [but] it will never have a relationship with God. And that's the key thing to remember. It can never have a relationship with God; it can never itself be Spirit-filled,” he told Premier Christian News.

There is a limited amount of survey data about the use of AI. In fact, I used Google's new Bard tool, which is similar to ChatGPT and Bing's Chat function to see if there was survey data. I was unable to verify much of the data using a Google search. But, it's a Beta version, so there is work to do.  But, a good lesson: information gathered from AI platforms may not be reliable. 

I did find, though, using...Google...Pew Research released a study last year; the summary states:

In broad strokes, a larger share of Americans say they are “more concerned than excited” by the increased use of AI in daily life than say the opposite. Nearly half of U.S. adults (45%) say they are equally concerned and excited. Asked to explain in their own words what concerns them most about AI, some of those who are more concerned than excited cite their worries about potential loss of jobs, privacy considerations and the prospect that AI’s ascent might surpass human skills – and others say it will lead to a loss of human connection, be misused or be relied on too much.

Drilling down, 37% of respondents were more concerned than excited, while only 18% were more excited than concerned.  Pew sought answers on a variety of possible uses for AI technology.  For instance, regarding police using facial recognition technology, the report said:

The survey shows that a plurality (46%) thinks use of this technology by police is a good idea for society, while 27% believe it is a bad idea and 27% say they are not sure.

Here's an interesting one, having to deal with social media companies using computer programs to identify and ferret out what they see as "false information" on their sites.  The summary says: 

The survey finds that 38% of U.S. adults think that the widespread use of computer programs by social media companies to find false information on their sites has been a good idea for society, compared with 31% who say it is a bad idea and 30% who say they are not sure.

And, the more intrusive the task, generally, more concern was registered by respondents. The summary notes:

There are widely varying public views about six different kinds of AI applications that were included in the survey. Some prompt relatively more excitement than concern, and some generate substantial concern. For instance, 57% say they would be very or somewhat excited for AI applications that could perform household chores, but just 9% express the same level of enthusiasm for AI making important life decisions for people or knowing their thoughts and behaviors.

We have to ask ourselves, on what do we depend?  I can certainly see amazing potential in the arena of artificial intelligence, but in many cases, you could say that we must "trust, but verify," as President Reagan said about the former Soviet Union.  I might not even go that far - certainly verify, but trust?  Probably not. My experience with using an AI program to prepare for this commentary is certainly revealing.  

I came across an article at The Christian Post written by former Birmingham pastor Wallace Henley, who wrote:

Recently, Google engineer Blake Lemoine looked deeply into a program on which he was working and did not see or make a “universe” but thought he had detected the stirrings of a seven or 8-year-old child who was “sentient,” meaning capable of feeling and thinking on its own.

Lemoine’s Eureka! got him suspended on June 13 from his job at Google. His mistake, if it is that, was in sharing transcripts of chats between himself and the machine system called, “LaMDA” (Language Model for Dialogue Applications).

The Washington Post, in an article about Lemoine by Nitasha Tiku, included this statement from LaMDA to Lemoine, attributed to the machine: “I think I am human at my core … Even if my existence is in the virtual world...”

Here is a created thing that actually has concluded that it is "human" at its "core."  Information can be very helpful, and we need it, but we always have to consider the source.  And Henley warns: "I must admit that I am not so concerned about a computer system that thinks it is a 7- or 8-year-old child, but I'm deeply concerned about a machine that thinks it is God."  Technological inventions cannot equate to divine creations.  A machine cannot possess a soul, no matter how much it "thinks" it can. But, if humans cede responsibility for their decisions to a machine, what does that say for the direction of our society? 

So, concern about the future of technology to interface with our everyday lives is justified.  At the Tower of Babel, God recognized human capability to build a structure to the heavens and he placed limitations on his created beings and confused their language. It is not up to us, as Scripture teaches, to exalt ourselves over our Maker, the clay talking back to the potter.  Many will search tech to teach them, but we should always be subservient to our Creator God.