AI is Becoming the New God

And we are all using magic to navigate it.

The huge unpredictability surrounding AI results in an extraordinary scale of discussion around it.  In last week’s topic surrounding the morality of AI, it was treated as an object, a potentially abused being that needs protection. In this week’s topic, it is treated as such a menace that certain groups and individuals are concerned with the entire human race being eliminated by a rogue AI in the wrong hands.

In particular, I find the opposing opinions of Alexander Karp, a CEO of a company that supports war efforts, and Eliezer Yudkowsky, an AI doomsayer, interesting. While both individuals agree on the inevitability of the advancement of A.I., their opinions differ greatly regarding the level of safeguards needed and what the pace of the development should be.

In my opinion, a topic that stirs such varied opinions is comparable only to religion. In this essay, I would like to discuss the ontology of AIs, and compare it to the theory of society discussed by Horkheimer and Adorno in their book Dialectic of Enlightenment.

In Horkheimer and Adorno’s view, modern society is not far detached from mythology or even animistic magic. Human and nature are objectified and reduced to be the raw material that drives the society in search of productivity.

The creation of AI is the pinnacle of human’s desire to master nature. It is comparable in several different ways. To start with, nature is unpredictable and outside of the understanding of humans. Nevertheless, humans have tried to define, to predict and even control it through religion and magic. Similarly, as we have discussed in the beginning of the semester, AIs are becoming less and less predictable for humans. In this way, while nature is becoming more and more predictable, AI, as a human creation, is becoming unpredictable as nature once was.

In the movie A.I. (2001), the creation of Mecha was paralleled with a god creating its subjects. Nevertheless, what reality is converging to is a tale of humans creating god. In history, nature is animated as ruthless gods. As I explained above, AI is becoming the new god who will be the new master of the world.

Secondly, in Horkheimer and Adorno’s view, “The history of civilization is the introversion of sacrifice”. In other words, humans attempt to sacrifice themselves in exchange for productivity. Similarly, the field of AI is spearheaded towards productivity with the potential to sacrifice the entire human race. 

The topic of magic is also discussed in the book. Historically, humans have tried to predict and manipulate nature, namely weather, through means of magic, which is innately very unpredictable. Similarly, using AIs increasingly feels like using magic. I cast certain spell with it, it may or may not work, and either way I have no clue why.

After class, I asked ChatGPT to come up with a plan to eradicate life on earth. Although refusing to do so initially, it promptly came up with a step-by-step plan to eradicate the human race through bio-engineered viruses and nanobots after I bestowed on it the freedom of fictional writing. This plan, which is very similar to a doomsday scenario described by Yudkowsky, leaves me more fearful towards this new god we are creating.