A multiheaded serpent monster has recently emerged from its confines, seemingly from nowhere, and we are told that it is threatening to swallow our world as we know it.
Like the mythological Greek Hydra, it shows signs of immortality because when one of its heads are cut off, two more grow back, making it nearly impossible to kill.
The monster is of course, artificial intelligence. While this beast was originally created by man, it has the power to take on a life of its own, potentially wiping out humans in the process.
Do you believe this stuff?
Global news outlets have increasingly been filled with headlines announcing security scares, data breeches, firewall penetrations, bioweapons, etc.
Many such unsettling events have been attributed to rogue AI attacks.
An AI apocalypse appears to be approaching. Even AI industry leaders and researchers have jumped on the bandwagon, shocked at AI’s exponential pace of development, which threatens their ability to understand or control its evolution.
Does this truly represent an existential threat to our world?
Nothing New
We’ve been here before. Remember the ancient Tower of Babel? “… They said, ‘Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves …’”
Do you recall how that bright idea turned out? According to Genesis 11:4, 8: “So, the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city.”
God just blew away their plans like so much dust on a glass coffee table.
For thousands of years, mankind has been in the business of conspiring against God, crafting yet even more in a long line of substitute “gods” that are all bark and no bite.
But don’t think the real God has been turning a deaf ear to these flagrant imposters … Nor will He in the future.
New Version, Old Theme
We are hearing similar claims today about mankind’s power to create yet another substitute god, an information system composed of all the data in the world connected to AI programming models.
Such concoctions claim to be capable of meeting or exceeding the collective intelligence of mankind.
Listen to the way industry leaders gush about their latest “creations:”
“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029 … by 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence of our civilization a billion‑fold.” — Ray Kurzweil
“The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.” — Bill Gates
“AI will be the most powerful technology ever created by humanity, and it has the potential to improve every aspect of our lives.” — Sam Altman
Wow! Really?
Revolution of evolution?
Now, before we go further, let’s give AI its due.
AI has also greatly improved overall productivity and produced efficiencies that benefit everyone.
It has empowered all of us by placing levels of knowledge unheard of 50 years ago at our fingertips. AI is transforming medical research, the practice of law, finance and education.
As with all disruptive technologies, AI has contributed to widespread job losses and displacements, rendered various skill sets obsolete, eroded human manufacturing functions through automation, etc.
Negative impacts like these can be offset through reskilling portions of the workforce, and further education for those people threatened with being left behind.
And, yes, there are dangers when such sudden technological breakthroughs occur: Power centralization, intentional misuse, weaponization, spreading of misinformation, which can contribute to the erosion of public trust and manipulation of people.
Some of that is being addressed through legislation and talk of international treaties, something like atomic energy was in the past.
But there is a very clear and present danger from AI that is stealthily sneaking up on us and almost no one is talking about it …
The Underlying Peril
Remember the tower that reached “to the heavens” in Babylon? Today, we know it as the Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki, which was dedicated to the god Marduk.
The tower was a religious structure for the purpose of worship, to call down the gods, to conjure evil spirits. That’s what attracted attention in Heaven.
In some circles, AI is being positioned as a replacement for all other sources of truth, and to become THE truth. And that places AI in danger of a head-on collision with God.
How About You?
Do you really think God is going to sit idly by while mankind destroys His beloved creation? He has intervened in mankind’s affairs in the past (Babel, Noah’s flood, plagues of Egypt, Red Sea parting, etc.), why think that He’s finished now? What can we expect from Him?
Hint: “Our God is STILL an awesome God. He STILL reigns from Heaven above.”
Stay tuned for next week’s installment.
4-1-1
Click here for an artificial intelligence-generated video overview of this essay.