Is AI taking over the world? Has it gotten to the point that we prefer company of a bot than another person or sometimes can’t even tell the difference?
So the other day, I called an electrician because we had a leak in our roof that during a storm, it started dripping water through our daughter’s room light and I wanted them to check it to make sure there were no issues or possibility of a fire from. I mean, I’ve heard that water and electricity don’t mix well. LOL
When the person answered, we began talking and then after a minutes or so, something seemed off. Some of the statements seemed programmed. So I started listening more intently before I finally asked. “Are you human?”
I would’ve been so embarrassed if they had said yes, but thankfully (or not?) they said they were a virtual assistant with the company.
I was nearly fooled by an AI bot thinking that I had been talking to a real person.
I felt incredibly stupid for a moment, but then was stunned about how realistic they sounded for the most part. It was actually kinda scary. And it got me thinking. Because also in this last week, I saw an article about a man that had fallen in love with this AI persona and wanted to marry her. Leave the woman that he was currently with and had a child with, to marry a impersonation of a person within an electronic.
So this begs the question, have we become so disconnected with reality and human connection that we are talking with AI bots and in (hopefully) rare cases, wanting to marry and develop relationships with something that isn’t even real?
AI is literally artificial intelligence. It isn’t real. Here’s the definition of artificial, just for fun.
artificial: made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.
A copy of something natural. Something to mimic something real, but in actuality isn’t. We are closing ourselves from human connection for a human counterfeit. We are isolating ourselves into a fake hole that will never fill us.
Proverbs 18:1 says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgement.”
The worst thing that the pandemic did was cause us to isolate and have relationships with screens. Think about it, how many “friends” do you have on your social media? How many do you actually talk to? See face to face? Have meaningful relationships with?
Yes, Facebook is great to be able to connect with people that you wouldn’t normally see, but that is not true connection. It is just as much of a connection as it was me talking with an AI. It’s artificial.
Hebrews 10:25 talks about not forsaking gathering together for when the Day approaches. Meaning the day of hardship. AI cannot comfort you like a person can.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says that two are better than one and continues on to say that if one falls, the other can pick him up. AI cannot pick you up.
Now, you can tell me, what about Elon Musk’s new robot? That could pick you up, right? I’ll say right away that this already make me nervous because I grew up on the terminator movies…
In all honesty, that is still a machine. It’s programmed. Much like the person I had been talking to for the electrician, using machine learning programmed responses. Learning, yes, which makes it a bit terrifying, (terminators, remember?) but still not a real person. It cannot replace people. Are we getting too connected to machines than we are to each other?
Another think to ask in this AI era, is AI making us lazy? Keeping us from building meaningful relationships because we can just talk to Siri? From using our own intelligence and problem-solving and hard working capabilities and instead taking the easy way?
My oldest is in college and they have a thing now where they have to check to make sure that the student wrote the paper themselves and didn’t have AI write it for them, because so many kids have been utilizing AI to do their work for them. I have heard of people who want to write a book and just have AI write it for them, which as a writer breaks my heart. But as the words of an old boss of mine, it’s just pure laziness.
Proverbs is filled with verses about how we are not to be lazy, but hard working and diligent.
One is Proverbs 13:4 TPT The slacker wants it all and ends up with nothing, but the hard worker ends up with all that he longed for.
Matthew 25:14-30 is an awesome story that you should read the whole thing, but for now I will sum it up as this. A man is going on a journey and he entrusts his servants to watch over some of his holdings for him. Some went out and worked and received more holdings for the owner. Then one decided to hide it and not do anything with it. When the owner returns, he gets upset at this servant and calls him slothful. Because he didn’t do anything with what was given to him.
That servant did what was easy and I guess that’s what I’m getting at. Are we going the easy route with relying on AI too much? Trading in relationships for something that’s artificial?
Life isn’t easy. Relationships aren’t easy. Writing that book, that paper, doing the work, isn’t easy. But doing things the easy way aren’t as meaningful. They don’t have the feeling of accomplishment as it does when you actually do the work. The easy way doesn’t build meaningful relationships that we desperately need. Because those true relationships are the ones that can get you through anything and AI will never be able to do that.
angelaschmeling 