What is AI? New Technologies, and the Human - Fr. Philip Larey

What Does It Mean to Be Human in the Age of AI?

The theme of the conference, ‘What does it mean to be human?’ is not only the theme of the future—this is the theme of now.

This is the single most important question that people are asking in the tech industry.

Humanity stands at a pivotal moment.

The Definition of AI

Artificial intelligence was coined by John McCarthy at the Dartmouth College conference in 1956. It translates logical processes from the human intellect into a language that it can use to achieve programmable results, and it does this through a series of what we call logical operations and the computers use ones and zeros in order to achieve that.

What is artificial intelligence? It’s not the same as that which a human intellect does, but the name stuck. Many people involved in the industry today think that artificial intelligence is a bad word–it doesn’t convey what an AI is doing. But we really don’t have any other term at least for now.

A good definition of AI is a series of algorithms which use logical calculations in order to arrive at programmable results.

Today’s AI uses large language models, huge databases, and statistics to generate responses that can feel eerily human.

It has changed all of our lives forever, in one way or another.

Warnings About AI and AI Fears

Elon Musk said ‘AI could be worse than nukes’ and of course most people would consider this a total exaggeration had it not come from Elon Musk. It’s not just him; Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Eliezer Yudkowsky have warned us about AI as well. If you know anything about Eliezer, you know that he’s a pioneer in AI research, a very serious research who has been in the field for over 30 years.

Many researchers…expect that the most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI…is that literally everyone on Earth will die.

When I read that quote to my students at Boston College, they say, ‘Well, I’m not going to finish paying my tuition now, which as you know at Boston College is not a small amount.’

Students are very concerned… It could all come to a glamorous end.

One of the more unsettling threats is deepfakes. An AI can generate photos and videos of people and things that are completely false.

Even Pope Francis has been a victim. I’m referring to the white puffer coat photo that went viral. Pope Francis has had four important discourses in four months—this is on his mind.

Remember the robocall imitating President Joe Biden telling voters not to vote in the New Hampshire primaries? Many people didn’t laugh… It really sounded like Joe Biden. However, there’s not a law against this. Not yet.

Would AI Always Tell the Truth?

The short answer is no.

Libratus, the Carenegie Melon AI, defeated thousands of world-class poker players from around the world in 2017. This lasted 20 days, started with I think 10,000 and got whittled down to a table of 5. What’s scary about this is that the AI acted without complete information. Libratus had to guess. The second thing is it learned how to bluff.

AI is becoming more and more capable of simulating what humans comprehend as meaning, as well as emotions and empathy and compassion. Digital machines have access to syntaxes which have to do with the structure of language but not to meanings which require intentionality, which is a huge philosophical debate.

However, the future need not be AI vs. human.

Learn About AI and Keep Humans Central

The purpose of an education it’s to learn how to think critically.

The main difference between AI and human beings is that they lack agency.

Critical thinking is one of the best defenses against misinformation and manipulation in an AI-saturated world.

Many engineers in Silicon Valley are suggesting that we give AI ethical agency so that they have an ethical sense about them. But if you know anything about machines, there’s no way we can do that. What we can do is give them rules.

Catholics must step forward and guide AI development according to Catholic social teaching in pursuit of the common good. A clear example is during the pandemic, a lot of people wanted to go to confession over zoom because the churches were closed. But Pope Francis said, n.o the sacraments require you to be in person.

Almost every aspect of our lives sooner or later is going to be touched by artificial intelligence. Do not react with fear, disengagement, or anger.

I’m hopeful that we will be able to use this technology for good like Pope Francis says and not to the detriment of the human being.