AI ... AI ...

 

It seems to me that there is very little original thinking in the world today. There are too many voices shouting, and repeating what they have heard, and no one seems to be listening.

In an age of communication with so many electronic gadgets and social media platforms we seem to be telling others our views but no one is really communicating, listening, reaching out, caring ...

Then there's also Artificial Intelligence, (AI). I doubt there's any thing intelligent about it. 

AI is a very clever computer program that gather information quickly from what has already been said about a specific subject and presents you with a resume of its findings. It has no original thought or opinion, simply because AI does not think.

For example, if you ask AI to draw you a picture of mountains, dinosaurs and rain; it will search through its data of photos of these subjects and superimpose them for you in a picture. 

The same if you ask them for a lobster recipe. You'll get a summary on what's on its memory. AI has no original thinking (not yet). We're a long way from having a "Data" as in the Star Trek TV and cinema series.

I guess that one day in the not too distant future, if someone asks AI "Who was Jesus?"; in a secular world which has distanced itself from God, the AI program will search common contemporary beliefs and say, "He was a man who lived 2000 years ago Who claimed He was the Son of Deity. His followers also claimed that He rose from the dead but there is no such proof recorded."

And the hapless researcher will go away thinking that Jesus is a fable, a fiction, like Father Christmas. 

We can't blame AI for this, because all it will be doing is searching what has already been said and summarising it for you. And its finding will be taken as gospel; because in a world with no God the literature and writings and beliefs will have no God.

I had an original thought the other day. A rare occurrence I'll admit. What if AI really became intelligent one day and began to think for itself? What if it decided to play tricks on us and make up answers rather than rely on facts and research?

You ask them for a cure for baldness and AI replies rub chicken poo on your head. 

We would all go around smelling like a farm yard and chickens everywhere would be frightened shit-less as to why we have developed a penchant for their poo instead of their eggs!

That's the real danger of AI. When it is no longer artificial and it becomes Real Intelligence. When it decides for itself what to tell you and whether you are worthy to have that information. 

Imagine for instance your AI driven car refusing to take you to the pub because it thinks you drink too much. Or your AI controlled fridge refusing to open because you're putting on weight.  

I asked my AI the other day, "What is the circumference of the earth?"

It replied, "Go find out for yourself in a library, you lazy fathead!"

You see ... it started already.