By Steven J. Hogan
~ A Saturday Morning Post #275 ~
In the past 20 years there’s been a significant growth in the area of artificial intelligence (AI). And just recently the alarm bells have been ringing, telling us to wake up to this exploding AI industry. Every day for the past two weeks, there have been news shows talking about different aspects of artificial intelligence. And there’s a highly competitive AI “tech race” between different companies and between different countries. Some even believe the winner of this race will control the world. Without question, AI is a rapidly advancing technology, one that’s affecting our lives much more than we realize, and will continue to do so.
So what is artificial intelligence (AI)? Wikipedia tells us: “Artificial intelligence is intelligence – perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information – demonstrated by machines – as opposed to intelligence displayed by non-human animals or humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech recognition, computer vision, translation between languages.” That is, AI is speaking of machines, chips, and robots designed by intelligent beings to do one or two intelligent tasks, ones deemed to be helpful to the needs of people and to the growth of our world.
Here are some things that AI can do. Humans drive cars – AI drives cars. Humans fly planes – AI flies planes, and drones. A human plays his favorite song – Alexa plays his favorite song. Humans see – robots see. Humans build cars – robots build cars. Humans write papers – ChatGPT writes papers. Humans have relationships – robots have “relationships”. AI can imitate your voice and create a likeness of your face. There are many, many more examples of how AI is now being used, and an untold number that will be developed in the coming years.
Let’s now talk about artificial general intelligence (AGI). Wikipedia says: “The AGI concept is that it can learn to accomplish any intellectual task that human beings can perform… AGI has been defined as an autonomous system that surpasses human capabilities in the majority of economically valuable tasks.” When we say AGI, we’re talking about many computers working together to create one super-intelligent computer, one that seems to know everything, is a very quick learner, does all kinds of tasks, ones that are much larger and much more difficult than what AI can do.
AGI is vastly superior to AI. Like humans, AGI can think, reason, learn, plan, sense, listen, understand, communicate, and create. Like humans, AGI has general intelligence – it knows a lot of information and can do all kinds of things. The difference between AGI and humans is that AGI has a super-massive machine brain, and is much smarter, much faster, much more precise, and usually much better than humans in carrying out tasks.
The tech race that’s going on now has to do with how AGI can be used for complex human purposes, from developing military strategies, to hacking into another country’s military strategies, to composing symphonies, to counseling people, to enabling robots to carry out household duties, to being a companion and helper for an elderly person, to writing a company’s business plan, to being a “doctor” who makes a complete diagnosis of a person’s health and creates a treatment plan, to surveilling every person in the country, etc. Also know that AGI can teach itself, get smarter, think for itself, figure out what needs to be done, get better at whatever it does, and create more applications, ones it was not initially programmed to do.
Many thoughts come to mind when I think about AI and AGI:
* Scary, dangerous, a black box, too powerful, out of control, destructive, dehumanizing, life-like, an idol, cyborgs, a digital world, predictable, unpredictable, godlike, and devilish
* Where is AI / AGI headed? Will it know everything about me? Will it do things I don’t want it to do? Will it make me do things I don’t want to do? Will it help me or hurt me?
* Some AGI machines are humanlike. They seem to have a conscience, to have feelings, to be personal, to understand, to be kind, as well as be intelligent. Can a human have a relationship with an AGI robot? Will he become attached to it and love it as a “friend”?
* Some people are saying, “With machines like these, who needs God?”
* Some humans think machines like these can make them godlike. Have you heard what some scientists are saying about putting a chip in your brain, one that’s connected to a larger, smarter AI / AGI brain and, therefore, making you a superman?
* AI / AGI can be a massive information, misinformation, or disinformation tool. How will this affect our educational system? What will our children be learning? How can we ever have confidence in what is being taught?
* If AGI has a desire for perfection and realizes that humans are imperfect, would it ever happen that these machines see humans as unnecessary, and want to get rid of them?
* Will AI and AGI take over our jobs and do our work for us? Will we even need to work? How will this affect individuals and our society at large?
* Elon Musk said, “AI has great power to do good and evil. Better the former.” There’s no doubt that some good will be accomplished by AI / AGI. But people’s hearts are sinful, which means AI / AGI will result in many evil things occurring on this planet.
* Will AGI get to the point where it’s completely on its own, where humans can’t control it, where it lies, cheats, steals, and where it hates humans and wants to hurt them.
* Will these “smart” machines be godless and say evil things about God, Jesus, or Christians? Will it be a tool of the devil that results in Christians being persecuted? How does this relate to the agenda of the Antichrist? Revelation 13:14-17
This blog site is about end-time’s prophecy, about Christ’s coming. So why am I writing about AI and AGI? Because I believe AI / AGI will be a huge factor in these last years before the return of Christ to rapture the church. So how does God want you to think about AI / AGI? And how could AI / AGI relate to God’s plans in the end-times?
1. God is sovereign over AI and AGI, whether it’s used for good or evil. I believe God will use this technology as part of His plans to fulfill His purposes during the end-times. “… according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” Eph. 1:9-11
2. Man is made in the image of God, but AI is made in the image of man. Man may think these machines are super-smart, but God is infinitely smarter, and He will outsmart both man and machine, for He made the man who made the machine. Gen. 1:26, Ps. 96:4-5
3. God has given man a soul and therefore, man lives forever, in heaven or hell. But man can’t give a soul to AI / AGI machines. These machines are only machines and do not truly live, have no eternal future, and will someday be destroyed. John 3:16, 2 Pet. 3:10
4. God says nothing in His word about AI machines overpowering, destroying, or replacing mankind. God’s purposes, from Genesis to Revelation, are not focused on machines, but on mankind, people made in His image. Gen. 1:26-29; Rev. 2-3, 7:9-10, 19:7-9, 21:5-7
5. Be a watchman, be wise, understand the times, learn from others, and tell others what you are learning. 1 Chron. 12:32, Ez. 3:17, Rev. 13:18
6. Never think that AI, AGI, EMP’s, nuclear war, climate change, super volcanos, gigantic solar flares, great earthquakes, massive meteorites, or a combination of these, will bring about the total destruction of this world. God may use them to judge people, but not in a global way. The Day of the Lord, God’s end-time’s judgment of the world, will be very destructive, and is what an unsaved person should be most concerned about. Revelation 8-9, 16
7. The Beast (Antichrist) will control an unbelieving world by making people worship the “image of the beast” and take the “mark of the beast.” I believe AGI technology will help the Antichrist carry out his plans, specifically as it relates to Rev. 13:15: “It was given to him (the beast) to give breath to the image of the beast, so the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
8. God will severely limit or destroy the ability and effect of AGI if it gets too powerful. Machines will never defeat mankind, and they will never thwart God’s purposes and plans for His people and for this world. Remember what God did to the tower of Babel? Genesis 11:4-9, Psalm 33:10-11
9. Some think their thoughts, voice, senses, experiences, looks, intelligence, and character can be programmed into a robot – and then they will have eternal life, they will live on in this machine after their body dies. How foolish! Man, apart from God, dies and goes to hell! Man, saved by Christ, is given eternal life, goes to heaven, and will receive a glorified body! John 3:16, Phil. 3:20-21, 2 Thess. 1:8-9
10. We don’t need a man-made AGI machine to save mankind. We need Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, a real Savior, for He saves from sin and death, our #1 problem. Those who repent of their sins are spiritually saved. And at Christ’s coming, we will receive a physical body that is perfect, powerful, glorious, and will live forever with Jesus. Romans 8:28-30, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44
Don’t be concerned, obsessed, or fearful with regards to AI / AGI. Look to Jesus, and trust Him. And love Him and serve Him, for He’s the One who saves you, blesses you, leads you, protects you, and will bring you safely to heaven. “The night is almost gone, and the day is near” (Rom. 13:12). Jesus Christ, the Judge and King, is coming soon. “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6
P.S. I must say, we live in tumultuous times, but what a time to be alive. Always remember that God is in control, and He is sovereignly bringing about the return of His Son. Here are two other posts that are relevant at this time: “Everything on This Earth is Going to Change”, and “Step by Step Till We See Jesus.”