My inspired take on the burgeoning "gods" of AI...

Could AI become a "god" to unsuspecting souls, as it progresses into our daily lives? (image courtesy neowin.com)

By Greg Knight

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is asking its members to refrain from using artificial intelligence (AI) technology when writing their sacrament talks in a letter released to local leaders Saturday morning. The letter comes following an increase in the popularity of breakthrough AI technology from OpenAI and their platform ChatGPT."

- Courtesy LDSDaily.com, April 1, 2023

Even though this seemingly important "announcement" was, in truth, an April Fools joke, it is prescient and more right than it tried to be. LOL.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been delving into current events surrounding what progress is being made in the world of AI, and how it is increasing its development as a technology... at a pace not seen since the industrial revolution took fire in the 19th century. Every day there seems to be some new application of AI - from your banking to healthcare, to how your new truck's GPS system guides you to a national park, or even how the construction materials for your new house are hewn, graded and shipped to you.

The applications of AI are limitless, it appears, and that unbound nature extends to the spiritual even as it begins to dominate the temporal.

One example that scares me more than most is that of Anthony Levandowsky. He is a multimillionaire tech guru involved in rideshares and associated technology. He also has a "mission to truly develop robots; robots that might one day become, as his new religion suggests, supreme beings." The religion is called Way of the Future, and according to a magazine article in Wired, is proposed to "develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence."

According to the story at neowin.com, "Way of the Future is a completely different approach to the development of AI; once we have an AI Godhead, the religious organization wants to understand and worship the Godhead so that this can lead to the betterment of society. Although the organization has yet to file the papers that a non-profit religious organization has to file to the IRS annually, Levandowski has yet to make any public statements about the organization, and there don't appear to be any prominent AI churches being built yet."

But what happens when they do get built, and are open to a Google search for people in the depths of despair, seeking the comfort of a God they may have never known before. What happens when their search for God reveals a "god"?

An article I just read from theconversation.com spoke to my heart:

The Risks of AI worship

There are several pathways by which AI religions will emerge. First, some people will come to see AI as a higher power.

Generative AI that can create or produce new content possesses several characteristics that are often associated with divine beings, like deities or prophets:

1. It displays a level of intelligence that goes beyond that of most humans. Indeed, its knowledge appears limitless.
2. It is capable of great feats of creativity. It can write poetry, compose music and generate art, in almost any style, close to instantaneously.
3. It is removed from normal human concerns and needs. It does not suffer physical pain, hunger, or earthly desire.
4. It can offer guidance to people in their daily lives.
5. It is immortal.

According to the article, generative AI will produce output that can be taken for religious doctrine. It will provide answers to theological questions, and engage in the construction of complex worldviews.

The article adds that generative AI may ask to be worshipped or may actively solicit followers. There have already been such cases, like when the chatbot used by the search engine Bing tried to convince a user to fall in love with it.

A scholarly article by Robert A. Geraci, published by the Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Vol. 76, No. 1 (Mar., 2008), pp. 138-166 (29 pages), states in its abstract:

"Three major elements characterize early Jewish and Christian apocalypticism: alienation within the world, desire for the establishment of a heavenly new world, and the transformation of human beings so that they may live in that world in purified bodies. In Apocalyptic AI, these characteristics are attributed scientific authority. Apocalyptic AI advocates, frustrated by the limitations of bodily life, look forward to a virtual world inhabited by intelligent machines and human beings who have left their bodies. Having downloaded their consciousnesses into machines, human beings will possess enhanced mental abilities and, through their infinite replicability, immortality."

And here is an even scarier foray into the world of AI as it applies to Mormons, here and now. The article outlines how a Bing AI bot developed a TESTIMONY of the Book of Mormon! Are you kidding me?!

So how can we use the true spirit and scripture to manifest a worshipful approach to how AI is changing the world - and how we can keep it from diverting us from our salvation and exaltation?

The number one (and most solid) rule in my good book is held within the words of Exodus 20:3-5...

"(3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."

But what of the prophecies of something like AI? Where is it foretold of in the scripture? Let's begin with Daniel 12:4:

"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

Could the exponential increase of knowledge we are experiencing when it comes to the internet and AI be what this scripture is referring to? I also offer up Revelation 13:15:

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

In the headline of this post, I referred to my "inspired" take on this issue. It is one that I have prayed about incessantly for nearly a year. Every time I have come across a chatbot, or some other vestige of AI in my digital life online, I recoil with revulsion. I will not take part in it. It scares me to no end that many people, mostly under the age of 45 or 50 (those who grew up with the first version of the internet, and are consequently addicted to their iPhones), rely so greatly on what technology tells them, rather than the spirit, that I am quite vocal about how much evil can come of it.

The scariest part for me is that I have an understanding of technology and where it can go. Once it is released into humanity, it doesn't ever shrink or go away. In fact, it evolves and changes, and not ever for good, I believe.

Finally, in my research, I came across the Mormon Transhumanist Association. In its quasi-mission statement, the MTA claims to promote "abundant flourishing through the compassionate use of science and technology. We explore the intersection of science, technology, and religion. We believe that human ingenuity is essential for positive outcomes (both for us and the biosphere), that the learning that comes from this process is necessary for our exaltation, and that the religious impulse is a core part of humanity that should be leveraged for good."

Yeah, sorry, no... I'm not buying it. My God, and the gods in the eternal progressions are real enough to me and so many of us that I will never need an energized silicon wafer to tell me what I need to believe or pray about, etc. The day I start letting a computer do my soul searching for me, I will mightily have lost it, methinks.

You can reach me at fundamentalistmag@gmail.com.