A Brave New Simulation
A look at ChatGPT and its potential impact on mankind
Since the launch of ChatGPT, sophisticated AI has been placed into the spotlight of public consciousness. The reactions, understandably, have been mixed as some believe such inventions will create nothing but chaos and fear, while others believe AI systems like ChatGPT will benefit posterity and us. This article will focus on the former: the fear, chaos, and understandable anxiety about the latest revolution.
Automation and AI
Why is software like ChatGPT a threat to human creativity and intelligence?
First, let us discuss why people view software like ChatGPT as a threat to human creativity and intelligence. ChatGPT operates like a predictive text machine, whereby its algorithms analyse a large data set collected from the internet. And in these data sets, the software analyses the data into a coherent answer to the question prompted by the user. If promoted correctly, the answers and overall structure of the text is remarkable. Here is an example of a work visa application form:
Work Visa Application Form
Personal Information:
Full Name: _______________________________
Gender: _______________________________
Date of Birth: _______________________________
Nationality: _______________________________
Passport Number: _______________________________
Passport Expiration Date: _______________________________
Current Address: _______________________________
Contact Information: 8. Phone Number: _______________________________
Email Address: _______________________________
Employment Details: 10. Occupation: _______________________________
Name of Employer: _______________________________
Employer’s Address: _______________________________
Employer’s Contact Number: _______________________________
Work Visa Details: 14. Visa Type: _______________________________
Duration of Visa Requested: _______________________________
Proposed Start Date: _______________________________
Intended Purpose of Stay: _______________________________
Education and Experience: 18. Highest Level of Education Attained: _______________________________
Relevant Work Experience: _______________________________
Name of Employer: _______________________________ Job Title: _______________________________ Dates of Employment: _______________________________
Financial Details: 20. Proof of Sufficient Funds for Living Expenses during the Stay: _______________________________
Additional Information: 21. Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offense? (Yes/No) _______________________________ If yes, please provide details: _______________________________
Declaration: I hereby declare that the information provided above is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. I understand that any false statements or misrepresentations may result in the rejection of my visa application.
Signature: _______________________________ Date: _______________________________
All this was written in under ten seconds!
There is one main reason why ChatGTP is causing so much commotion. Like revolutions of the past, the AI revolution will make intelligence more accessible and convenient to the common man. Where robots from companies like Boston Dynamics will take the jobs of the working class, AI software like ChatGPT will target jobs in the intellectual market. Mid-level lawyers, programmers, journalists, and administrators are all potentially at risk because employers will look to streamline their workforce with assets like ChatGTP. In shorthand, ChatGTP has made a competitive workplace even more so as the need for employees has diminished.
The intellect of AI chatbots differs from humans in a few ways. Firstly, AI chatbots have a ubiquitous amount of data at their fingertips, meaning they are very good at knowing what is already known — like a form of excellent memory. ChatGPT is really good at writing formal documents and pieces of text for any industry, all one has to do is ask it to write in such and such a style, and it spits it straight out.
Secondly, the mind of AI is much like a box in which everything is known. AI systems are extremely efficient at finding the appropriate patterns — ideas — within the box when prompted by the user. On the other hand, human beings are responsible for filling this box with ideas or data to create a “bigger box” for AI software to work with. As David Epstein put in when discussing the topic in his book, Range: How Generalist Triumph in a Specialized World, “the more constrained and repetitive a challenge, the more likely it will be automated,” he continues, “while great rewards will accrue to those who can take conceptual knowledge from one problem or domain and apply it in an entirely new one.”
Mr Epstein, it appears, has come to the same conclusion as I. That is, AI, including robots, are limited by their design to perform one specific task, i.e., manual labour in the case of robots and writing out legal documents(as one example) for software like ChatGPT.
Finally, the box analogy infers one impression for me: that AI chatbots are great at working within their limited bounds of the box (data set), but anything outside of this box is a complete enigma to it and, subsequently, to us too. AI is great a managing a ship's systems — a place where everything is known — but only a man can navigate the chaos of Posidan’s oceans.
The issues of dependence
Another point of attention is what would happen if one developed a reliance on ChatGPT to solve all their problems. In one perception or view, one could see this as a form of worship to a man-made entity. The consequences if one should treat ChatGPT in this way are tragic to the point of pity. I shall expand upon this with the help of E.M. Forster and Wall-E.
In his book, The Machine Stops, on the first page are the words,
“‘You talk as if a god had made the Machine,’ cried the other. ‘I believe you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that.’”
This “Machine” in the novel that Forster’s character speaks of is software that controls airships on which they live, as well as complete administrative control over everyone. The airships — like the Axiom — were completely automated and free of crewmen, with only the passengers on board. On these airships, one only needs to push a button, and all desires — like hunger, sleep, and companionship — are all fulfilled by the Machine. In essence, then, the Machine controls everything on the airship, including the minds and personalities of the passengers. There is no individual Will. Only the Will of the Machine. To live in comfort, the Will of the Machine must be obeyed with the utmost obedience.
The “Machine” of our age — ChatGPT — will put those who place its judgement above their own in a psychological “Axiom-like” airship in which the Machine will solve all problems. Thus limiting one’s consciousness by paying homage to the Machine — ChatGPT. The mind of an excessive user will, over time, develop a relationship with ChatGPT similar to the one they ought to develop with God.
The golden calf of our time — ChatGPT
The story of Moses is one of, if not the most famous story known to man. This story (Exodus) is about a tribe of people called the Israelites escaping the tyranny of the Pharaoh in Egypt. After Moese leads the Israelites through the Red Sea and across the desert, frustrated with his fellow Jews murmuring and complaining, Moses ascends Mount Sinia to receive the Ten Commandments from God. Ten Commandments received, Moses walked back down to a sight of unspeakable horror: the Israelites have built a Golden Calf to whom they pray.
Here is how the New World Translation reads:
And the Israelites said to Aaron, (Moses was at the top of the mountain at this point).
Get up, make a god who will go ahead us, because we do not know what has happened to this Moses, the man who lead us up out of the land of Egypt.
To appease the impetuous Israelites, Aron collected all the gold in their possession and made a Golden Calf for them to worship. Aaron said to the Israelites,
This is your God, O Israel, who lead you out of the land of Egypt.
There is not a word that God cannot hear a mortal speak. And so He warned Moses of the people’s corruption, breaking the Lord's Commandments:
Go, descend, because your people, whom you have led out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.”
God goes on to say,
They have made for themselves a statue of a calf, and they keep bowing to it and sacrificing to it and saying, “This is your God, O Israel, who lead you out of the land of Egypt.”
Accustom to the life they had in Egypt, the Israelites, during the absence of Moses — who can commune with the eternal truth — built this Golden Calf and placed their faith in said false god; that is to say, that which is not true or everlasting, and open to sinister intentions from whoever made or controls the object of worship. In our saga, this Golden Calf is ChatGPT and, some would argue, technology in general.
Why is a Biblical story relevant here, you ask? ChatGPT is nothing more than a stand-in for the Golden Calf — a man-made entity, a false God. I understand that, in the secular world, the term “false God” can be misunderstood. Let us spend some time on what exactly is a “false God.”
The Golden Calf idea illustrates a displacement of faith; that is to say, the thing or entity to which our ignorance and fear of the unknown are placed. To pray to the Golden Calf is a remittance to the old ways; for the Israelites, the Golden Calf replaces the Pharaoh. In the harsh environment of the desert, the Israelites long for the Pharaoh's perceived omnicompetences within the realm of Egypt. Life, it seems, was easier as a slave in Egypt. For the modern man, our perceived omnicompetent Pharaoh is technology: if you can’t imagine life without your phone, you are halfway to worship already.
Therefore, for one to put faith and hence their source of future knowledge in the hands of ChatGPT, one will evitably run the risk of worshipping modernities Golden Calf and, in the process, nullify their consciousness by confusing divination — knowledge within our unconscious mind — with unscrupulous knowledge stored on a server. Man’s unconscious mind may, at times, be hard to interpret and understand, but like ChatGPT, once the message has been examined in good faith, it always tells the truth. However, these interpretations are never easy to uncover.
Can we trust software like ChatGPT?
The short answer is no. Not until, in my opinion, ChatGPT and others like it develop consciousness akin to a human being. As freighting as the thought is, until the age of conscious machine intelligence, software like ChatGPT is incapable of making its own decisions and thus is capable, when commanded, of manipulating the impressions of everyone who prompts it with questions. Like the Israelites and the faith they placed in the Golden Calf, if one is to place their faith in ChatGPT — the impressions of man — instead of God — the impressions brought on by suffering, revelation, and reason — one runs the risk of surrendering their most valuable asset: their potential consciousness to the predations of man.
Remember the words of E.M. Foster when you use ChatGPT,
men made it, do not forget that.
